(Experience in UPSC) We all just wanted to ask you about your experience in civil services and the field of policymaking and what advice do you have for young enthusiasts, especially women who are interested in the field of public policy?-
Very often people say it is a disadvantage to be a woman in civil services, but I never felt that way, I think it is an advantage to be a woman in this field. Let me tell you why, it is a matter of perception, women are perceived to be relatively honest, fair and we don't have time to gossip or get into negativity because we always have a lot on our plate. So that way people don’t waste your time. People never wasted my time, on gossiping etc. That way, time management by women officers is much better and they don't beat around the bush. Maybe I was lucky too. One disadvantage is, I think that we don’t network much, men sometimes go out after office, have a drink together after office and all that. In my 36+ years of civil services, I have always very diligently nurtured women officers. I have always said that women officers are better, sorry I am being partial but I have seen that women have always gone beyond their call of duty and I also felt that they were more sincere, forthright and honest in their work. They did have some constraints sometimes, like child leave, needing to be at home etc, but they would compensate for it. I am talking not only about IAS officers but also women officers across the spectrum. For example, when I was special secretary in the women and child development ministry, I had a lot of consultants, young girls and I learnt so much from them, (they were) very bright and it was such a pleasure to work with them. There are also perceptions that women can’t handle difficult portfolios but I think I was lucky, I was in the finance department as joint secretary, budget, and then special secretary and secretary for nearly a decade in my cadre and also as health secretary later. So I think I broke that barrier. I was lucky but it also has to do with, you don't think of yourself as any different or inferior because you are a woman. I always thought of myself as superior, being a woman was an advantage because I was always more sincere in my work. So, I would say to all of you, that you are unique, and will make very successful officers, great entrepreneurs, in whatever you do! Whatever you do, just always give it your 100%, and mind you, it is possible to give 100% to various things because women have 10 hands, you should never constrain yourself.
Q1:The recent trends in the decline in female labour force participation which has also been amplified in the context of the pandemic, can potentially impact gender equality and economic gains and set the tone for employment opportunities for women. What measures do you think that policymakers should take to ensure more diverse workforce participation which will also help India to optimise its current demographic dividend?
Ms Preeti Sudan: According to the world bank estimates India’s female labour force participation rate (FLFPR) had fallen to 20.3% in 2019 itself from 26% in 2005. ILO and other organisations have also confirmed that this would have become worse considering how livelihoods have been impacted, especially livelihoods of women as many work in the unorganised sector. Therefore, I would say that this is a matter of great concern. But before we can come to what measures we can take, let’s see what affects the FLFPR. It is a very complex play of both economic factors and social factors. Education attainment, fertility rate, age of marriage, economic growth and cyclic affects , urbanisation and just general mindsets, all these affect female labour participation. I used to get intrigued by the fact that especially in the rural areas, as families get affluent, women stop working. So there is a perception that women need not work to support families ignoring the fact that women can also work to fulfil their potential. This is typical Indian middle class thinking. The first reason I would say is stereotyping in society where women are supposed to take the responsibility of child care and family care and men are not in the picture. Smriti Irani, the WCD minister in a recent interview was asked how she manages between her children and her job and her reply was “this question itself smacks of gender disbalance”. This mindset and stereotyping serves as a critical barrier to women’s labour force participation and so this needs to be addressed. Secondly, the digital divide also adds to the problem. In 2019, the internet users were 67% male and 33% female and this percentage was even more skewed in rural areas. With the pandemic, this divide would have become wider. I have myself seen that in some families where they just have one device or phone, it is always the boy who gets preference to attend classes. Third reason could also be the technological disruption. Women mainly hold administrative and data processing roles that artificial intelligence and other technologies threaten to usurp. As jobs get automated, the pressure on women will intensify. With the technological leaps that we are seeing coupled with the digital divide, women will continue to be affected by this. Also there is a lack of gender related data as well which is true even globally. This segregated data isn’t available. When I was in WCD there was a lot of talk on household work going uncounted and an inclusion of it would increase the participation of women in the workforce. However, putting a value on a mother’s work, love and affection is difficult. So at that time I used to say that we have to value women’s work and not put value on it. But from an economic sense, I would say it is definitely an issue because the estimates don’t count women’s work. Having said that, I think a lot needs to be done on this front. Mckinsey global institute has suggested that if women were to participate in the Indian economy at the rate that men do, the GDP would be increased by 60% above