Centre Launches ‘SEHAT’ Mission to Link Agriculture, Nutrition and Preventive Healthcare
ICMR-ICAR Initiative to Focus on Biofortified Crops, Lifestyle Diseases and One Health Framework
Union Health Minister JP Nadda and Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan jointly launch “SEHAT” in New Delhi on Monday.
New Delhi: Union Health Minister JP Nadda and Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Monday jointly launched “SEHAT” — a national mission-mode initiative aimed at strengthening the convergence of agriculture, nutrition, and public health to deliver measurable health outcomes across India.
The initiative, titled Science Excellence for Health through Agricultural Transformation (SEHAT), has been jointly launched by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) as part of a broader effort to align agricultural innovation with preventive healthcare and nutrition goals.
Addressing the launch event, Health Minister JP Nadda described SEHAT as a “historic step” reflecting India’s shift from a curative healthcare model toward a preventive, proactive, and holistic public health framework under the leadership of Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi.
Nadda said India had moved significantly over the past decade from dependence on imported technologies to indigenous innovation and integrated policy-driven healthcare systems.
He emphasized that strengthening preventive healthcare and ensuring continuity of care remain central to the government’s health vision, with ICMR expected to play a critical role in research, evidence generation, and innovation support.
“India today faces a dual burden of persistent malnutrition and rising non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and cancer. Diet and nutrition are central to addressing these challenges,” Nadda said.
The Health Minister stressed the need for a “whole-of-government and whole-of-system approach” integrating science, policy, implementation, agriculture, and healthcare systems.
Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan described the initiative as an “unprecedented and historic” collaboration, stating that agriculture and health are deeply interconnected in addressing emerging public health challenges.
He said scientific validation of the nutritional and health benefits of specific crops and farming systems would have major implications for improving national nutrition outcomes.
“What people consume directly determines their health. With the right approach, food itself can become medicine,” Chouhan said.
The SEHAT mission will focus on five major priority areas including development of biofortified and nutrient-rich crops, promotion of integrated farming systems, occupational health of agricultural workers, agriculture-led interventions for non-communicable disease prevention, and strengthening the One Health framework integrating human, animal, and environmental health systems.
Secretary, Department of Health Research and Director General of ICMR Rajiv Bahl said India is currently navigating a complex dual challenge of undernutrition and overnutrition along with increasing lifestyle diseases, making convergence between agriculture and healthcare essential.
He said the mission aims to create nutrition-sensitive food systems capable of improving dietary diversity, addressing nutrient deficiencies, and contributing to disease prevention and management.
Officials said SEHAT will also support evidence generation, scalable pilot models, inter-sectoral coordination, and data-driven policy frameworks to improve population health outcomes.
The mission additionally seeks to strengthen integrated surveillance, diagnostics, and research under the One Health approach covering the human-animal-environment interface.
Senior officials including Minister of State for Agriculture Bhagirath Choudhary, ICAR Director General Mangi Lal Jat, and senior representatives of the Department of Health Research and ICAR attended the launch event.
