On June, 2014, addressing the Joint Session of Parliament, the President of India, Shri Parnab Mukharjee, had announced “By the time the Nation completes 75 years of its independence, every family will have a Pucca house with water connection, toilet facilities, 24X7 electricity supply and access. He was, ipso facto, introducing the Prime Minister’s visinory programme namely, ‘Housing For All(HFA) by 2022’.

Background

In fact the scheme, ‘ Housing For All (HFA) by 2022’, when the Nation is going to complete 75 years of Independence, is the brain child of our visionary Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. And in order to accomplish this objective, the Union Government has initiated a comprehensive mission “Housing For All by 2022” via Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (MoHUPA), who is implementing Housing For All , has suggested some options that are available to States/Union Territories and cities.

These options include advancement of affordable housing for weaker section of society through credit linked subsidy; affordable housing in partnership with public and private sectors; Slum rehabilitation with participation of private developers in which land would be used as a resources; and subsidy for beneficiary-led housing enhancement through repairing.

Must Read: Goverenment Denies Aligarh Muslim University Minority Status

Beneficiaries of Housing For All

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana has decided to target specific groups from the society. These groups include Economically Weaker Section of Society (EWS); women, irrespective of caste and religion; scheduled Caste (SC); and Scheduled Tribes (STs).

The Government of India has announced that, under Housing For All, it would grant a subsidy to people from the above mentioned groups in order to make them able to buy a home for themselves and their families. The amount that is going to be distributed in the form of subsidy may vary from 1 lakh to 2.30 lakh, depending on the total cost of the house.

To maintain the spirit of federalism  the Mission Housing For All is going to cater flexibility to states for selecting best options amongst its four verticles (discussed in the same piece under beneficiaries section) to fulfill the demand of housing in their states. It has been left to the states to prepare the process of project formulation and approval by following the guidelines of the Mission ‘ Housing For All by 2022’. It has been done with a view that in this way the projects can be formulated, approved and implemented faster.

It has been promised by the Government of India that, in order to implement the practice of ‘transparency in doing business’, the Mission ‘ Housing For All by 2022’ is going to develop a virtual platform to procure suggestions and inputs on the design of the house, content and quality of materials, the use of technologies and other elements that are concerned with Urban housing.

Also Read:  Niti Aayog Task Force on Eliminating Poverty

On 25^th December, 2014 the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) launched Mission Indradhanush with the objective to ensure that all children under the age of two years as well as pregnant women are completely immunized with seven vaccine – preventable –diseases. The Mission Indradhanush depicts seven colours of rainbow to target these seven diseases that can be prevented by administering vaccine to children and pregnant women. These diseases are:

1. Diphtheria;
2. Pertussis (whooping Cough);
3. Tetanus;
4. Tuberculosis;
5. Polio;
6. Hepatitis;
7. Measles

Not only this, vaccines for Japanese Encephalitis (JE) and Haemophilus Influenza type B (HIB) are also being catered in some selected States.

Immunization

Immunization is a process through which a child is made resistant to an infectious disease by the administration of a vaccine. Immunization assists in protecting the child from life threatening diseases. It also assists in reducing the spread of disease to others.

Vaccines, administered during the process of immunization work by preparing the child’s body to fight illness by prompting its body to produce antibodies –the disease fighting particles. It enhances the immune system of the child.

A child can be immunized by ANM/staff nurse/ Doctor, who remain present in nearby Government health centre or outreach session site. The immunization services are catered by the private health clinics and private doctors too.

Under the Universal Immunization Programme (UIP), vaccines are administered free of cost in government health centre and at outreach site. There are no side effects from immunization for most of the children. However, some children may feel mild pain or suffer from swelling or redness at the injection site that disappears within a few days.

Although serious side effects are rare and vaccines are continuously monitored for safety, side effects cannot be ruled out completely as is the case with any medicine. According to National Immunization Schedule children can get the vaccine at 6, 10 and 14 week and then at 9 months after their birth. The booster doses are administered at 16-24 months and then at 5 years of age.

Must Read: Nuclear Security Summit (NSS)

Goal and Rationale of Mission Indradhanush

Mission Indradhanush’s final goal is to secure full immunization for children up to two years and pregnant women with all available vaccines. The mission is carefully designed to accomplish high quality routine immunization coverage while providing strength to health systems that can be sustained over years to come. During the last few years, the country’s full immunization coverage has extended only by 1% per year. It is so the Mission Indradhanush has been initiated to expedite the process of immunization and attain full immunization coverage for all children in the country.

The first phase of Mission Indradhanush

In the first phase, in all 28 states in the country, 201 high focus districts have been identified by the Government. These high focus districts have highest number of partially immunized and unimmunized children. Mission Indradhanush intends to target these districts through rigorous efforts and special immunization coverage in the country.

The first phase of the Mission Indradhanush comprised four rounds. The first round commenced on 7^th April 2015 and continued for more than a week. Further second, third and fourth rounds were held in the months of May, June and July respectively for more than a week from 7 of each month. The Government claimed that the first phase of the mission had been very successful.

Achievements of the First Phase of Mission Indradhanush

During the four rounds of the Mission, total 9.4 lakh sessions were organized in which about 20 lakh children were fully vaccinated and 2 crore vaccines were administered. More than 20 lakh pregnant women were administered Tetanus Toxoid vaccine. In order to protect the children against diarrhea more than 57 lakh zinc tablets and 16 lakh ORS packets were freely distributed to them.

Second Phase of Mission Indradhanush

On 7^th October, 2015 the first round of the 2^nd phase of the Mission Indradhanush started. The aim of the second phase has been to attain full immunization in 352 districts that consists 279 mid priority districts, 33 districts from North east States and 40 districts from phase one where large number of missed out children were found.

Also Read: United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)