July 30, 2025 • 10 mins
In the third episode of our five part series in association with Mobile Creches, we bring to you a conversation about the reforms that are needed in order to make the Right to care a universal right.
In this conversation, Niharika Nanda is joined by Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, the Principal Adviser at the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for the National Tuberculosis Elimination Program. She was the Former Director General of Indian Council of Medical Research and a Chief Scientist at WHO. She is also the chair of the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation.
Dr. Soumya shares how we need to provide care and holistic development to children during the age of 0-6 years to provide a foundation for better emotional and physical growth that in the long-term makes them better contributors to economic growth.
Hosted and produced by Niharika Nanda
Edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar
Links for previous episodes:
Episode 1
Episode 2
In this conversation, Niharika Nanda is joined by Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, the Principal Adviser at the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for the National Tuberculosis Elimination Program. She was the Former Director General of Indian Council of Medical Research and a Chief Scientist at WHO. She is also the chair of the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation.
Dr. Soumya shares how we need to provide care and holistic development to children during the age of 0-6 years to provide a foundation for better emotional and physical growth that in the long-term makes them better contributors to economic growth.
Hosted and produced by Niharika Nanda
Edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar
Links for previous episodes:
Episode 1
Episode 2
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hi, I'm Nahari Kananda and you are listening to Express podcasts.
What if every Indian working parent had the legal right
to childcare? In the third episode of our five part
series in association with Mobile Crushes, we explored the policy
road to making the right to care a universal right.
Since the last five decades, Mobile Crushes has been working
(00:23):
to provide children with care, nutrition and early learning that
they need in order to thrive. When we talk about
working families, the provision of quality care is always a
part of the discussion. In this conversation, we are joined
by doctor Samyaswaminathan, the Principal Advisor at the Union Ministry
of Health and Family Welfare for the National Tuberculossis Elimination Program.
(00:47):
She was the former Director General of Indian Council of
Medical Research and a Chief Scientist at w VECHO. She
is also the chair of the MS. Swaminathan Research Foundation.
Today we discuss the reforms that need to be made
in order to make the right to care a universal right.
Doctor Somia shares that there is a need to reskill
and train frontline workers like young and vary workers so
(01:10):
that they can provide care annualistic development to children during
the age of zero to six years, which proves to
be a foundation for better emotional and physical growth that
in the long term makes them better contributors to economic
growth of the country. Doctor Somia, There is enough evidence
available that quality childcare leads to better outcomes on all
(01:32):
aspects of a child's health and growth. From a public
health lens, how can children's health become a contributor for
economic growth?
Speaker 2 (01:41):
So this is a very important question because we know
that early childhood care, nutrition and education both are definitely
linked to both better health in aboultrade as well as
better productivity and increased incos. We know that the majority
of drained growth, for example, happens in betrol first thousand
days of life, and certainly most of it is happening
(02:04):
within the first five years of life. Therefore, children more
have any kind of deprivation nutational, social, educational deprivation at
this period, we not have the same productivity when they
grow up, will not have the same educational attainment, will
not be able to get the same kind of jobs
as a child who has a much better early childhood care.
(02:26):
The other advantage of providing early childhood care of was
is that parents, particularly mother, who otherwise have most of
the responsibility for typical care of the young child, can
actually go to work re employed in formal employment, knowing
that a child is very taken care of and well nourished.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Because do you know that early childhood care includes both
the nutrition and health component as well as the education component.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
And when you provide.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Them holistically, then children are much better prepared for school
and when they enter school, they also do much better
in school. I think for all of these reasons, it's
very very important to see early childhood care and education
as an investment in future economic growth.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
And would it be right to say that the right
to care should be a universal right for every working
family in India? And what are some steps that need
to be taken to achieve this reform?
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Right to care should be a universal light for everyone.
In fact, many elements are already being bided by the government.
