Article Source: expressindia.com

Date of Issue: July 31, 2007

Author: Swatee Kher

Title of the article: Rs 2 for malnourished kids not sufficient, says minister

With over one lakh children found malnourished in the Shanghai-dreaming financial capital of the country, the Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) is facing flak over the implementation of its Integrated Child Development Service which is supposed to supply "supplementary nutrition". A day after Newsline reported that ICDS spends Rs 2 behind every child a day for nutrition, Minister Harshwardhan Patil in an interview admitted it was insufficient.

Do you think the Rs 2 spent by the ICDS for per child per day for supplementary nutrition is enough?
It is not sufficient. We need another rupee to be added to the Rs 2. We will ask the Central government to contribute towards this. We will soon be making a formal proposal soon.
 
Malnutrition cases have been reported from tribal areas for years in Maharashtra, but urban malnutrition is also emerging. Has the government failed to take measures to curb it?
So far, there used to be division of responsibilities. The ICDS wouldn't know what the Corporation is doing and the Corporation wouldn't know what the health department is doing. We have now formed a committee consisting of WCD, collector, corporation, ICDS and director of health services to conduct a survey in the entire Aarey Colony and take appropriate measures. This will ensure proper coordination and implementation.

For us, Mumbai is top priority as well as other metropolitan areas. Urban malnutrition has come second only to tribal malnourishment.

After the recent cases in Aarey Colony, a tribal land, are any specific steps being taken to tackle the problem in the area?
In Aarey Colony, the land has been given to tribals as their land. So now we are seeing how the area can be provided with facilities of water supply, electricity, roads and healthcare. We are also looking at holding regular health camps in the area, the grade III and IV children also need medical attention. We are contemplating providing the syrups, medications to children.

A common complaint by workers is that there is no monitoring of the quality of food given through anganwadis.
We are hiring more people to keep a check on the quality of food given. We'll also be taking the help of the Corporation. Last year, I had visited the Bhandup slum from where malnutrition cases were reported and the anganwadi in the area was located in a hut. They were making food, supplying it from there and giving it to children there itself. The problem is that there is no space in Mumbai to build anganwadis. We are therefore requesting the Corporation to make space available for building anganwadis.

When do we get the report of the current survey?
I'm holding a meeting on August 3 of the committee when we will be finalising concrete plans for Mumbai. I will also have report of the survey. Let me assure you, we are very serious about malnutrition and it is top priority. But it is a difficult task.