its projected 2025 GDP. So, there is an acknowledgement even in the government that we need to increase the participation of females in the labour force. Some recommendations I have is to provide full time child care which is already under implementation in the government. ICDS (Integrated Child Development Scheme) provides part time child care services but we need full time child care centres which SEWA (Self Employed Women’s Association) provides. They have these Sangini centres where working women can leave their children. We need to expand and create more such centres which also cater to children's nutrition and health. Secondly, we need to bridge the digital divide and for this, we need both public and private partnerships in order to make devices more affordable and to also enhance female digital literacy. The social context of this is also very important and therefore as a policy initiative we need to take this bridging of the digital divide very consciously. Flexible working will also help. With the pandemic working styles have changed where digital platforms have replaced face to face interactions. I think we need that kind of flexibility in the corporate world and also in some ways in organised labour environments as well so that women can avail that also. Next, we need some physical incentives. Women have a higher elasticity of labour supply than men and lower income taxes for women can incentivise their participation. Already the standard slab for women is higher for taxation which means that only when they earn a certain amount, will women be taxed. So it is in favour of women but we can do better on this front. Also encouraging women entrepreneurship would also prove to be beneficial. Falguni Nayar who is the CEO of Nykaa is an example of how women entrepreneurship can make a difference and lead their companies to a unicorn status. We need to create an environment where women can flourish. Also, safe transportation for women to workplaces, to come back home even at odd hours or flexible hours is very important. It is an important initiative that the government needs to take. Delhi was providing taxi services to women with taxi drivers who were women. So a lot of women working at call centres going to Gurgaon from Delhi or in the NCR area used to avail these services when work from home was not going on. Those kind of special buses, which we already have, need to be put in place in a structured manner in occupational areas so that women can commute properly. We also need to prioritise gender statistics. There is a UN women initiative called “Making every woman count” launched in 2016 to prioritise gender data. So this needs to be taken forward. So basically I would say that skill development, access to childcare and maternity protection, providing safe and accessible transport, flexible working timings are some of the initiatives that the government could take to promote increased female participation in labour.
Follow up question: Ma’am we also wanted to know your opinion on pink tax. For a lot of products, women have to pay more (for eg: a razor for a man is much cheaper than a razor for a woman) and this gets intensified with the pay disparity in the picture as well. Do you think this is something that can also be addressed in some way?
Ms Preeti Sudan: This I would say is a matter of demand and supply. We cannot segregate the consumption items like this. Women razors might be expensive but waxing strips are affordable. So there are choices available. I think this is a more demand-driven economy. I don’t think we should waste government priorities on that. Skilling is more important. I was reading an article which said “skilling, re-skilling and upskilling”. This is what women need. With COVID, the structure and nature of the economy which will now evolve will require us to take up some policies for women so that they are encouraged to participate in economic activities because otherwise all these technological breakthroughs that we are witnessing, are actually to the disadvantage of women.
Q2: What are your views on the Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill seeking to increase the minimum age of marriage of females to 21 years? What do you think would be the long-run impacts of this in terms of the contribution of women in economic development and on the labour market?
Ms Preeti Sudan: I will give you my views on it. I think it’s a good move. And it’s a good move for the following reasons: First is it brings in gender neutrality. When boys marry at 21 why should girls not marry at 21. Then next is that it gives girls an opportunity to at least have their under-grad degree and learn an employable skill. So definitely then their chances of being economically independent rise. Then it is good for their health as child- bearing age gets postponed. Their bodies are strong enough to bear the load of child bearing. It is good for mental health also. You see a teenager marrying, it’s a great transition. So, you need to be mentally prepared for transitioning into marriage, so 21 is a good age. And of course, it will have a very good impact on female participation and economy basically because again I would say that they will have more time to learn a skill, more time to complete their education. So definitely in my view I am for it. Though there are a lot of people who are actually opposing it, but I think it’s a good move.
Q3: From the recent NFHS data we have seen that the current total fertility rate of India has seen a decline to 2.0 which is less than 2.1 that is the replacement rate. But there are some states which still have a high rate of fertility like Bihar, MP, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh. However, this data supports the prediction of population stabilisation by 2050. With this short demographic window, what steps can India undertake to reap the maximum demographic dividend in this period and brace itself for a potential increase in the ageing population in the future?