For example, the whole ICDs program and the portion of
beyond does provide particularly for help and nutrition support starting
with pregnancy and all the way up to six years
(03:43):
of life. We also have many programs that target pregnant
and lack dating women, maternity benefits and a home based
post native care where the ASHAs are providing care to
both antenatal and post native women, so we have many
of the elements in place. Of course, we don't have
it as a universal right at the moment. The NTHR
(04:04):
Yoga has also talked about the need for crushes and
in fact they have laine doubt that India is going
to lead millions of crushes in the next few years
if we are going to provide that kind of quality
care to young children. So I think if we put
all of this together, then it really adds up to
the right to care, which will again benefit both the
(04:27):
young children who receive it, but also the families. Parents
can go to work knowing that their children are taken
care of in a safe and procure manner.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Right and doctor Somya. Historically, the Triple A workers which
include asha, Anganwadi and A and M which is the
auxiliary nurse midwife, remain undervalued and underpaid. What can be
done so that they can be recognized as skilled workers.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
So our frontline workers that include the asha as, the
anganwadi workers, the A and ms, and now we also
have a new Karda that is mid level health providers
or the shows. These people are very very important in
the provision of care, particularly for women and children. They
had a lot of.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Responsibilities to deal with the health and nutritrition outcomes of
pregnant and lacking women, and they take care of their
children once they are born and then of course through
the ICs system, follow them up all the way to
the age of six years. So really they are absolutely essential,
not just in providing nutrition and healthcare, but more and
(05:30):
more also in providing the early education or the preschool
education that is now recognized to be absolutely an essential
and breedy and apolity childhood care. A focus so far
had been a lot on nutrition and health, but more
and more is recognized that preparing children for school requires
a lot of educational interventions at the age between three
(05:53):
and six years, which is a preschool age two. So
what we need is definitely to have these cards of
the frontline workers that are well trained, that have on
the job skilling and mentoring, supervision and monitoring, that have
promotional avenues. But it could be a partner of workers
that could possibly come in at the lowest level and
(06:15):
then be able to move up and get promoted into
more supervisory roles. And they also should receive the kind
of social benefits there of course their incomes, but also
other kinds of social safety nets so that they feel secure,
that they feel that they are well taken care of,
and therefore they will have the best motivation then to
(06:36):
do would work the who does add guidelines for setting
up these cards of frontline workers, and I think that
that will be a good direction to move in and.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Doctor Samia, now that the Indian government is working on
the WIXED Part twenty forty seven project, what would a
care ecosystem, particularly for care workers and young children look
like in order to achieve that goal.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
This is going to be a very important development and
an area where we will need to focus.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
So, as we have spoken, in order to have economic productivity,
you need firstly a healthy workforce. Secondly, you need a
workforce that as support with some of the other family meets.
And we know that one of the most important needs
is childhood care. Of course, increasingly we will have elderly
(07:26):
care also as a need as India grow older gradually.
But right now we have a young and productive workforce
and we have to reap the benefits of this demographic dividend.
Then we must have care being provided, particularly for children
in the age group of zero to six years, so
starting with pressures and then going on to free school
(07:47):
and I think that there's already lean a lot of
discussion on this. THETHIO does have a paper out particularly
focusing on the education aspects the National Education Policy and
T twenty also emphasizes police school education and I think
at the highest levels of government this has been recognized
as a priority.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
So in order to attain a Vixit barat three entey
forty seven, it's going to be important to really provide
the best environment for young children, particularly in the age
group of zero to six years, both in terms of
providing good nutrition or healthcare, but also good preschool education
so that children can attain their full potential of mental, physical,
(08:25):
cognitive and emotional development. And when they grow into adults,
they are going to be both healthy but also economically
much more productive.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Absolutely, and doctor Somia, thank you so much for these
insights and any message that you would like to share
for our listeners on how they can contribute to the
care ecosystem in India.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
I believe that just creating more awareness about the importance,
the critical importance of this age group from the time
that the baby is born. In fact, the time begins
when the baby's in the womb, all the way up
to six years is a most critical piece in the
lifetime of an individual because this is when an individual
(09:05):
can attain their full genetic potential that as well as
teens they're gone with. They can only achieve the full
potentially if they get nutrition, if they get good healthcare,
and if they get a nurturing environment that includes cognitive
stimuliation pre skeew education at this age. And I think
just creating that awareness amount of the public at the
(09:27):
large will go a long way in ensuring that both parents,
family members, also policymakers are sensitive to this fact and
will then be committed to provide a care at this
young and very very vulnerable aid we can prepare our
(09:47):
country to be a developed nation by twenty forty seven.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
You were listening to doctor Samyasaminathan in the third episode
of our five part series in association with More Bile Crushes.
