Food for anganwadi children under DBT: Maneka Gandhi

The Union government is planning to replace the system of providing food to children in anganwadis with direct benefit transfer, Union Minister for Women and Child Welfare Maneka Gandhi said in Belagavi on Thursday. She was speaking after inaugurating a paediatric intensive care unit, a human milk bank and a generic medicine shop at KLE Prabhakar Kore Hospital here. “The anganwadi system needs revamping. Anganwadis must be limited to pre-school education and playing. They should not just be centres of serving food,” she said. What is more, serving food through anganwadis has not improved the nutritional status of children, she said. Food at anganwadis is not palatable and a majority of the children don’t eat it. A lost of them waste it. Hence, the switch to DBT, she said. She said that the Union government was running two pilot programmes in Assam and Uttarakhand. “In Assam, we are supplying money needed to buy nutritional food to families of children directly. This has reduced corruption and leakage. In Uttarakhand, we are sending 30 nutritional packets per month to children’s homes directly. These dry food packets can be cooked into tasty, nutrient rich and palatable food by their mothers. Children are enjoying eating them,” she said. This system has brought down the chances of food being stolen by middlemen. Both the systems are Aadhaar linked, according to her. “The pilot projects are successful. We are awaiting clearance by the NITI Aayog for linking Aadhaar with anganwadi operations. When we get the due clearances, we will extend them to the whole country,” she said. According to her, Aadhaar-linking had introduced transparency, reduced bogus beneficiaries and increased efficiency. It has reduced presence of over 11 lakh bogus children in Maharashtra and over three lakh children in Assam, she said. She suggested that traditional food and millets be given to children to supplement their nutrition intake. She felt diet and nutrition should be “a major part of curriculum in medical colleges”. Even patients should be educated about nutrition, she said. She cautioned against the use of industrial milk and milk products as some dairies were using harmful chemicals on animals to force them to yield more milk. “We are promoting more institutional deliveries to reduce infant and maternal mortality rate,” said Ms. Gandhi. Prabhakar Kore, Chairman, KLE Society, and other members of the society, Vivek Saoji, Vice-Chancellor, KLE Academy of Higher Education and Research, V.D. Patil, Registrar, M.V. Jali, Medical Director of the Hospital, N.S. Mahantshetti, and staff, were present. Source: The Hindu