Leadership vaccum leaves NIN in poor health

Will India’s premier institute for nutrition and food, the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), get a full-fledged director as it enters into its centenary year?

This question is lingering among the 800 staff members at the Hyderabad-headquartered NIN, which is the biggest of the 31 institutes across the country under the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

The last full-time director of the institute, B Sesikeran, retired in August 2012. Since then, it is being driven by adhoc directors, even as controversy and confusion surrounding efforts to find a permanent director have been taking a toll on the performance of the institute. There is a decline in funding and scientific contribution to food and nutrition areas, according to scientists at NIN.

The then head of Food & Toxicology Research, Kalpagam Polasa, took over as director in-charge on September 1, 2012. The ICMR went through the interview process and reportedly selected M Raghunath.

However, the selection was not confirmed and put on the back burner. Kalpagam continued till April 2015, including a year of extension. With the ICMR facing issues of finding directors to several of its institutes, the arrangement continues at NIN with the present incumbent, Thingnganing Longvah, assuming office in May 2015. At present, at least 8 of its institutes do not have a full-fledged director.

Jagat Prakash Nadda, the Union Minister of Health, is slated to kick-start the year-long centenary celebrations of this institute here on September 26.

The ICMR has once again advertised for the director’s post, with the last date for applying being August 21. The staff are keeping their fingers crossed this time around.

The ICMR came in for severe criticism from a Parliamentary Committee, which said the research output was not up to the mark. Only 43 patents and 1,685 research papers were published by the 31 institutes in two years (2015 and 2016).

It needs to augment research substantially to cater to the health challenges, said the committee led by Ram Gopal Yadav in its report presented to Parliament this year. The foundations for NIN were laid by Robert McCarrison, a Britisher, in a small room-turned-laboratory at the Pasteur Institute, Coonor, Tamil Nadu, with the focus of studying Beriberi. The facility, which slowly grew to become Nutrition Research Laboratories, moved to Hyderabad in 1958, and was renamed NIN in 1969 with its own campus.

For decades, the institute made significant contributions, including iodine fortification of salt, prevention and control of iron deficiency anaemia and Vitamin A deficiency .

Technology for double fortification of cooking salt, establishment of anti-cancer properties of traditional Indian spices such as turmeric and ginger and molecular link for diabetesare some of the other significant contributions.

However, there is an urgent need to fill the leadership vacuum to meet the many challenges facing the institute. The recent recommendation by an expert group at NITI Aayog to merge a few institutes and rationalise the activities of the ICMR also pose challenges to NIN.

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