Thread by @BiIndia

#Opinion: From food coupons to a fund to provide laptops and tablets to the poor⁠— NITI Aayog’s public policy analyst has a wishlist too - by Urvashi Prasad (@urvashi01)

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@urvashi01 @NITIAayog With the pandemic severely disrupting business as usual, the Finance Minister #NirmalaSitharaman will be presenting the Union Budget amidst unprecedented circumstances.

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@urvashi01 @NITIAayog The crisis has opened up opportunities in education and health but the new ideas have not been able to cross the social fault lines of an unequal society.

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@urvashi01 @NITIAayog So, it may be time to bridge those divides with innovative programmes like food coupons for the malnourished, and spending money to ensure that no one is left behind in all the digital progress made in health and education.

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@urvashi01 @NITIAayog While India has fared much better on #COVID19 management than most would expect, the outbreak has also shone a spotlight on the underlying gaps and inequities in the health system.

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@urvashi01 @NITIAayog India is ramping up its spending on health to 2.5% of GDP by 2025 as per the National Health Policy, 2017. However, in the post-COVID scenario, the government might need to consider achieving this level of spending on health before 2025.

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@urvashi01 @NITIAayog A survey of 800 physicians conducted by Boston Consulting Group between March-May, 2020, revealed a trend of accelerated digital adoption, with 85% of clinicians using digital platforms and telemedicine during the lockdown period.

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@urvashi01 @NITIAayog Nutrition is another sector which has suffered from disruptions to essential services like mid-day meals in schools and hot, cooked meals in Anganwadi Centres, on account of the #pandemic.

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@urvashi01 @NITIAayog For instance, under normal circumstances, 1.3 million Anganwadi Centres provide supplementary food to pregnant and lactating mothers as part of the Integrated Child Development Scheme.

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@urvashi01 @NITIAayog Budget must provide the infrastructure needed for the have-nots to access online education. In 2020, the government released the National Education Policy outlining several ambitious measures for transforming the education sector.

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@urvashi01 @NITIAayog It's crucial that the Budget supports the implementation of these interventions with the requisite financial allocations in line with the overall plan to increase public spending on education to 6% of GDP from the current approximately 4.6%.

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@urvashi01 @NITIAayog Finally, across sectors, #COVID has worsened gender inequality in much of the world. Research conducted by Azim Premji University suggests that the work participation rate for Indian women reduced to 5.8% in August 2020 from 9.15% in December 2019.

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@urvashi01 @NITIAayog Additionally, economic distress could lead to parents making choices about sending only male children to school, perpetuating intergenerational inequalities with respect to the education of girls.

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@urvashi01 @NITIAayog Restoring existing health, nutrition, and social safety programmes for girls and women in their entirety must therefore be a top priority.

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