Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, and Chemicals and Fertilisers, Shri JP Nadda, and Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, and Rural Development, Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Monday launched the ‘SEHAT Mission’ in Delhi, describing it as a major national initiative under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi that seeks to connect agriculture, nutrition and public health through scientific collaboration. The mission has been jointly launched by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) with the objective of building a framework for ‘Healthy Food, Healthy Farms and a Healthy India’. Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Shri Bhagirath Choudhary, ICMR Director General Dr Rajiv Bahl and ICAR Director General Dr ML Jat were also present during the launch programme.

Addressing the gathering, Union Health Minister Shri JP Nadda said the ‘SEHAT Mission’ represents a major transformation in India’s policy-making approach, where the government is no longer focusing only on treatment but also on prevention, early detection and continuous care. He said the initiative demonstrates that India is now moving ahead with a proactive rather than reactive healthcare approach.

Shri Nadda said that agricultural and health institutions in the country had, for decades, functioned separately, but the coming together of ICAR and ICMR marks the beginning of a new era of science-based and evidence-driven solutions. According to him, the mission will play a significant role in addressing both malnutrition and the rapidly rising burden of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and cancer. He said India must now develop indigenous solutions rooted in its own scientific research, institutional experience and evidence-based practices.

“Low-cost, high-quality and scientifically validated solutions will be the most useful for the country, and ICMR is fully committed to working in this direction,” Shri Nadda said.

The Union Health Minister further said that the ‘SEHAT Mission’ is not merely a standalone programme but an example of a “whole of government” and “whole of systems” approach, in which science, policymaking, and implementation mechanisms must function together in an integrated manner. He expressed confidence that the mission would make a major contribution towards building a healthier and stronger India.

Union Agriculture Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan described the launch of the ‘SEHAT Mission’ as a historic and unprecedented step for the country, saying it would establish a strong framework for building a healthy India by integrating farming, nutrition and healthcare.

Shri Chouhan said our Indian tradition has always regarded a healthy body as the greatest form of happiness and that good health is fundamentally dependent on proper food. He stressed that India must now move beyond the goal of merely increasing agricultural production and instead focus on producing food that provides nutrition, protects people from diseases and improves overall quality of life.

The Union Minister referred to the Indian philosophical principles of “Hitbhuk, Mitbhuk and Ritubhuk”, saying these ideas remain relevant even today because beneficial, balanced and seasonal food forms the true foundation of health. He said the time has come for India to seriously deliberate not only on “what people should eat” but also on “what the country should grow”.

According to Shri Chouhan, the ‘SEHAT Mission’ has been launched with precisely this objective in mind, with ICAR and ICMR joining hands to create a scientific chain connecting farms, food plates and public health. He said the mission would focus on bio-fortified crops, nutrient-rich food products, integrated farming systems, health and safety measures for farmers, dietary solutions for lifestyle diseases and the ‘One Health’ approach.

Shri Chouhan said India today has adequate foodgrain production, but the country’s next major target should be nutrition-rich agricultural production. He emphasised the need to promote bio-fortified crops and varieties enriched with zinc, iron and other nutrients, as well as traditional grains such as kodo millet, kutki, jowar, ragi and bajra.

The Union Minister also said integrated farming should not be viewed merely as a tool for increasing farmers’ income but also as an effective pathway for strengthening family nutrition. According to him, combining crop cultivation with fruits, vegetables, animal husbandry, fisheries and beekeeping can help rural families gain access to balanced nutrition and healthier lifestyles. Shri Chouhan said the health and safety of farmers and agricultural labourers would also form an important component of the mission. He said that scientific interventions, safe farming practices and awareness programmes are urgently required to reduce risks arising from exposure to pesticides, imbalanced use of chemicals and hazardous conditions faced during agricultural work.

The Union Agriculture Minister further said that if scientific work is undertaken on proper food habits and appropriate crop selection, food itself can function as medicine. Referring to diabetes, hypertension and other lifestyle-related diseases, he stressed the need to develop and promote food alternatives that can help prevent illnesses and support disease management. Shri Chouhan expressed confidence that under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, the ‘SEHAT Mission’ would deliver concrete results within a fixed timeframe and emerge as a milestone initiative in improving public health across the country.

The mission seeks to establish stronger institutional coordination between agriculture and medical research systems so that food production, public nutrition and disease prevention can be addressed through integrated planning and scientific collaboration. Officials associated with the programme said the initiative is expected to create a scientific framework under which agriculture policy, nutrition strategies and healthcare systems can work together in a coordinated manner. The launch of the mission comes at a time when India is increasingly facing dual challenges of nutritional deficiencies on one hand and rising lifestyle-related diseases on the other.

Among the expected outcomes of the initiative are improvements in nutritional quality, reduction in hidden hunger and micronutrient deficiencies, prevention of non-communicable diseases, better health and safety for farmers, development of sustainable food systems and stronger science-based policy support. The mission also aims to encourage long-term research on the relationship between food systems, nutrition patterns and disease trends in India while promoting sustainable agricultural practices that contribute to better public health outcomes.

Congratulating scientists, officials and participating institutions associated with the initiative, Shri Chouhan said the coming together of agriculture and healthcare would benefit not only India but humanity as a whole. The mission’s full form — ‘Science Excellence for Health through Agricultural Transformation’ — was also outlined during the programme. Officials said ‘SEHAT’ is a joint national mission of ICAR and ICMR aimed at linking agriculture with better nutrition, disease prevention, farmer welfare and science-based policymaking.

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