No Gujarat factor, says government; refuses to accept UNICEF report on immunisation

Over the weekend, The Economist released reports with data obtained from a health survey conducted in 2013 and 2014 by UNICEF, the UN agency for children, in collaboration with the Indian government.

The data, on health and nutrition , which was supposed to be released by the government in October 2014, never saw the light of the day. Parts of the data were released, but only of certain states. The UN agency maintained that the government withheld the data citing that they needed to verify it.

Gujarat, for one, was excluded. The Economist reports that the data showed that the state performed poorly in the the years when Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister, and perhaps was withheld to save him embarrassment.

On Tuesday, Indian Express reported that the government maintains that they are not convinced about the results, the ministry now wants more details about the UN survey’s methodology.

“The figures for Gujarat are not the reason why the data was not released. We never accepted the survey results. We have asked them to get back with details on who commissioned the survey, when was it done, whether we were a part of it and what methodology was used in compiling the data,” said a senior official in the ministry in an interview to the Express .

In 2001, after Modi took charge as chief minister, 54 percent of children were being fully immunised against preventable diseases—well above the national average of 46%.

But by 2014, the state which was well above the national average, fell well below it. When Modi left to become Prime Minister, there was only a tiny improvement, to 56.2%, against the now national average of 65%.

The state was behind Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, generally measured as less developed and wealthy. This is even more worrisome considering the fact that Gujarat is one of the most wealthy states in the counter.

The Economist report suggests that the only cause that can be attributed to such a fall in numbers in health statistics is government negligence and to preserve the Prime Minister’s image of having brought about radical changes in Gujarat while he was in charge.