Consider the following statements in the context of interventions being undertaken under Anaemia Mukt Bharat Strategy : 1. It provides prophylactic calcium supplementation for pre-school children, adolescents and pregnant women. 2. It runs a campaign for delayed cord clamping at the time of child-birth. 3. It provides for periodic deworming to children and adolescents. 4. It addresses non-nutritional causes of anaemia in endemic pockets with special focus on malaria, hemoglobinopathies and fluorosis. How many of the statements given above are correct?
- (a) Only one
- (b) Only two
- (c) Only three ✓ UPSC's answer
- (d) All four
Why the answer is (c)
• Anaemia Mukt Bharat (2018) uses a '6x6x6' strategy — six interventions, six target groups, six institutional mechanisms — to cut anaemia among children, adolescents and women.
• Statement 1 is wrong: the supplementation provided is prophylactic iron and folic acid (IFA), not calcium.
• Statement 2 is correct: delayed cord clamping (by at least three minutes) is promoted to improve the newborn's iron stores.
• Statement 3 is correct: biannual deworming with albendazole is given to children and adolescents; statement 4 is correct: the strategy addresses non-nutritional causes — malaria, haemoglobinopathies and fluorosis — in endemic pockets.
• Hence three statements, option (c).
Why the other options are wrong
- (a) Only one
- Statements 2, 3 and 4 are all correct.
- (b) Only two
- Three statements, not two, are correct.
- (d) All four
- Statement 1 is wrong: the supplement is iron-folic acid, not calcium.
Asked in the GS Paper I of the UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2023, held on 28 May 2023. Question and answer key: Union Public Service Commission. Explanation: UPSC Answer Check.