The Hindu, September 15, 2007
“Initiative is out-of-box thinking”
BHOPAL: The UNICEF office for Madhya Pradesh has taken the initiative to create an art-cum-photography gallery at its Bhopal premises to promote art and photography for social change.
The State Principal Secretary for Women and Child Development, Prashant Mehta, inaugurated the Art Gallery at the UNICEF office here on Thursday by declaring open an exhibition of photographic images by Prakash Hatvalne, a photo journalist.
Speaking on this occasion, Mr. Mehta observed, “this initiative is out-of-box thinking”. It is different and would bring UNICEF closer to society, he said, adding that the Gallery would provide a platform to artists to influence change in the larger interest of children and women.
Dr. Hamid El Bashir, State Representative at the UNICEF Office for Madhya Pradesh, said that through art we can challenge social stigmas and barriers. He said the idea was to involve artists in building a vision for a more egalitarian society.
Mr. Hatvalne has worked for more than two decades with national and international media. His exhibition at the UNICEF office includes collection of photographs depicting the Ramanami sect, and his work among children and women, especially tribals. His photographs will be on display up to September 22.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Villagers script their own progress in Madhya Pradesh
Sanjay Sharma
Fourteen-year-old Mamta had to abandon her studies after Class 5 because her village in Madhya Pradesh did not have the facilities. Three years later, however, the story has changed - Mamta can continue her studies with a middle school opening up near her home thanks to a new initiative where the residents themselves identify their needs.
As part of the village planning programme started by Unicef, the district administration and some NGOs, Mamta's village Kolhari in Shivpuri district now has a middle school where she has been admitted in Class 6 this year.
The project involves the community using norms of participatory rural appraisal techniques; villagers themselves chalk out the needs of their hamlets and apprise the government about the requirements.
The programme, started initially in Guna and Shivpuri districts, has wrought a profound change in the lives of many villagers.
"After the introduction of village planning in Kolhari, we have got an all-weather road and a series of hand pumps. Since our village has no toilets and most diseases in the village are spread as a result of open defecation, we have now applied for toilets, which we hope to get soon," an enthusiastic Mamta said.
The women in the village have also applied for anganwadi centres so that they can provide better care to their children.
Under the programme, social maps are prepared to assess the distribution of available resources in the village. Household surveys are then conducted to collect basic information about the village, the community and the needs of children, primarily in areas of health, education, nutrition, drinking water and sanitation.
Information is also sought on the socio-economic condition of people.
The data collected is used to prepare developmental plans for presentation and approval in a special 'gram sabha' (village) meeting. Then, the plans are passed on to the district administration for implementation.
The areas chosen for rural planning include birth registration, maternal and infant mortality, maternity benefits (including regular health check-ups, immunisation), breast feeding, malnutrition, health and sanitation, controlling diarrhoea, decreasing child marriages, consumption of iodised salt, supply of drinking water and personal hygiene. Special stress is given on female child education.
"The programme requires villagers to meet twice a month at the village community hall where each hamlet formulates its own plan for development and analyses the progress. Then they submit an application with the district administration, which sanctions funds and directs the concerned department to implement the works", said Umesh Vashisht, convener of the Centre For Integrated Development, an NGO working on the project.
"One woman volunteer has been appointed in each village panchayat and one cluster animator given the task of guiding a group of five such volunteers. Also, master trainers are appointed to teach volunteers the basics including rapport building with villagers, door-to-door surveys, social and resource mappings.
"They are also trained in how to address the gram sabha and talk about the problems of the hamlet and seek solution," Vashisht said, adding that the results have been amazing and pointing to Kolhari as a case in point.
IANS
Fourteen-year-old Mamta had to abandon her studies after Class 5 because her village in Madhya Pradesh did not have the facilities. Three years later, however, the story has changed - Mamta can continue her studies with a middle school opening up near her home thanks to a new initiative where the residents themselves identify their needs.
As part of the village planning programme started by Unicef, the district administration and some NGOs, Mamta's village Kolhari in Shivpuri district now has a middle school where she has been admitted in Class 6 this year.
The project involves the community using norms of participatory rural appraisal techniques; villagers themselves chalk out the needs of their hamlets and apprise the government about the requirements.
The programme, started initially in Guna and Shivpuri districts, has wrought a profound change in the lives of many villagers.
"After the introduction of village planning in Kolhari, we have got an all-weather road and a series of hand pumps. Since our village has no toilets and most diseases in the village are spread as a result of open defecation, we have now applied for toilets, which we hope to get soon," an enthusiastic Mamta said.
The women in the village have also applied for anganwadi centres so that they can provide better care to their children.