If you want to listen to the first two episodes,
the links for the same have been provided in the description.
Today's show was edited and mixed by Surreysh. Pawar and
produced by Mehri Kananda. If you write the show, then
do subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts. You
(10:16):
can also recommend the show to someone you think we'll
like it, share it with a friend or someone in
your family. It's the best way for people to get
to know about us. You can also tweet us at
Express Podcasts or write to us at podcasts at internetxpress
dot com.
Hi, I'm Nahari Kananda and you are listening to Express podcasts.
What if every Indian working parent had the legal right
to childcare? In the third episode of our five part
series in association with Mobile Crushes, we explored the policy
road to making the right to care a universal right.
Since the last five decades, Mobile Crushes has been working
(00:23):
to provide children with care, nutrition and early learning that
they need in order to thrive. When we talk about
working families, the provision of quality care is always a
part of the discussion. In this conversation, we are joined
by doctor Samyaswaminathan, the Principal Advisor at the Union Ministry
of Health and Family Welfare for the National Tuberculossis Elimination Program.
(00:47):
She was the former Director General of Indian Council of
Medical Research and a Chief Scientist at w VECHO. She
is also the chair of the MS. Swaminathan Research Foundation.
Today we discuss the reforms that need to be made
in order to make the right to care a universal right.
Doctor Somia shares that there is a need to reskill
and train frontline workers like young and vary workers so
(01:10):
that they can provide care annualistic development to children during
the age of zero to six years, which proves to
be a foundation for better emotional and physical growth that
in the long term makes them better contributors to economic
growth of the country. Doctor Somia, There is enough evidence
available that quality childcare leads to better outcomes on all
(01:32):
aspects of a child's health and growth. From a public
health lens, how can children's health become a contributor for
economic growth?
Speaker 2 (01:41):
So this is a very important question because we know
that early childhood care, nutrition and education both are definitely
linked to both better health in aboultrade as well as
better productivity and increased incos. We know that the majority
of drained growth, for example, happens in betrol first thousand
days of life, and certainly most of it is happening
(02:04):
within the first five years of life. Therefore, children more
have any kind of deprivation nutational, social, educational deprivation at
this period, we not have the same productivity when they
grow up, will not have the same educational attainment, will
not be able to get the same kind of jobs
as a child who has a much better early childhood care.
(02:26):
The other advantage of providing early childhood care of was
is that parents, particularly mother, who otherwise have most of
the responsibility for typical care of the young child, can
actually go to work re employed in formal employment, knowing
that a child is very taken care of and well nourished.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Because do you know that early childhood care includes both
the nutrition and health component as well as the education component.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
And when you provide.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Them holistically, then children are much better prepared for school
and when they enter school, they also do much better
in school. I think for all of these reasons, it's
very very important to see early childhood care and education
as an investment in future economic growth.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
And would it be right to say that the right
to care should be a universal right for every working
family in India? And what are some steps that need
to be taken to achieve this reform?
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Right to care should be a universal light for everyone.
In fact, many elements are already being bided by the government.
