Madhya Pradesh nutrition policy draw activists' ire

IANS

The Madhya Pradesh government's plan to enhance the nutritional value of food provided to children under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) is being met with skepticism by activists who question the new nutrition policy.The Madhya Pradesh government's plan to enhance the nutritional value of food provided to children under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) is being met with skepticism by activists who question the new nutrition policy.'The state government has decided to provide 20 different kinds of meal including kheer pudi, laddoo, mathri to the children in place of daliya (roasted gram).

The choice about the kind of meal would be made on the basis of local food habit in a particular area,' says Kusum Mehdele, women and child welfare minister. While the centre and the state government will share the expenses equally, the latter has set Rs.1.55 billion as its share.Funds for the policy has been increased to Rs.3 billion for the current fiscal (2007-08) as against Rs. 1.1 billion during fiscal 2006-07. Though Mehdele hopes that the policy would be a boon for the malnourished children, health activists don't agree with her.

'Do you think a child in 0-3 years age group who requires micro-nutrients would do well with halwa-puri?' asks Sachin Jain of Right to Food campaign.'We have been demanding since long that there should be at least two aanganwadi workers, each with one helper, at every centre, but to no avail.' But the minister denies that the government was unaware of the situation. According to her, the government has sanctioned opening of 9,914 aaganwadis or care centres under the ICDS during 2007-08 to take the facility to all the municipal corporations, municipalities and town local bodies. '

Also, a survey to identify poor children below six years, expectant and nursing mothers and girls has been carried out and supplementary diet of 10 gram proteins and 300 calories is given to them for at least 300 days,' said Mehdele.As many as 367 ICDS schemes are being run in the state. As part of the schemes, health check ups and vaccinations are being conducted every month.