Under the programme, social maps are prepared to assess the distribution of available resources in the village. Household surveys are then conducted to collect basic information about the village, the community and the needs of children, primarily in areas of health, education, nutrition, drinking water and sanitation.
Information is also sought on the socio-economic condition of people.
The data collected is used to prepare developmental plans for presentation and approval in a special 'gram sabha' (village) meeting. Then, the plans are passed on to the district administration for implementation.
The areas chosen for rural planning include birth registration, maternal and infant mortality, maternity benefits (including regular health check-ups, immunisation), breast feeding, malnutrition, health and sanitation, controlling diarrhoea, decreasing child marriages, consumption of iodised salt, supply of drinking water and personal hygiene. Special stress is given on female child education.
"The programme requires villagers to meet twice a month at the village community hall where each hamlet formulates its own plan for development and analyses the progress. Then they submit an application with the district administration, which sanctions funds and directs the concerned department to implement the works", said Umesh Vashisht, convener of the Centre For Integrated Development, an NGO working on the project.
"One woman volunteer has been appointed in each village panchayat and one cluster animator given the task of guiding a group of five such volunteers. Also, master trainers are appointed to teach volunteers the basics including rapport building with villagers, door-to-door surveys, social and resource mappings.
"They are also trained in how to address the gram sabha and talk about the problems of the hamlet and seek solution," Vashisht said, adding that the results have been amazing and pointing to Kolhari as a case in point.
IANS
Monday, September 10, 2007
MP villagers invent new protest formula: Classes held on tree
In a unique way to protest against insufficient number of school teachers in village Kalighati of Petlawad area (Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh), classes of a particular school were held atop a tree.
VILLAGE KALIGHATI of Petlawad area Madhya Pradesh (MP) witnessed a unique form of protest from the community members, as at least 25 students of a school climbed on a tree and a youth from the village took the classes on the tree top. They were protesting against the lack of teachers in the primary and middle schools in their area. Besides village Kalighati, nearly a dozen other villages took part in the protest and there the schools did not function on August 30.
As per the survey conducted by a social organisation, committed to the cause of education, about 235 posts of teachers are lying vacant in Petlawad area, which falls under Jhabua, a tribal district in the western part of MP. The teacher: pupil ratio in the area is about 1:125. In decentralized governance set up, as it should be, the issue was discussed in the Gram Sabhas held in the area on August 15, wherein they had passed a resolution demanding filling up of the vacancies of teachers by August 30, 2007. But when nothing happened, they decided to keep schools closed on 30th August and in one school of village Kalighati, classes were held on a tree nearby, which ran for two hours. As per the information received after the incident, four teachers have been provided to the schools. But the district needs more teachers and people hope that their children will have teachers in the school soon.
Jhabua district in its twelve blocks has about 4421 schools and as per the District Information System for Education (DISE), a school based statistical system supported by National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), an autonomous organisation set up Government of India reveals that about 49.6 per cent schools are having a single teacher in the district. Strikingly data points out that 22.7 per cent schools in Jhabua are single classroom schools, which is an important issue and needs to be responded.
The problem is not only in Jhabua alone. Though across the State of Madhya Pradesh the access to schools and enrolment rates have improved, number of teachers have not increased. Challenges like lack of teachers, irregular classes, overcrowded classrooms and poor quality of teaching have been impacting the learning level of children and the system is not able to retain children in schools. This is particularly important in rural and tribal areas wherein poverty is an issue. Here, still rather than sending their children to fields, parents spend their hard earned money to admit them in schools with an expectation that their children would get good education. But when system fails to meet their expectations, it further adds to their frustration. It may be pertinent to point out that tribal areas of Madhya Pradesh have a high dropout rate in schools, and events like these are pointers to gaps in the education system, which need urgent attention.
Contributed by Anil Gulati
VILLAGE KALIGHATI of Petlawad area Madhya Pradesh (MP) witnessed a unique form of protest from the community members, as at least 25 students of a school climbed on a tree and a youth from the village took the classes on the tree top. They were protesting against the lack of teachers in the primary and middle schools in their area. Besides village Kalighati, nearly a dozen other villages took part in the protest and there the schools did not function on August 30.
As per the survey conducted by a social organisation, committed to the cause of education, about 235 posts of teachers are lying vacant in Petlawad area, which falls under Jhabua, a tribal district in the western part of MP. The teacher: pupil ratio in the area is about 1:125. In decentralized governance set up, as it should be, the issue was discussed in the Gram Sabhas held in the area on August 15, wherein they had passed a resolution demanding filling up of the vacancies of teachers by August 30, 2007. But when nothing happened, they decided to keep schools closed on 30th August and in one school of village Kalighati, classes were held on a tree nearby, which ran for two hours. As per the information received after the incident, four teachers have been provided to the schools. But the district needs more teachers and people hope that their children will have teachers in the school soon.