For example, the whole ICDs program and the portion of
beyond does provide particularly for help and nutrition support starting
with pregnancy and all the way up to six years
(03:43):
of life. We also have many programs that target pregnant
and lack dating women, maternity benefits and a home based
post native care where the ASHAs are providing care to
both antenatal and post native women, so we have many
of the elements in place. Of course, we don't have
it as a universal right at the moment. The NTHR
(04:04):
Yoga has also talked about the need for crushes and
in fact they have laine doubt that India is going
to lead millions of crushes in the next few years
if we are going to provide that kind of quality
care to young children. So I think if we put
all of this together, then it really adds up to
the right to care, which will again benefit both the
(04:27):
young children who receive it, but also the families. Parents
can go to work knowing that their children are taken
care of in a safe and procure manner.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Right and doctor Somya. Historically, the Triple A workers which
include asha, Anganwadi and A and M which is the
auxiliary nurse midwife, remain undervalued and underpaid. What can be
done so that they can be recognized as skilled workers.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
So our frontline workers that include the asha as, the
anganwadi workers, the A and ms, and now we also
have a new Karda that is mid level health providers
or the shows. These people are very very important in
the provision of care, particularly for women and children. They
had a lot of.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Responsibilities to deal with the health and nutritrition outcomes of
pregnant and lacking women, and they take care of their
children once they are born and then of course through
the ICs system, follow them up all the way to
the age of six years. So really they are absolutely essential,
not just in providing nutrition and healthcare, but more and
(05:30):
more also in providing the early education or the preschool
education that is now recognized to be absolutely an essential
and breedy and apolity childhood care. A focus so far
had been a lot on nutrition and health, but more
and more is recognized that preparing children for school requires
a lot of educational interventions at the age between three
(05:53):
and six years, which is a preschool age two. So
what we need is definitely to have these cards of
the frontline workers that are well trained, that have on
the job skilling and mentoring, supervision and monitoring, that have
promotional avenues. But it could be a partner of workers
that could possibly come in at the lowest level and
(06:15):
then be able to move up and get promoted into
more supervisory roles. And they also should receive the kind
of social benefits there of course their incomes, but also
other kinds of social safety nets so that they feel secure,
that they feel that they are well taken care of,
and therefore they will have the best motivation then to
(06:36):
do would work the who does add guidelines for setting
up these cards of frontline workers, and I think that
that will be a good direction to move in and.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Doctor Samia, now that the Indian government is working on
the WIXED Part twenty forty seven project, what would a
care ecosystem, particularly for care workers and young children look
like in order to achieve that goal.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
This is going to be a very important development and
an area where we will need to focus.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
So, as we have spoken, in order to have economic productivity,
you need firstly a healthy workforce. Secondly, you need a
workforce that as support with some of the other family meets.
And we know that one of the most important needs
is childhood care. Of course, increasingly we will have elderly
(07:26):
care also as a need as India grow older gradually.
But right now we have a young and productive workforce
and we have to reap the benefits of this demographic dividend.
Then we must have care being provided, particularly for children
in the age group of zero to six years, so
starting with pressures and then going on to free school
(07:47):
and I think that there's already lean a lot of
discussion on this. THETHIO does have a paper out particularly
focusing on the education aspects the National Education Policy and
T twenty also emphasizes police school education and I think
at the highest levels of government this has been recognized
as a priority.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
So in order to attain a Vixit barat three entey
forty seven, it's going to be important to really provide
the best environment for young children, particularly in the age
group of zero to six years, both in terms of
providing good nutrition or healthcare, but also good preschool education
so that children can attain their full potential of mental, physical,
(08:25):
cognitive and emotional development. And when they grow into adults,
they are going to be both healthy but also economically
much more productive.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Absolutely, and doctor Somia, thank you so much for these
insights and any message that you would like to share
for our listeners on how they can contribute to the
care ecosystem in India.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
I believe that just creating more awareness about the importance,
the critical importance of this age group from the time
that the baby is born. In fact, the time begins
when the baby's in the womb, all the way up
to six years is a most critical piece in the
lifetime of an individual because this is when an individual
(09:05):
can attain their full genetic potential that as well as
teens they're gone with. They can only achieve the full
potentially if they get nutrition, if they get good healthcare,
and if they get a nurturing environment that includes cognitive
stimuliation pre skeew education at this age. And I think
just creating that awareness amount of the public at the
(09:27):
large will go a long way in ensuring that both parents,
family members, also policymakers are sensitive to this fact and
will then be committed to provide a care at this
young and very very vulnerable aid we can prepare our
(09:47):
country to be a developed nation by twenty forty seven.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
You were listening to doctor Samyasaminathan in the third episode
of our five part series in association with More Bile Crushes.
If you want to listen to the first two episodes,
the links for the same have been provided in the description.
Today's show was edited and mixed by Surreysh. Pawar and
produced by Mehri Kananda. If you write the show, then
do subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts. You
(10:16):
can also recommend the show to someone you think we'll
like it, share it with a friend or someone in
your family. It's the best way for people to get
to know about us. You can also tweet us at
Express Podcasts or write to us at podcasts at internetxpress
dot com.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!