Ms Preeti Sudan: According to a FICCI-EY Report, concerted efforts towards a flexible, contextual, deregulated, decentralised delivery approach can help. One can make hundreds of policies at the central level but implementation is at the ground level. So unless and until we decentralise, empower the districts, villages and subdivisions then only one can get results as far as job creation, skilling and education are concerned. The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) has initiated a pilot project on the Hub and Spoke Model. The idea is that ITIs’(Industrial Training Institutes) and Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendras will be leveraged as a hub of vocational education and [encourage] training by schools that will have access to these training hubs. With this energy, the students will be exposed to a wide range of possibilities and can choose the technology they want to master. So by the time students complete school they will have at least one certification of the level of two to four NSQF ( National Skills Qualification Framework) Certificates. Such students will come out with some kind of employable skill. Whatever you learn, your education and skill should make you employable. This project is currently in four states only. Skilling and education are correlated. The new education policy in my view is a good policy because it not only looks at increasing enrollment but also retention because it is flexible. Especially for girl students, it is a great step forward. We should also recognise the potential of our ageing population. An increase in retirement age, given the improved status of health among the ageing population, (I would say my health is much better than what my mother’s was at this age) will help. The fact that you are interacting with me because you are hoping to learn something means that the ageing population still has something to offer. So opportunities for mentorship by the elderly for the young will be good. So these are some of the things that could be done to hone in the small window of opportunity that we have. But it is a huge task given the covid environment. It is a difficult call for Policy Makers.
Followup Question: Ma’am you mentioned the new education policy; several reports from Pratham and other organisations which conduct surveys about the quality of education in India have stated that although the enrollment and literacy rates are rising, the quality of education in terms of application of knowledge and employability is quite low. What steps according to you can be taken to improve the quality of education in India?
Ms Preeti Sudan: One thing about the new education policy is that up to a certain class one can learn in their vernacular which has made things easier. Also, the policy is flexible in nature, so one can come back and forth and continue from where they left due to any unforeseen reasons. In the new policy, there is an emphasis on the education quality too. Also, retraining of teachers, random testing of students in the class and linking that to performance incentives for teachers are some of the ways in which we can work on the quality of education in India.
Q4: As we know, the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao campaign, one of the major flagship programmes, is entering its 7th year on 22nd January. We would like to know what was the economic thinking behind this initiation? How do you evaluate its impact on the economy? Do you think India has fulfilled all the objectives of the campaign or is there room for having new measures?
Ms Preeti Sudan: First of all, I would like to mention that I had the good fortune of actually designing and then launching this scheme. I viewed this slogan as an empowerment of women on a lifecycle and if you see the English folder, it says ‘Nurture the Girl child and educate her’, it doesn’t say ‘Save the girl child and educate her’. Actually this scheme, I would say, was our Honourable Prime Minister’s own idea because a similar scheme called Beti Vadhaao in Gujarat was already there before Beti Bachao Beti Padhao and that scheme was for strict implementation of the Pre-Conception & Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1994 (PC-PNDT Act). Basically, because the child sex ratio was so low and in the Government of India, this actually succeeded the district scheme for skewed child sex ratio where districts were given some funds to actually ensure that illegal abortions and scanning of the foetus were not done. But when we envisaged it, we visualised it as an empowerment scheme because we have been observing that behind the adverse child sex ratio, it is actually the mindset of certain people, again, son preference and all those typical notions. So to address the mindsets is not easy but I feel very vindicated and happy and proud when I see this Beti Bachao Beti Padhao sign behind trucks and autos as this proves that it has ignited the imagination of people everywhere. It’s an extremely heartening sign and also we consciously did not keep any brand ambassador for this scheme. There went a lot of thinking behind it. It is because we felt that people needed to connect locally with this campaign; for instance, in a village, there is a father who is nurturing his daughters or a sarpanch who is encouraging women or in any, say, occupational setting, somebody who is encouraging women employees. So, ‘they’ became our champions. So there are a lot of champions of this scheme at the local level and that is again very touching. From the economic sense, if you ask me, it is very obvious that we are letting the girl child live and live with dignity, empowering her with education so that she can have an independent life also, she can choose her life. So it is all linked. Therefore, the economics behind it is that women are equal participants in a nation’s development and it is definite that as women progress, the nation progresses. So that's how the scheme was envisaged. And I believe that it has done well. The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data is encouraging. (Talking in terms of sex ratio), There are more number of women than men now in many parts of the country which is gratifying. But I think it's all about parity, it's all about meeting your full potential.
Follow up question: Ma’am since you also mentioned the digital divide earlier, how can we leverage this Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme to address the digital divide? Ms
Preeti Sudan: We know in the schools itself that we actually need to provide education which will technologically or digitally empower girls and of course, as you know, now, we do have computer literacy in schools to teach them. There are also schemes that provide digital literacy to women. Vocational Training Programmes are conducted for girls who are out of school to teach them life skills like how to open a bank account for instance. Similarly, the basics of computer literacy are also taught. Those kinds of things need to be organised and I think we need to start it from the village level itself. For instance, you have these Youth Clubs like Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS), self-help groups. Each village should empower women self-help groups to teach them digital literacy. There are ways of doing it. I am sure once the pandemic subsides, the government will take it up.
Q5: The states with stabilised fertility rates which are seeing a decrease in their population feel shortchanged in terms of receiving their share for central taxes (devolution of taxes) from the centre despite the fact that they may be the major contributors of the collected tax. Do you think the present system of devolution of taxes which is based on the principle of equity is an efficient way to allocate central resources or is there a different approach that the centre can adopt which satisfies the requirement of all states?
Ms Preeti Sudan: I have been in the finance department for nearly a decade. I actually handled two finance commissions at the state and we were never happy with it. There is no perfect system. This time there were two to three things that the finance commission did though they could have done better. They were given a term of reference that they will be referring to 2011 population. So that is where the states which had done very well in fertility rate had a grouse because normally the 1971 population was treated as a base for devolution. But what the finance commision did this time was that they brought a completely new parameter while deciding horizontal devolution which is called demographic performance which is based on the states total fertility rate. So this was also given weightage unlike earlier commissions and also they brought down the population weightage from 27.5% to 15%. States are still not satisfied and given their good performance specially andhra pradesh, telangana, madhya pradesh, they feel they have been sidelined and their devolutions have been affected. There is a grouse and they can do better. But frankly speaking there is no formula which will satisfy everybody. But let me share with you that as Health Secretary when we made our submissions to the finance commission, I had suggested that we should have performance indicator based devolutions. So we had suggested some process indicators and some output indicators. If you look at health, you can’t expect that decrease of fertility rates or say the decrease in malaria cases to be overnight. Hence we suggested a combination of some process and output indicators and accordingly we had given weightage. It was called composite health index. So we had said that while the finance commission considers devolutions, they should use these performance indicators as a composite index for judging how much each state should get. So maybe in the next finance commission this sort of thing should be done. But there is a platform called Inter state council where these things are thrashed out and every finance commission visits almost all the states or at least regionally invites the states for discussion. I would say that it is an evolving process and there is no readymade answer.
Q6: 2021 has been a golden year for the startup ecosystem and has seen the rise of 49 unicorn companies throughout the year. How do you think the financial sector will grow in this light?
Ms. Preeti Sudan: I think it is very heartening. There are about estimated 32.8 US billion funds in these unicorns and it’s really a defining moment for India because now you see we are home to 79 unicorns, and as you said there are 45+ in 2021 alone. So it's very heartening and it also shows that our talent pool is very diverse and also shows that in the tailwinds of covid, Indian entrepreneurship has mined gold. The good thing is that it’s not just the foreign venture capitalists who are investing, we have Tiger Global and Sequoia Capital from the US who have invested in our start-ups. But you also have Mahindras, Reliance and Tatas, they are also backing these start-ups. Tata has invested $380 million in various start-ups, you may have heard of Ola, Snapdeal, BigBasket, Sharechat and all. So, it is also the big industrial houses of India who are now backing start-ups which shows that there is a change in the environment as far as self employment or entrepreneurship is concerned which is extremely exciting. With the supply chains becoming disrupted because of the pandemic, specially from China because the whole world was actually depending on China. So, it’s a great opportunity for our country, I feel, to go ahead in this direction. You have the Startup India Scheme which has about 50,000 crore to provide seed capital on evaluation basis to the start-ups. So, it’s a very good step. Somebody said that the next decade belongs to India because there is no better place to invest than India. So, with the labour laws getting simplified with a safe environment and accelerated digital journey in many sectors. You will also find that many of these start-ups have technology platforms, for example Nykaa, it’s basically online. Therefore, you find that technology has played a huge role in all these start-ups. Therefore, I think it’s a great sign and it will be very good for our economy because you can’t depend on, say, government generated jobs, our economy has to generate its own jobs.