Jhabua district in its twelve blocks has about 4421 schools and as per the District Information System for Education (DISE), a school based statistical system supported by National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), an autonomous organisation set up Government of India reveals that about 49.6 per cent schools are having a single teacher in the district. Strikingly data points out that 22.7 per cent schools in Jhabua are single classroom schools, which is an important issue and needs to be responded.
The problem is not only in Jhabua alone. Though across the State of Madhya Pradesh the access to schools and enrolment rates have improved, number of teachers have not increased. Challenges like lack of teachers, irregular classes, overcrowded classrooms and poor quality of teaching have been impacting the learning level of children and the system is not able to retain children in schools. This is particularly important in rural and tribal areas wherein poverty is an issue. Here, still rather than sending their children to fields, parents spend their hard earned money to admit them in schools with an expectation that their children would get good education. But when system fails to meet their expectations, it further adds to their frustration. It may be pertinent to point out that tribal areas of Madhya Pradesh have a high dropout rate in schools, and events like these are pointers to gaps in the education system, which need urgent attention.
Contributed by Anil Gulati
Saturday, September 1, 2007
Heila community: Dreaming for a life with dignity
ADHIR KUMAR SAXENA
Living a life with dignity is one of the fundamental rights of every Indian national. Indian Constitution, UN Charter and even Human Rights Commissions have time and again reiterated commitments towards them. Human Scavenging has a blanket ban in India but the sorrowful state of affairs and indifferent state governments have left the Heila and Walmiki communities still engaged in disposal of human feces (scavenging). The act is shear slavery, as these communities work on petty amounts of Rs 20 per month, cleaning human wastes. They are `untouchables', and higher castes would not allow them in religious places, share food with them or even invite them on festivities. They clean human excreta, remove dead animals (carcass) from public places and act a vulture in keeping the ecological balance.
A hutment of 54 families from the Heila community (a sub-caste in Minority Muslims) engaged in human scavenging finds a very poor settlement at Tarana (Tehsil under Ujjain district). Yes, human scavenging really exists in this Tehsil and Zubeda (56 years) carries human waste on her head every morning. In return she get Rs 10 per house in a month. She has under her Jagiri, a total of 75 houses. Her daughter-in-law also helps her nowadays. Her daughters would not do the inhuman work but once they are married, they will also be engaged in the same scavenging (a pre condition for marriage in the community). Zubeda get stale Chapatis also some times, but then, in exchange she will not be given her wages.
Tarana Tehsil has a small Muhalla of these untouchables who will not get any support from either government agencies or other communities. Their children have to take their own utensils to school if they want mid-day meals otherwise they would not be served. They have a separate sitting place in schools and they are virtually secluded, and could not move out of the Muhalla. Mohammed Mansoor, himself from the community claims that normally it is believed that untouchability is obsolete in Muslim community, but we are not allowed to participate in Rozaftar. Upper caste Muslims do not allow us close to them and we could not enter their houses.
Forced to work, these scavengers are pressed into duties to remove dead animal bodies, serve women post delivery, but no payment is made. Untouchability is still prevalent in Bapu's country, shattering his dreams of a free India. Unfortunately, the Nagar Palika ( a government entity) itself employs scavengers for removing dead animals found in streets. Despite relentless efforts of these under privileged engaged in inhuman occupation, they are not allowed to shift to any other profession.
No other community comes to their aid and they sell their Jagiri (cluster of houses where they are engaged in human scavenging for generations together) in times of need.
Adding pain to agony, these scavengers are still gratified to their petty pay masters for giving them livelihood. These scavengers have been working in these houses for ages now and call them their Jagiri (property). This Jagiri is sold or given on lease by the owner scavenger in times of need. There is no excess to other occupations, as the upper castes do not give them jobs. These scavengers come under Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and thus government job opportunities are very limited.
Published in Free Press Bhopal September 1, 2007
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Malnutrition 'killing millions of kids'
Malnutrition kills nearly six million children a year, mainly in developing countries, despite the availability of relatively cheap solutions that could improve global nutrition, a report said.
While low and middle-income countries bear the brunt of the problem, malnutrition affects some rich countries as well, said the report by the Population Reference Bureau, a Washington policy research group.
The bureau's "2007 World Population Data Sheet" and two companion reports provide up-to-date demographic, health and environmental data for all the countries and major regions of the world.
The report said poor nutrition during the mother's pregnancy and the baby's early years causes severe and irreversible mental and physical damage.
