People, Health and Nutrition

Nutrition and Health are important issue and form a triangle with population. There is hardly any book alike present one which deals with population, nutrition and health of any region. This book is focused on central Indian perspective which is again an important region as it is identified as backward or lagging behind in demographic indicators. Students and Researchers always face problem in finding and compilation of the material on the issues. Here is an effort in this book to present materials of different sources. There are compilation of district population wise data on nutrition (BMI), health indicators (decadal growth, infant mortality rate, crude birth rate, sex ratio and literacy etc.). The way of presentation has given equal emphasis. The data along with diagrammes would really be useful for larger group of readers. The book can be used as reference book as well as textbook. In designing its content the need of students appearing in the examinations of UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) and different state PSCs was kept in mind, beside that it would also be useful for preparation of UGC-NET examination.
It is expected that it would be beneficial for larger walk of people viz. students’ of anthropology, biology, demography, economics, geography, political science, population studies, sociology, medicine, public health, health management etc.

Today corporate world is more conscious about such kind of study for implementation of their own agenda and programme and they can also use its findings and estimates and even they can sponsor similar studies at broader perspectives. No doubt it will be useful for planners and policy makers of government setup. The health indicators set for districts can be useful for district authorities and state governments. Ministry of Health of state and union government can use this book as landmark to generate similar information about other population/district and region.

Dipak Kr. Adak (b. 1965)  is attached to the Anthropological Survey of India, Kolkata as a Research Associate (Physical). His main research interests are in the fields of population genetics, public health, nutrition and demography. Rajesh Kr. Gautam (b. 1970) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology, Dr. H.S.Gour University, Sagar, Madhya Pradesh. His areas of interests are in health, nutrition and demography. Jyotishikha Nanda (b. 1977) is attached to the International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai. Her areas of interests are in demography and community health, nutrition. Premananda Bharati (b. 1953) is well known for his research in health and nutrition. He is currently involved in the applied field of nutrition, growth, health, demography, gender issue and population genetics. He is in the faculty of Biological Anthropology Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata.