In this new coronavirus-affected world, hunger may be India’s next health crisis. Not just Covid-19, diseases such as tuberculosis have al...
In this new coronavirus-affected world, hunger may be India’s next health crisis.
Not just Covid-19, diseases such as tuberculosis have also been driving people towards poverty and resulting in an economic crisis. About 2.8 million people get TB in India every year and thousands are pushed into debt and poverty.
Apart from getting the right treatment in time, TB patients also require economic security to ensure that they maintain a nutritious diet while getting the treatment. Economic security is also needed to ensure that the patients’ families can compensate for the loss of income. They also need support to boost their immunity and speed up their recovery.
How do schemes help communities at risk?
Let’s examine TB as a case study. The recent India TB Report 2020 shows that about Rs 462 crores were disbursed as direct benefit transfers for nutritional support to 24.04 lakh TB-affected individuals in 2019 who were enrolled under Nikshay Poshan Yojana scheme. This is indeed commendable because TB is caused by and creates poverty. But is this enough?
A deeper examination reveals that the scheme is well-intentioned but remains poorly conceptualised and executed. There are a few fundamental flaws in the scheme, as well as how the direct benefit transfers disbursements have been carried out.
Firstly, we do not fundamentally...