Bill Butz, president of the Population Reference Bureau, said the public often does not consider the deadly toll of malnutrition among children "because it does not kill young children directly, as does pneumonia or diarrhoea.
"Many of these deaths could be averted through nutrition measures that are known to be effective, often at low cost," Butz said.
"Malnutrition often increases susceptibility to disease, while ill health exacerbates poor nutrition," the report said. "For countries ravaged by the HIV/AIDS epidemic, malnutrition appears to increase vulnerability to infection and render retro viral treatments less effective."
Despite some important progress, the report said, about 30 per cent of children in low- and middle-income countries are underweight. The largest problems are in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
For example, almost half the children are underweight in some Indian states.
To improve nutrition In the short term, the report said, countries should begin monitoring and promoting growth, changing nutritional behaviour, improving communication with people at risk of malnutrition and introducing iodised salt.
Later they could establish community-based nutrition programs that target young children, adolescent girls and pregnant women.
Other highlights in the report:
-World population growth will continue. It is projected to rise to 9.3 billion by 2050 from 6.6 billion in 2007.
-Fertility rates may be rising again in some European countries where they have been on the wane. The number of children women are having is increasing in Italy, Spain and Sweden, among others.
-The prevalence of HIV/AIDS probably is lower than earlier estimated but remains an international crisis. More than 4 million people were newly infected in 2006.
-The international refugee population increased during 2006 to 9.9 million from 8.7 million. It attributed the increase in large part to Iraqis leaving for other countries, particularly to neighbouring Syria and Jordan.
While low and middle-income countries bear the brunt of the problem, malnutrition affects some rich countries as well, said the report by the Population Reference Bureau, a Washington policy research group.
The bureau's "2007 World Population Data Sheet" and two companion reports provide up-to-date demographic, health and environmental data for all the countries and major regions of the world.
The report said poor nutrition during the mother's pregnancy and the baby's early years causes severe and irreversible mental and physical damage.
Bill Butz, president of the Population Reference Bureau, said the public often does not consider the deadly toll of malnutrition among children "because it does not kill young children directly, as does pneumonia or diarrhoea.
"Many of these deaths could be averted through nutrition measures that are known to be effective, often at low cost," Butz said.
"Malnutrition often increases susceptibility to disease, while ill health exacerbates poor nutrition," the report said. "For countries ravaged by the HIV/AIDS epidemic, malnutrition appears to increase vulnerability to infection and render retro viral treatments less effective."
Despite some important progress, the report said, about 30 per cent of children in low- and middle-income countries are underweight. The largest problems are in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
For example, almost half the children are underweight in some Indian states.
To improve nutrition In the short term, the report said, countries should begin monitoring and promoting growth, changing nutritional behaviour, improving communication with people at risk of malnutrition and introducing iodised salt.
Later they could establish community-based nutrition programs that target young children, adolescent girls and pregnant women.
Other highlights in the report:
-World population growth will continue. It is projected to rise to 9.3 billion by 2050 from 6.6 billion in 2007.
-Fertility rates may be rising again in some European countries where they have been on the wane. The number of children women are having is increasing in Italy, Spain and Sweden, among others.
-The prevalence of HIV/AIDS probably is lower than earlier estimated but remains an international crisis. More than 4 million people were newly infected in 2006.
-The international refugee population increased during 2006 to 9.9 million from 8.7 million. It attributed the increase in large part to Iraqis leaving for other countries, particularly to neighbouring Syria and Jordan.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Engaging India: A matter of national shame
Financial Times
By Amy Yee, New Delhi correspondent
At a health centre in India’s Madhya Pradesh state, three-year-old Rajkumar clings to his mother, a woman named Anita whose youth is hinted at only when a smile cracks her weathered face. Rajkumar wails when his mother moves away slightly, standing by himself on the cot where she sits.
I am unsure whether he is crying for his mother or because it is painful to stand: his legs are matchstick thin – merely the width of two of my fingers. Rajkumar weights only 5.9 kg (13 pounds) when he should weigh 12 kg. His hair is brittle, light brown – another tell-tale sign of malnourishment.
Nearby, another mother looks on from amid the rows of cots lined up across the large room. She cradles her baby, whose head dwarfs his frail, doll-like body.
Severely malnourished children like Rajkumar and their mothers are sent to health centres like this one by government health workers who work, with assistance from Unicef, in surrounding villages at ”anganwadi” – half-day pre-schools where children are fed, immunised, weighed, and monitored. If left untreated, children at this stage are likely to die from infections that plague their weakened bodies. Indeed, more than half of all deaths among under-fives are linked to malnutrition, says the World Health Organisation.
