Dr. Rattan Chand is an Indian former senior bureaucrat. He was born on 10 May 1955 in a humble Brahmin family in a small village in the Bilaspur district of Himachal Pradesh, India. Ratan Chand’s father, Pandit Harsukh, was a freedom fighter and lived as a farmer for the rest of his life after his retirement from the army. Chand Sahib received his early education from a small government school in Bilaspur and completed his matriculation at the Government Senior Secondary School, Kiratpur Sahib. And after that, he did a Bachelor of Science (BSc) from Punjabi University, Punjab.
Dr. Rattan Chand Career:
Dr. Ratan Chand has reorganized the ‘Bulletin on Rural Health Statistics’ and updates it regularly. As a senior officer in the National Sample Survey Organisation, he handled the important task of surveying enterprises in the unorganized sector and prepared the first-ever survey report on the ‘Informal Sector in India’. Dr. Ratan Chand has been one of the key people involved in the National Family Health Survey conducted by the Government of India.
A website was launched for informers of programs and activities. As Chief Director of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, under his accountability, a web-based Health Management Information System was developed to enhance information flow and access at all levels. Also, the poor performers were initiated as part of their annual health survey to track changes in the probabilities of exposure and impact. He contributed significantly to the fourth round of the National Family Health Survey. Speaking to The New York Times, Chand said, “This round will provide district and national level data because of a regular format. The plan is to conduct such a survey every three years.”
Dr. Ratan Chand has worked for the Government of India in various capacities for more than 35 years. Apart from holding senior positions in the Government of India. He has also been a resource person for USAID, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The United Nations, the World Health Organization, and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. He has represented the Government of India in many international meetings, conferences, working sessions, and seminars across the world mainly in the health sector. He is the National Monitor of the National Health Mission and a member of the Working Group of the National Statistical Commission, Government of India, and a senior expert at the World Bank.
Efforts Against Female Feticide
In view of the dismal child sex ratio in the country and a 2003 Supreme Court directive to state governments to implement a law banning the use of sex determination technologies, the ministry last October constituted a National Inspection and Monitoring Committee (NIMC). established. Ratan Chand, Director (PNDT) was made the Convenor of NIMC. NIMC under the guidance of Ratan Chand carried out raids in Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, and some districts of Gujarat. In April it raided three clinics in Delhi. In its report sent to the chief secretaries of the respective states, the committee observed that the authorities have failed to monitor or supervise the registered clinics.
As Director (PNDT) and convener of the PNDT Act, 1994, Chand raided several hospitals and clinics across India and shut them down for conducting illegal sex determination tests. Ratan Chand said that even if NIMC conducts raids, it can only send the report to the highest level of the state government. It was up to the state authorities to act on it.
Membership and Affiliation
- Member, Executive Council, Indian Association for Study of Population.
- Member, Working Group, National Statistical Commission, Government of India.
- Member, Executive, and General Council, International Institute of Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai, India.
- Member, Technical Advisory Committee, Annual Health Survey (AHS), Government of India.
- Member, Technical Advisory Committee, District Level Household Survey (DLHS), Government of India.
- Member, Technical Advisory Committee, National Family Health Survey (NFHS), Government of India.
- Member, Technical Advisory Committee, Sample Registration System (SRS), Government of India.
- Member, Technical Coordination Committee, Health Management Information System (HMIS).
- Member, Technical Group on Population Projections, Government of India.
- Member, Working Group on Survey of Health and Morbidity, National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO), Government of India
- Member, Indian Association for Research in National Income and Wealth.
- Former Convenor, National Inspection and Monitoring Committee, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India
- Former Member, Governing Body, National Institute of Health and Family Welfare (NIHFW).
- Visiting Faculty, National Academy of Statistical Administration, Greater Noida, India.
- Visiting Faculty, National Judicial Academy (India)
Important Publications
- ‘Quality of Life Approach for Identification of the Low-income‘: Journal of Rural Development, Vol. 19, No. 1, January-March 2004. ISSN 0970-3357.
- ‘Socio-Economic Dimensions of Unemployment in India’, The Indian Journal of Social Development, Vol. 1. No. 2. December 2004. ISSN 0972-3692.
- ‘Inequality in Household Consumption Across Indian States, 1973-2000’: Indian Journal of Millennium Development Studies, Vol. 1. Number 1. March 2006; ISSN 0973-3981.
- ‘Incidence of Hunger in India, 1983-2002’. Presented paper in National Seminar on Results of NSS 57th Round Survey Results, March 2004.
- ‘Health Effects of Poverty and Hunger, Indian Development Review Vol. 3. No. 1, June 2005, ISSN 0972-9437
- ‘An Integrated Summary of the Consumer Expenditure Survey Results of the NSS 55th Round’, published in ‘Survey’ – Journal of the National Sample Survey Organisation, 86th Issue, Vol. XIV, no. 4 & XV, No. 1.ISSN 2249-197X
- ‘An Integrated Summary of the Employment-Unemployment Survey Results of the NSS 55th Round’, published in ‘Survey’ – Journal of the National Sample Survey Organisation, 87th Issue, Vol. XV, no. 2 and 3. ISSN 2249-197X
- ‘Population Change and Demand for Food Grains – An Inter-State Analysis 1981-2001’, Jawaharlal Nehru University.
- ‘Fertility and Infant Mortality Rates in Developing Countries – A Study of the Relative Role of Social and Economic Dimensions of Development,
- ‘Socio-Economic Dimensions of Tuberculosis in India’. “Help has been taken from Wikipedia in content writing”.