Follow-up question: In the recent Oxfam report, which was also mentioned in The Indian Express, 84% of households in India have seen a decline in income, while at the same time the number of billionaires have increased. So, while there is a thriving start-up ecosystem in our country but at the same time the trickle down of income to the people, do you think it comes with a lag or is it something that needs to be actively addressed as well?
Ms Preeti Sudan: I think now we need to actively address it, because this inequity you see is in income, education, vaccines, globally if you see Africa doesn’t have vaccines. Therefore, this inequity has increased worldwide in various sectors. Therefore, we can’t wait for trickle down anymore. We have been giving social security support. For example the hotel industry, as i was reading recently, the Restaurants Association of India or Hotels Association of India have asked for a relief package. I would say the relief package should encourage their resurgence, otherwise the economy won’t show up again. So, you need to be proactive.
Q7: The Covid crisis is a dual crisis- not only a health crisis but one which has deep-rooted economic implications. While there is a need for certain administrative action to contain cases and reduce the burden on our already exhausted health infrastructure and human capital, what policies can be considered to ensure that the hard-hit industries like the hospitality and tourism industry offering contact-based services as well as several other critical sectors of the economy are still able to survive the economic implication of the pandemic?
Ms Preeti Sudan: I would urge all of you to have a look at the UN World Tourism Organisation’s dashboard on COVID-19 and tourism which gives you all the data on how tourism has been affected worldwide. Small islands which depended entirely on tourism, have been badly affected. In that way, India is more secure but still, economies have taken a beating and the travel and tourism sector is hard-hit by COVID. We will need to reinvent ourselves here. I think travelling in bubbles is a good idea. We need tourism which is based on COVID appropriate behaviour. We need COVID protocols in tourism and travel that respects nature, sustains local employment, and respects ethnic divisions. We also need to reinvent luggage transportation and the reservation system. The tourism sector will really need to reinvent itself. We also can’t have indoor buffet meals as long as the COVID is still a pandemic. Once it gets endemic and things settle down then it's a different thing, but it's a very difficult time for the hospitality sector. Also with technology, things are changing. There was a beautiful system of guides who showed us around when we went to a Rajasthan fort or anywhere else in India. But now you have those automated speakers that guide you at your own pace. You can go around and it will tell you about the place you are visiting. So a lot of jobs from the tourism and travel industry are getting automated. Therefore there has to be serious thinking on how to actually develop trust and inspire people to start travelling. The whole industry needs to be reinvented.
Followup Question: Ma’am there are talks about the virus becoming endemic and also people say that the omicron variant isn't as severe in terms of its impact. So is it a necessity to have such stringent lockdown or curfew measures? Do you think they are helpful in containing cases?
Ms Preeti Sudan: If we are socially responsible, then there is no need for a lockdown. But in Delhi, you may have seen photographs of crowds at Sarojini Nagar before Deepavali or even otherwise. So, self-regulation is the best and till we become socially responsible we do need crowd regulations. I recently did a program with NDTV, about omicron being mild. It may be mild to the person who is experiencing the disease itself. It's not mild for the people around them because it is so transmissible. Children and elders are getting affected, we are all sitting at home. So, therefore, I think we should not panic, but we should not let our guards down. So, there is a balance needed.
Q8: What role do you think Ayushman Bharat (a step in the direction of Universal Health Coverage (UHC)) has, especially in the context of the pandemic where employment and income levels have been affected and the importance of health has increased? What are the lessons from the COVID 19 pandemic which can shape the UHC strategy of the country and what in your view should be the elements of this UHC strategy?
Ms Preeti Sudan: Sometimes, now after retirement, when I think back upon the Ayushman Bharat launch, I feel we were guided by god that we had it in 2018. Because of the foundation that we had laid there, it has now helped us to cope with the pandemic in 2020. You see, there are two pillars; one is the Health and Wellness Centre which integrates primary healthcare, and then there is the PM-JAY (Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana) which pays for hospitalisation in secondary and tertiary care for about 40% of the needy population, that is, it provides a coverage of an average of Rs. 5 lakhs per year to about 50 crore people. Both these pillars of Ayushman Bharat, I would say, have become very handy.