At the health centres, launched by Unicef and the Madhya Pradesh state government a few years ago, mothers are counseled on nutrition and hygiene. At this town clinic in Shivpuri district, about five hours from Delhi by train, children and their mothers are fed and monitored for two weeks.
At an anganwadi in a small hamlet miles from the health centre, children sing cheerful songs and crowd the floor of a simple shack. There they eat a daily lunch prepared from local ingredients on a wood-burning hearth. Today it is a meal of soy, groundnuts, rice, potato, onion, mint, oil and salt. The anganwadi also acts as a resource centre for mothers: its walls bear posters with bright cartoons that warn of polio and anemia.
Government-run anganwadi have been in place for three decades. The network has been expanded as part of a national plan to improve children’s health. In recent years Unicef has stepped up its presence in landlocked Madhya Pradesh, or ”Middle State”, which has some of the worst levels of malnutrition among already alarming national numbers.
An astonishing 46.3 per cent of all children under the age of three in India are malnourished, and nearly 80 per cent are anemic, according to the government’s National Health and Family Survey of 2005-06. There has been marginal improvement since 1992-93, when 51 per cent of under-threes were underweight. But in Madhya Pradesh, figures have worsened from 55 per cent in 1998-1999 to 60 per cent in 2005-2006.
The statistics are stupefying given India’s ambition of becoming a global power. It is hard to take that aspiration seriously with almost half the country’s infants malnourished during critical years of cognitive and physical development. Even if Rajkumar lives to adulthood, he may be mentally and physically stunted. One wonders how India will reap the much-touted ”demographic dividend” of its youth where half of its 1.1bn population is under the age of 25.
Aid agencies say it is difficult to fund projects to combat the pervasive problem of malnutrition because of ’fatigue’ among donors. But India’s malnutrition ranks far worse than sub-Saharan Africa’s average rate of 27 per cent for children under the age of five, an ugly fact that rouses officials from complacency.
Manmohan Singh, India’s prime minister, condemned malnutrition as ”a matter of national shame” in his Independence Day address last week. Mr Singh ambitiously urged eradicating malnutrition in five years, and said communities must help ensure that corruption does not divert funds from the needy.
Of course, this is all much easier said then done. The challenges are starkly laid out during this visit to Madhya Pradesh. The state’s large population of 60m is scattered across thousands of villages with dirt roads and limited or no electricity, making them difficult and expensive for health workers to reach. Low literacy of 60 per cent makes it is hard to spread knowledge through pamphlets and posters.
Many mothers simply don’t know how to care for infants in the absence of adequate education. Only 55 per cent of mothers in Madhya Pradesh deliver in hospitals – though that’s an improvement from 26 per cent a few years ago – so most lack advice from healthcare professionals from the start. Anita, for example, says she didn’t know Rajkumar was malnourished in spite of his emaciated state.
Most rural diets are dominated by grain, which is inadequate for a growing child who needs protein, vitamins and minerals. Lunch at the anganwadi cannot compensate for a paltry diet at home.
But even if they have money, accessing better food is a major challenge for rural families. The nearest open-air markets are miles away and transport is not readily available. Supermarkets, so ubiquitous in the developed world, seem like a bizarre fantasy while standing among the low, mud-walled homes in this village in Shivapur.
Superstitions and taboos also are deeply ingrained in local culture. Anita admits she did not breastfeed her son in the first critical days after her birth because her mother-in-law discouraged her.
Yet there are glimmers of hope. Back at the town health centre, a casual labourer named Papku sits with his 10-month old son who is stricken with diarrhea. Sleeping next to the infant on the cot is Papku’s three-year-old son, Krishna, who was admitted to the centre a year ago weighing just 6 kg. After his parents were counseled on proper nutrition, Krishna’s weight has doubled to 12 kg (26.5 pounds) in a year. The boy looks robust and meaty although his father earns only Rs60 ($1.50) a day to support his family of six, which includes his wife and three young daughters.
Given his modest means why did Papku have five children? Papku matter-of-factly states that even after his eldest son was born, he wanted two sons in case one died. It is a jarring explanation. But the pragmatic answer reflects life for Papku and his family – and hundreds of millions like them across India.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
By Amy Yee, New Delhi correspondent
At a health centre in India’s Madhya Pradesh state, three-year-old Rajkumar clings to his mother, a woman named Anita whose youth is hinted at only when a smile cracks her weathered face. Rajkumar wails when his mother moves away slightly, standing by himself on the cot where she sits.
