Food-based strategies & ‘right to repair’ and ‘right to remember’ in India’s digital policy landscape

General Studies – II:Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International relations.

1.“Food-based strategies are essential complements to health-based interventions in addressing malnutrition.” Discuss how the introduction of bio-fortified crops like iron-rich potatoes supports the objectives of India’s nutrition policies and welfare schemes.

Malnutrition, particularly micronutrient deficiencies like iron-deficiency anemia, remains a persistent challenge in India. While health-based interventions such as iron supplementation and deworming are vital, food-based strategies like biofortification offer sustainable, preventive, and culturally acceptable solutions. The upcoming introduction of iron-rich bio-fortified potatoes represents a significant stride in aligning agricultural innovation with nutritional goals.

SUPPORTING OBJECTIVES:

1. Aligns with Poshan Abhiyaan (2018):The flagship mission aims to reduce anemia by 3% per year among children, women, and adolescent girls.

Example: Introducing iron-biofortified potatoes into anganwadi meals can improve micronutrient density in diets in tribal belts of Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand.

2. Complements Anemia Mukt Bharat (AMB): AMB’s 6x6x6 strategy includes supplementation, deworming, and testing. Food-based strategies reduce dependency on tablets alone.

Example: In rural Odisha, where IFA tablet adherence is low due to side effects, iron-rich foods offer a practical alternative.

3. Strengthens ICDS and Mid-Day Meal Schemes: These schemes reach crores of children and mothers but often lack iron-rich ingredients.

Example: Iron-biofortified potatoes could be incorporated into school meals in Bihar, a state with over 60% anemia among children.

4. Targets ‘hidden hunger’:Micronutrient deficiencies exist even when caloric intake is sufficient.

Example: In urban slums where junk food is prevalent, fortified staples like iron-rich potatoes offer a stealth intervention.

5. Improves nutritional quality of PDS:: The PDS currently provides rice and wheat with minimal micronutrient value.

Example: Chhattisgarh, which already distributes fortified rice through PDS, can expand this by integrating iron-rich potato distribution through state procurement.

6. Focuses on women and adolescent girls:These groups are biologically and socioeconomically more vulnerable to iron-deficiency anemia.

Example: Integrating iron-rich potatoes in hostel meals for adolescent girls in Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs) can boost their iron intake.

7. Contributions to SDG-2 (Zero Hunger):SDG-2 includes eliminating all forms of malnutrition by 2030.

Example: Countries like Rwanda and Peru have integrated biofortified crops into national food systems to tackle anemia, a strategy India is now beginning to adopt.

8. Supports Atmanirbhar Bharat in nutrition: Encouraging indigenous development of nutrient-rich crops reduces reliance on imported supplements.

Example: ICAR-Central Potato Research Institute (CPRI) and Indian biotech startups are developing high-iron varieties locally.

9. Empowers state-level nutrition missions:States like Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have independent nutrition action plans.

Example: These states can procure biofortified crops through local farmer cooperatives to strengthen decentralized public health nutrition.

10. Promotes nutrition-sensitive farming:Explanation: Encourages farmers to grow high-nutrient crops with government support, linking agriculture to public health.

Example: Under the National Horticulture Mission, iron-rich potato cultivation could be incentivized in high-altitude tribal regions like Himachal Pradesh.

Iron-biofortified potatoes represent a technological leap in agriculture and a policy breakthrough in nutrition. They demonstrate how food-based strategies can directly support and strengthen existing health-based interventions and welfare schemes

Source:

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/bio-fortified-potatoes-to-hit-indian-market-soon/article69890666.ece#:~:text=CIP’s%20regional%20centre%20in%20Agra,in%20the%20region%3A%20Simon%20Heck&text=Bio%2Dfortified%20potatoes%2C%20with%20added,an%20interview%20to%20The%20Hindu.

News:

Bio-fortified potatoes to hit Indian market soon-THE HINDU

General Studies – III: Indian Economy and issues relating to Planning, Mobilization of Resources, Growth, Development and Employment.

2.Examine the challenges and opportunities of enforcing the ‘right to repair’ and ‘right to remember’ in India’s digital policy landscape.

As India deepens its digital economy and sustainability goals, rights like the ‘Right to Repair’ and the emerging ‘Right to Remember’ gain relevance. While the former ensures consumer freedom to fix and extend the life of devices, the latter emphasizes preserving human knowledge, memories, and agency in a digital world. Recent steps, like the proposed Repairability Index and e-waste reforms, signal progress—but major structural, cultural, and legal challenges persist in realising these rights holistically. 

Opportunities :

1. Empowering Consumers & Extending Product Lifespan:
   • Example: A 2025 government report proposes a Repairability Index for mobiles/appliances to rate ease of repair.Enables informed purchases and fosters long-term usability.
     
2. Boosting Informal Economy and Skill-Based Livelihoods;
   • Example: Technicians at Ritchie Street (Chennai) and Karol Bagh (Delhi) extend product life via tacit knowledge.Recognition of their skills can formalise and protect jobs.
     
3. Embedding Repair Culture into Digital and AI Frameworks:
   • Example: Using AI to capture local repair stories as training data for structured diagnostics.Converts grassroots knowledge into machine-readable formats without erasing context.
     
4. Strengthening Circular Economy & E-Waste Mitigation:
   • Example: India generates over 1.6 million tonnes of e-waste annually.Enabling repair over disposal supports SDG 12 on sustainable consumption.
     
5. Inclusive Skilling and Education Policies:
   • Example: Tailoring PMKVY courses to include unstructured, observation-based learning of repair work.Helps acknowledge non-institutional learning paths.
     
6. Data Justice and Human Agency in AI:
   • Example: The ‘Right to Remember’ protects personal digital memory against algorithmic erasure.Balances the ‘Right to be Forgotten’ with the right to preserve lived digital history.
     
7. Global Leadership in Repair Justice:
   • Example: The EU’s Right to Repair law mandates spare parts and open documentation.India can craft a model suited to the Global South’s repair-intensive realities.

 Challenges :

1. Resistance from Manufacturers & Proprietary Design:
   • Example: As per iFixit (2023), only 23% of smartphones sold in Asia are easily repairable.Corporates resist open access to parts and documentation.
     
2. Policy Blind Spots and Tokenism:
   • Example: E-Waste (Management) Rules 2022 emphasize recycling, with scant mention of repair.Repair seen as a service, not a policy priority or knowledge asset.
     
3. Marginalisation of Tacit Knowledge:
   • Example: Repairers rely on muscle memory and intuition; yet NEP 2020 lacks specific support for such non-formal skill systems.Risks erasing generational expertise passed informally.
     
4. Exclusion from Skilling and Social Protection:
   • Example: Informal repairers aren’t integrated into e-Shram or PMKVY.Their contribution to sustainability remains invisible in policy ecosystems.
     
5. Designs Against Repair:
   • Example: Compact and sealed devices make disassembly difficult without damaging components.Planned obsolescence undermines a repair-first culture.
     
6. Digital Forgetting vs. Remembering Dilemma:
   • Example: The ‘Right to Remember’ may conflict with others’ ‘Right to be Forgotten’.Raises ethical and legal issues around data sovereignty and memory.
     
7. Fragmented Governance & Lack of Coordination:
   • Example: MEITY, MoSPI, Ministry of Labour, and Skill Development Ministry all play fragmented roles.No unified repair ecosystem policy or inter-ministerial mechanism yet exists.

The Right to Repair and Right to Remember are not just consumer or digital rights—they are cultural, environmental, and epistemic imperatives. They challenge India to value the knowledge embedded in hands-on work and the memory embedded in everyday devices. Enforcing these rights requires more than regulation—it demands a shift in how we design, discard, and document. As India shapes its AI and digital future, embracing repair as justice and memory as agency could make its technology not just smart—but sustainable and inclusive.

Source:

https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/the-right-to-repair-must-include-right-to-remember/article69890803.ece#:~:text=In%20an%20age%20of%20cloud,vital%20to%20India’s%20material%20resilience.

News:

The ‘right to repair’ must include the ‘right to remember’-THE HINDU