Inside India: Eye on social problems in India

Inside India - Ideas for inclusive growth is a special show on CNBC-TV18, focusing on understanding the root cause of problems in the social sector and examining the initiatives by the government and private players.

On the show, we look at what's ailing India's healthcare sector, how we can improve the quality of affordable healthcare and its delivery. Is it time to think about how we can empower people to participate in building and utilizing health services? What role can the private sector play in strengthening the foundation of India's healthcare system?
The first month of the New Year brought with it good and bad news. The bad news first. A survey found over 61 million children in the country to be malnourished and 92% mothers unaware of what the word malnutrition means. In the same week that the survey was released, India became a non-endemic country for Polio.
It means India has not registered any new cases of Polio for over a year now. Both these occurrences present very valuable insights into the complexities of India's healthcare delivery system.
The fight to make India polio free has been a long and sustained one. A fight in which the government has invested over USD 2 billion, it's a fight that saw film stars and 2.3 million volunteers visit 209 million households twice a year with vaccines.
In 2009, India had 741 cases of polio. That plunged to 42 in 2010. Last year, there was a single case, an 18 month old girl named Ruksana Khatun fell ill in West Bengal. She was the country's last reported polio victim.
The lesson to be learnt from the Pulse Polio campaign is in the emergency action that ensued when Ruksana Khatun was identified. More than 4 million children were immunized within 10 days and a network comprising more than 1500 mobilizers was established ensuring vulnerable areas were protected from a fresh outbreak. For complete show, watch the accompanying video.