I am unsure whether he is crying for his mother or because it is painful to stand: his legs are matchstick thin – merely the width of two of my fingers. Rajkumar weights only 5.9 kg (13 pounds) when he should weigh 12 kg. His hair is brittle, light brown – another tell-tale sign of malnourishment.
Nearby, another mother looks on from amid the rows of cots lined up across the large room. She cradles her baby, whose head dwarfs his frail, doll-like body.
Severely malnourished children like Rajkumar and their mothers are sent to health centres like this one by government health workers who work, with assistance from Unicef, in surrounding villages at ”anganwadi” – half-day pre-schools where children are fed, immunised, weighed, and monitored. If left untreated, children at this stage are likely to die from infections that plague their weakened bodies. Indeed, more than half of all deaths among under-fives are linked to malnutrition, says the World Health Organisation.
At the health centres, launched by Unicef and the Madhya Pradesh state government a few years ago, mothers are counseled on nutrition and hygiene. At this town clinic in Shivpuri district, about five hours from Delhi by train, children and their mothers are fed and monitored for two weeks.
At an anganwadi in a small hamlet miles from the health centre, children sing cheerful songs and crowd the floor of a simple shack. There they eat a daily lunch prepared from local ingredients on a wood-burning hearth. Today it is a meal of soy, groundnuts, rice, potato, onion, mint, oil and salt. The anganwadi also acts as a resource centre for mothers: its walls bear posters with bright cartoons that warn of polio and anemia.
Government-run anganwadi have been in place for three decades. The network has been expanded as part of a national plan to improve children’s health. In recent years Unicef has stepped up its presence in landlocked Madhya Pradesh, or ”Middle State”, which has some of the worst levels of malnutrition among already alarming national numbers.
An astonishing 46.3 per cent of all children under the age of three in India are malnourished, and nearly 80 per cent are anemic, according to the government’s National Health and Family Survey of 2005-06. There has been marginal improvement since 1992-93, when 51 per cent of under-threes were underweight. But in Madhya Pradesh, figures have worsened from 55 per cent in 1998-1999 to 60 per cent in 2005-2006.
The statistics are stupefying given India’s ambition of becoming a global power. It is hard to take that aspiration seriously with almost half the country’s infants malnourished during critical years of cognitive and physical development. Even if Rajkumar lives to adulthood, he may be mentally and physically stunted. One wonders how India will reap the much-touted ”demographic dividend” of its youth where half of its 1.1bn population is under the age of 25.
Aid agencies say it is difficult to fund projects to combat the pervasive problem of malnutrition because of ’fatigue’ among donors. But India’s malnutrition ranks far worse than sub-Saharan Africa’s average rate of 27 per cent for children under the age of five, an ugly fact that rouses officials from complacency.
Manmohan Singh, India’s prime minister, condemned malnutrition as ”a matter of national shame” in his Independence Day address last week. Mr Singh ambitiously urged eradicating malnutrition in five years, and said communities must help ensure that corruption does not divert funds from the needy.
Of course, this is all much easier said then done. The challenges are starkly laid out during this visit to Madhya Pradesh. The state’s large population of 60m is scattered across thousands of villages with dirt roads and limited or no electricity, making them difficult and expensive for health workers to reach. Low literacy of 60 per cent makes it is hard to spread knowledge through pamphlets and posters.
Many mothers simply don’t know how to care for infants in the absence of adequate education. Only 55 per cent of mothers in Madhya Pradesh deliver in hospitals – though that’s an improvement from 26 per cent a few years ago – so most lack advice from healthcare professionals from the start. Anita, for example, says she didn’t know Rajkumar was malnourished in spite of his emaciated state.
Most rural diets are dominated by grain, which is inadequate for a growing child who needs protein, vitamins and minerals. Lunch at the anganwadi cannot compensate for a paltry diet at home.
But even if they have money, accessing better food is a major challenge for rural families. The nearest open-air markets are miles away and transport is not readily available. Supermarkets, so ubiquitous in the developed world, seem like a bizarre fantasy while standing among the low, mud-walled homes in this village in Shivapur.
Superstitions and taboos also are deeply ingrained in local culture. Anita admits she did not breastfeed her son in the first critical days after her birth because her mother-in-law discouraged her.
Yet there are glimmers of hope. Back at the town health centre, a casual labourer named Papku sits with his 10-month old son who is stricken with diarrhea. Sleeping next to the infant on the cot is Papku’s three-year-old son, Krishna, who was admitted to the centre a year ago weighing just 6 kg. After his parents were counseled on proper nutrition, Krishna’s weight has doubled to 12 kg (26.5 pounds) in a year. The boy looks robust and meaty although his father earns only Rs60 ($1.50) a day to support his family of six, which includes his wife and three young daughters.