Let me share with you, that for Health and Wellness centres, we will have around 1,50,000 of them in 2022. We already have around 90,000 of them. The most heartening thing is that we are doing NCD (Non-Communicable Disease) screening for five diseases, which are, blood pressure, diabetes, and three types of cancer: breast cancer, cervical cancer and oral cancer. I have visited villages where the screenings were done and it was so heartening; there were middle aged and old women who had never gone through any preventive medical checkup. They would discover if they had any threat of oral cancer due to consumption of tobacco (paan), or if they showed symptoms of breast cancer or blood pressure. When Covid started, there were instructions that all of this data would be sent to the centre. Now we have decentralised the whole data with the states themselves, and it need not be with the centre at all. Vulnerable populations in the villages were actually kept under check; patients of blood pressure and cancer getting struck with Covid would need ICU beds or oxygen support. So, I think Ayushman Bharat was launched in a very timely manner. Now it is being taken forward. Urban areas are actually more difficult to handle in primary healthcare than rural areas, I would say. Now, they are also setting up new urban health and wellness centres in urban areas, which focus on disease surveillance and health research. Therefore, the whole Ayushman Bharat program has addressed primary, secondary as well as tertiary healthcare. It’s a great step forward in Universal Health Coverage in India. We are an example to the world because we are not only looking at the curative part of it, but also at the preventive and promotive part of it. The Eat Right movement and the Fit India movement are also integrated into this. I hope you know, we have this scheme of health and wellness ambassadors and monitors in schools. NCERT is actually training teachers to impart health education in wellness. Health is not absence of disease, health is wellness. This new paradigm, this new shift towards preventive and promotive health is really timely.
Q9: Considering the everlasting impact the pandemic has had on our mental health, the subjective nature of mental health and the shortage of qualified medical help for mental health, what policies should India consider to address this looming crisis at hand?
Ms Preeti Sudan: It's a very important question. When we started working on our response towards covid, one of the preliminary things we did was create a helpline dedicated to mental issues arising out of isolation, lockdown & confinement. People weren't able to go out, people weren't able to talk to each other, so in response to this we started a helpline for all the different linguistic groups, in NIMHANS (Bangalore) which has provided tremendous relief to the people. Then I discovered once I visited NACO (National Aids Control Organization) that people infected with AIDS, men having intercourse with each other ( referring to the gay community) or even transgenders, they had their own set of issues & problems so then we started a covid helpline for those category of people as well.
It's a huge issue (mental health), these days even children are getting adversely affected by it, they aren't able to go out, they aren't able to play, they aren't able to interact. [They are] only sitting in front of their screens all day which is impacting their studies & learning negatively. Hence, mental health issues are a very real thing. Especially for women who are bearing the burden of the entire family all the time. So technologically I would say that these helplines and interactive platforms are helpful. We have three digital academies, in Ranchi, Assam & NIMHANS where peer learning is done and difficult cases are discussed, and people are trained. Moreover, I do agree that we don't have enough qualified health force to help in mental health issues, so I want to share with you a bill called, "National Commission for Allied & Healthcare Professionals". Although this was passed last year, I think it's a landmark considering that it has been pending since 1992. Under this, 53 professionals will be there such as, speech therapist, psychologist, psychiatrists, mental health assistants and their curriculum will be standardised so that it's recognized all over the world. When we had put this bill on our official website to receive opinions of the public, we got calls from UAE, Dubai and other places supplementing that this was a much needed step India had to take for developing quality health professionals since, there are adequate certified health professionals working in abroad from various Asian countries like Thailand, Philippines, etc but negligible from India itself. Mostly, there are Indian doctors present, only because our curriculum caters to that vocation more than addressing mental health issues. This act will therefore, increase the number of medical hands in the mental health sector as well as complementary professionals to assist and aid the doctors in the long run. However, in the short run I think we need to upskill integration of mental health care with general health care at the district and sub district level. This has already been done at AIIMS and in other medical colleges but needs to be done at the district level also. There was an act passed in 2017 emphasising on the importance of mental health, but wasn't executed well on the national level, there are some states which are doing well while the others not so much. Though, I do agree that mental health issues need to be addressed immediately since it has started to impact our lives so much especially since the lockdown.
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