In its latest edition of the Statistical Manual of the Indian States, the Reserve Bank of India has recorded a steady decline in Telangana’s MMR under the TRS rules over the past eight years.
Updated – Sat 11/26/22 09:36pm
go through Anil Kumar
Hyderabad: After Niti Aayog and Census Commissioner, Home Ministry and other central agencies, now RBI also noted Telangana’s success in reducing maternal mortality ratio from 81 per lakh live births in 2014 to 56 by 2022 The national average is 103.
What is striking, however, is how the country’s youngest state, the target of constant accusations and accusations by the BJP, has outperformed other states, especially those ruled by the BJP, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Gujarat state. Despite Modi promoting Gujarat’s healthcare system under the slogan “Healthy Gujarat, Prosperous Gujarat” during his tenure as chief minister, the state has failed to reduce maternal mortality despite more than two decades of BJP rule.
Telangana, on the other hand, has the lowest maternal mortality rate in the country for the past three years, after Kerala and Maharashtra. Interestingly, during Narendra Modi’s tenure as chief minister, Gujarat’s maternal mortality rate was much higher than its current rate of 70 per 100,000 live births. During 2011-13, Gujarat’s MMR was 112 (one of the highest in the country), despite Modi’s high demands on the healthcare system.
In its latest edition of the Statistical Manual of the Indian States, the Reserve Bank of India has recorded a steady decline in Telangana’s MMR under the TRS rules over the past eight years. On the other hand, Narendra Modi’s government, despite its 9th year in power, has done little to reduce the country’s MMR. 448 of India’s 640 districts have a MMR above the target set by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The MMR under the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is 70, while India’s current MMR is 103.
According to RBI data, the five states of Uttarakhand (101), West Bengal (109), Punjab (114), Bihar (130), Odisha (136) and Rajasthan (141) States have MMRs between 100 and 150, while MMRs are above 150 in four states: Chhattisgarh (160), Madhya Pradesh (163), Uttar Pradesh (167) and Assam (205 ). Meanwhile, MMRs in Kerala, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh fell by more than 15%, while Telangana, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Bihar, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh fell by 10-15%.
Under the Arogya Lakshmi programme, the Telangana government has been providing nutritious food to pregnant women and newborns through 35,700 Anganwadi centers since January 2015. As many as 472,000 women and 1,763 children under the age of 6 have benefited from the program so far.