Given his modest means why did Papku have five children? Papku matter-of-factly states that even after his eldest son was born, he wanted two sons in case one died. It is a jarring explanation. But the pragmatic answer reflects life for Papku and his family – and hundreds of millions like them across India.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Using village planning to address community problems
A village planning initiative has been launched by the district administration in Guna, Madhya Pradesh, jointly with the UNICEF and NGOs. Institutional delivery has since improved; now, more girls go to schools; immunization levels have increased.
AT GUNA, Madhya Pradesh, it was meeting of a different kind; more than eighty village facilitators, supporting village planning initiatives in the district of Guna in the State of Madhya Pradesh, were at Guna block headquarters to share their experience in helping the children and women of the district.
Village planning initiative is a process initiated by the district administration and UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) with the support of NGOs (non-government organizations), in Guna. It is based on engaging the community, using the norms of participatory rural appraisal techniques. As part of the process, social maps were prepared to assess the distribution of the available resources in the villages. Household and family surveys were then conducted to collect basic information about the village, the community and the needs of children, primarily in the areas of health, education, nutrition, drinking water and sanitation in addition to information on socio-economic conditions.
Using the said information as the basis, the community groups prepared village plans for presentation and approval in a special Gram Sabha or village meeting. Sunil Raghuvansahi, a facilitator, who works in Aaron block of Guna district with a non-government organization, sees his role as that of one which can help has-ten the pace of social development. Basanti Pant, another village facilitator, who works in Sungahwasa, Piproda village and the hamlet of Chak Dingahwas of Guna block explained the process and how she, along with other members of her community, were able to sort out the issues and concerns of the villagers. ‘This is important, if one has to solve the problem of the community; the community needs to come together; then only we can resolve the concern facing the community at village level’, she adds. She sees the change happening. Institutional delivery is increasing, more girls are going to school and immunization levels have increased. Electricity and water scarcity are still a challenge which needs to be addressed.
Ladbai, a friend of Basanti Pant and another facilitator helping in the ‘process of social change’ for five Gram Panchayats of Raghogarh block in the same district, says that it is not only the community members, but the Sarpanch, members of the service delivery system like auxiliary nurses, midwives and anganwadi workers who are actively involved, so they can respond to the needs and wishes of the people. She proudly says, ‘now we have all the information with us - like how many children need to be immunized; how many women are pregnant, etc. Similarly Hemlata Sharma, who works in Raghograh block, talks about her experience; on how she got many girls into school and on how she got 18 toilets constructed at her village. ‘We are a link between the district administration and the community and help the community monitor services’, adds Mukesh Kumar Chandel, who works in Chachoda block, while explaining his role as facilitator.
These facilitators use tools like community-monitoring chart for the various services provided at the village level. ‘Any change, however small, which benefits children and women is important, as it contributes to saving the lives of children and women, and you are a contributor to that change’ said UNICEF’s Planning Officer Veena Bandyopadhyaya, while interacting with these facilitators.
The intensive process has helped increase the engagement between community members, NGOs and the district delivery system and support the State in strengthening its implementation of the initiative for women and children. Micro-plans for all the villages in Guna are ready and the district response team has worked out an action plan which is responding to the needs of the community. These village facilitators have worked out the following four-point action plan to hasten the pace of work in the district:
(1) To periodically review village plans with the various stakeholders, namely the Sarpanch, Secretary of the Panchayat, Anganwadi worker, school teacher, ANM and others.
(2)To support progressive community-monitoring by using various charts jointly with the members of the community.
(3)Collate accurate village-level statistics in the areas of concern and use the same to advise people at the village level during the block and district task force meetings.
(4)‘Their problem first’: community problems rank first and to help in addressing the said problems, the village facilitators will promote community-level dialogue, listen to the problems and concerns of the community first and help in the redress of the problems.
Anil Gulati
AT GUNA, Madhya Pradesh, it was meeting of a different kind; more than eighty village facilitators, supporting village planning initiatives in the district of Guna in the State of Madhya Pradesh, were at Guna block headquarters to share their experience in helping the children and women of the district.
Village planning initiative is a process initiated by the district administration and UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) with the support of NGOs (non-government organizations), in Guna. It is based on engaging the community, using the norms of participatory rural appraisal techniques. As part of the process, social maps were prepared to assess the distribution of the available resources in the villages. Household and family surveys were then conducted to collect basic information about the village, the community and the needs of children, primarily in the areas of health, education, nutrition, drinking water and sanitation in addition to information on socio-economic conditions.
