CDS (II) 2023 General Knowledge · Question 91 of 120

Correct — C, It aims to increase the full immunisation coverage for children. Mission Indradhanush was launched by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on 25 December 2014 with a single, measurable objective: to raise full immunisation coverage to ninety per cent and hold it there, by reaching children up to two years old and pregnant women who had been missed or only partly covered by routine immunisation. The name is the clue — seven colours of the rainbow for the seven vaccine-preventable diseases originally targeted: diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio, tuberculosis, measles and hepatitis B, with Haemophilus influenzae type B added, and Japanese encephalitis and rotavirus vaccines in selected States. The other three options are real health programmes with different mandates, and none of them is this one.

• (a)It relates to provisions for Child Health Screening and Early Intervention Services. — That describes the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram, the child health screening and early intervention programme for the four Ds — defects at birth, deficiencies, diseases and developmental delays. Screening is not vaccination.
• (b)It meets the diverse health needs of adolescents. — That is the adolescent health programme, Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram. Indradhanush targets children up to two years and pregnant women, not adolescents.
• (d)Its objective is to achieve universal access to equitable, affordable, and quality healthcare services. — That sentence is the mission statement of the National Health Mission as a whole. It is true of the umbrella, not of this particular campaign — the classic trap of offering a broader goal in place of the specific one.

Routine immunisation in India runs through the Universal Immunisation Programme, but coverage plateaued with a large share of children only partly immunised. Mission Indradhanush was the catch-up drive built on top of it: identify districts with the worst coverage, run concentrated rounds of sessions there, and track children who had been missed. Intensified rounds followed, with tighter district targeting and stronger monitoring, and successive phases have been run since the original launch.

Scheme questions of this shape are answered by matching the specific to the specific. Three of the four options describe genuine national programmes, and one of them — universal access to affordable quality healthcare — is deliberately the broadest sentence on offer, which makes it feel safe. It is not; it belongs to the National Health Mission. Anchor Indradhanush by its name and its number: seven colours, seven diseases at launch, and a ninety per cent full-immunisation target. As of the 2023 exam the programme had been through several intensified rounds and the vaccine list under the Universal Immunisation Programme had grown beyond the original seven, so treat the disease list as the launch position rather than a permanent one.

• Mission Indradhanush was launched on 25 December 2014 by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
• Its target was ninety per cent full immunisation coverage, to be reached and then sustained.
• The beneficiaries are children up to two years of age and pregnant women.
• The seven diseases behind the name are diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio, tuberculosis, measles and hepatitis B; Haemophilus influenzae type B was added, with Japanese encephalitis and rotavirus in selected States.
• Intensified Mission Indradhanush rounds followed, concentrating on the districts and urban areas with the weakest routine coverage.

• Picking the option that sounds most comprehensive; that is usually the parent mission's goal.
• Extending the beneficiary group to all children; the target group is children up to two years and pregnant women.
• Treating the original seven diseases as the current list — the immunisation schedule has grown since 2014.

As a scheme-identification item where the wrong options are other real health programmes, or as a which-does-it-cover statements question.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Mission Indradhanush is aimed primarily at which group?

  • (a)Adolescents aged 10 to 19
  • (b)Children up to two years of age and pregnant women
  • (c)Persons above 60 years
  • (d)Industrial workers and their families

  Answer(b) Children up to two years of age and pregnant women — the group missed or only partly covered by routine immunisation.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The programme for screening children for birth defects, deficiencies, diseases and developmental delays is

  • (a)Mission Indradhanush
  • (b)Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram
  • (c)Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram
  • (d)Janani Suraksha Yojana

  Answer(b) Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram — the child health screening and early intervention programme for the four Ds.