Mission SEHAT: ICAR-ICMR Nutrition and Health Mission
Why in the news
With grain supply largely secured, the focus is moving to nutrition. The Agriculture and Health research councils jointly started a mission to turn farm progress into better health and to favour prevention over cure.
Key facts
- Launch: 11 May 2026, New Delhi, as a national mission-mode programme.
- Partners: ICAR and ICMR; unveiled by Health Minister J. P. Nadda and Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
- Aims: promote production and use of nutrient-rich foods, shift health policy from treatment to prevention, tackle non-communicable diseases and micronutrient gaps, strengthen One Health and convergence across sectors.
- Concern behind it: some studies found modern high-yielding varieties carry up to 38% less calcium, iron and phosphorus, a possible cause of hidden hunger.
Five-pronged action plan
- Biofortified, nutrient-dense crops: higher iron, zinc and vitamins; more millet use. ICAR examples: wheat HD-3171 and MACS 4028; rice CR Dhan 310 and DRR Dhan 45; pearl millet HHB 299; maize Pusa Vivek QPM 9 Improved.
- Integrated Farming Systems: crops mixed with horticulture, animal husbandry, bees, fish, poultry and piggery for diverse diets, income and climate resilience.
- Agriculture-linked NCD strategies: functional foods (probiotic, omega-3, antioxidant-rich); discourage processed and oily foods; PM’s call to cut sugar, salt and oil.
- Occupational health of farmers: less exposure to toxic pesticides and chemicals; safer practices.
- One Health: joint work on human, animal and environmental health, with integrated surveillance, diagnostics and research.
| NFHS-6 indicator | NFHS-6 (2023-24) | Earlier |
|---|---|---|
| Overweight or obese men | 27.3% | 22.9% (NFHS-5) |
| Overweight or obese women | 30.7% | 24.0% (NFHS-5) |
| Children underweight | 31.8% | 32.1% |
| Children stunted | 29.3% | 35.5% |
| Children wasted | 19.0% | 19.3% |
| Severe wasting | 5.2% | 7.7% |
Background: NFHS and the two councils
- NFHS: run by IIPS, Mumbai, under the Health Ministry, roughly every five years; NFHS-6 was released on 29 May 2026 and covered 715 districts.
- Other NFHS-6 results: institutional deliveries 90.6%, full immunisation 87.1%, C-section 27.2%, exclusive breastfeeding 55.8% (down from 63.7%), TFR 1.9 (below replacement level of 2.1).
- ICAR: founded 16 July 1929, renamed 1946, headquartered at Krishi Bhavan, New Delhi; releases crop varieties.
- ICMR: founded 1911 as Indian Research Fund Association, renamed 1949; apex body for biomedical research; sits under the Health Ministry.
- One Health: view linking human, animal and environmental health; India’s National One Health Mission began in 2021.
Exam angle
- Expansion of SEHAT and the two launching bodies.
- Terms: hidden hunger, biofortification, dual burden of malnutrition, One Health.
- Related schemes: POSHAN Abhiyaan, PM POSHAN, Eat Right India, Ayushman Bharat.