Using the said information as the basis, the community groups prepared village plans for presentation and approval in a special Gram Sabha or village meeting. Sunil Raghuvansahi, a facilitator, who works in Aaron block of Guna district with a non-government organization, sees his role as that of one which can help has-ten the pace of social development. Basanti Pant, another village facilitator, who works in Sungahwasa, Piproda village and the hamlet of Chak Dingahwas of Guna block explained the process and how she, along with other members of her community, were able to sort out the issues and concerns of the villagers. ‘This is important, if one has to solve the problem of the community; the community needs to come together; then only we can resolve the concern facing the community at village level’, she adds. She sees the change happening. Institutional delivery is increasing, more girls are going to school and immunization levels have increased. Electricity and water scarcity are still a challenge which needs to be addressed.
Ladbai, a friend of Basanti Pant and another facilitator helping in the ‘process of social change’ for five Gram Panchayats of Raghogarh block in the same district, says that it is not only the community members, but the Sarpanch, members of the service delivery system like auxiliary nurses, midwives and anganwadi workers who are actively involved, so they can respond to the needs and wishes of the people. She proudly says, ‘now we have all the information with us - like how many children need to be immunized; how many women are pregnant, etc. Similarly Hemlata Sharma, who works in Raghograh block, talks about her experience; on how she got many girls into school and on how she got 18 toilets constructed at her village. ‘We are a link between the district administration and the community and help the community monitor services’, adds Mukesh Kumar Chandel, who works in Chachoda block, while explaining his role as facilitator.
These facilitators use tools like community-monitoring chart for the various services provided at the village level. ‘Any change, however small, which benefits children and women is important, as it contributes to saving the lives of children and women, and you are a contributor to that change’ said UNICEF’s Planning Officer Veena Bandyopadhyaya, while interacting with these facilitators.
The intensive process has helped increase the engagement between community members, NGOs and the district delivery system and support the State in strengthening its implementation of the initiative for women and children. Micro-plans for all the villages in Guna are ready and the district response team has worked out an action plan which is responding to the needs of the community. These village facilitators have worked out the following four-point action plan to hasten the pace of work in the district:
(1) To periodically review village plans with the various stakeholders, namely the Sarpanch, Secretary of the Panchayat, Anganwadi worker, school teacher, ANM and others.
(2)To support progressive community-monitoring by using various charts jointly with the members of the community.
(3)Collate accurate village-level statistics in the areas of concern and use the same to advise people at the village level during the block and district task force meetings.
(4)‘Their problem first’: community problems rank first and to help in addressing the said problems, the village facilitators will promote community-level dialogue, listen to the problems and concerns of the community first and help in the redress of the problems.
Anil Gulati
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Regional Consultation Meet: Rights of the Child discussed
With an aim of inviting suggestions to prepare the report on Convention on the Rights of the Child, a consultation meet was organised in Bhopal. The meet was attended by representatives of various organisations of national and state level repute.
A THREE-DAY REGIONAL consultation meet for preparation of India’s country report on the Convention on the Rights of the Child was recently held at Bhopal. This was second such meeting organised by Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India, wherein first one was held at Chandigarh. More than 50 civil society and state partners from states like Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh participated in the consultation. The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is an international treaty signed by Government of India in year 1992. It is also a legal binding international instrument, incorporating the full range of human rights—civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights.
The Convention sets out these rights in 54 articles and two Optional Protocols to which India is signatory and these are for the benefit of children. The four core principles of the Convention are non-discrimination; devotion to the best interests of the child; the right to life, survival and development; and respect for the views of the child. Dr Hamid El Bashir, State Representative, UNICEF office for Madhya Pradesh, participating in the meet said that society needs to lead the change process and could lead the thinking of the government as well. Children have unmet rights in Madhya Pradesh and we need a holistic approach when we talk about child’s rights. We need to create a mass movement around children for making that happen. Madhya Pradesh state needs to strengthen the child rights monitoring and take into account child views when we decide for children view. When we decide not to include children in fact we are missing important members of the society.
Karuna Bishnoi, Communication Officer, UNICEF Delhi who was participating in the meet spoke on the need of taking views of children into account and also increase our understanding of many issues which have got reflected at the consultation so that suitable recommendations can be provided. She said that India will be reporting for the first time on the Optional Protocols on children affected by armed conflict and sale of children, may be we need to understand the context better and provide suitable suggestions. Razia Ismail Abbasi, Co-Convenor of India Alliance for Child Rights, a national network of non governmental organisation working for child rights who participated in the workshop said that we need to invest more in children and young people and it is an investment not just the welfare.
Issue of ’defining the age of a child’ in India came up in the meeting. As per ’Convention on the Rights of the Child article one, anyone below 18 is considered a child. