ITHR regarding large scale fraud/ rigging etc. in identification, production, transportation, distribution and quality control of beneficiaries, since the disclosure of confidential report by the Accountant General of Madhya Pradesh [Take Home Ration]The government is facing severe criticism from the opposition and workers.
from last month Eight cheetahs transferred from Namibia to Kuno National Park, Congress sought to know the rationale behind making the translocation a mega event when “around 21,000 children in Sheopur were malnourished and another 5,000 were severely malnourished,” leading to the “nutritional food scam”. Kuno is spread over Sheopur and Morena districts.
opinion | Malnutrition is a matter of concern in India in the modern scenario
In fact, when Project Cheetah was launched on September 17, BJP MP Pragya Thakur herself had said that in the settlements she has adopted, children do not have resources for education and their parents have no source of livelihood. There is no means. Some of these parents turn to the illegal liquor trade as a result. And if they are arrested, their families sell the little girls to get money for their release.
The Women and Child Development Department in MP is under the direct supervision of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Mr Chouhan defended his government saying that the latest audit report is not final. His party claimed that the state was under Congress rule when the scam happened. However, many continue to point fingers at Mr Chouhan as he is the longest-serving BJP chief minister in terms of total time spent in office and Madhya Pradesh is lagging behind on most indicators.
The audit report said that despite the provision of THR under the supplementary nutrition programme, Madhya Pradesh had the worst infant mortality rate and the third worst maternal mortality ratio in 2017-19. The National Family Health Survey-5 or NFHS-5 (2019-20) also shows that the infant mortality rate in Madhya Pradesh was 41.3, higher than the national average of 35.2. Similarly, 72.7% of children aged six to 59 months were anemic, higher than the national average of 67.1%. Earlier this year, the government said that of 65.02 lakh children aged 0-5 years in the state, 10.32 lakh were malnourished and 6.3 lakh were severely malnourished.
THR includes food grains and other items provided to meet the nutritional needs of 49.58 lakh beneficiaries – children (0.5-3 years), pregnant and lactating mothers and out-of-school adolescent girls (11-14 years). It has been said in the report that ration is being taken in the name of 36.08 lakh out-of-school girls. These girls were denied mid-day meals for dropping out of school. While THR is discontinued for girls who drop out of school after the age of 14, nutritional challenges remain for them. When they become mothers, the situation gets worse and the next generation also has to face the carry-over effect.
Audit reports attribute this malaise to corruption, but activists say the rot runs deep. Every day some evidence comes to the fore about the plight of Anganwadis and irregularities in the distribution of mid-day meals. Mineral Resources Minister Brajendra Pratap Singh has written a letter to School Education Minister Inder Singh Parmar on September 14 alleging non-distribution of mid-day meals in 100 schools of his constituency Panna for the last six months.
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Experts say that malnutrition remains a major concern despite MP being one of the worst performers since NFHS-1 (1992-93). According to him, the state tries to manage the problem by merely supplying food rather than examining the fact that malnutrition is a complex interplay of various factors including gender, caste, lack of sanitation, poor maternal health, early marriage and lack of access. occurs as a verb. for land and other resources.
From a policy point of view, the centralization and standardization of nutrition programs also restricts the adoption of locally available food in a large and diverse state. Nutrition-focused micro-planning allows improvements and better resource management in the form of linking agriculture and horticulture. Activists say surveillance can be made easier by involving communities. They say that centralization also provides opportunities for theft during transport or surveillance processes.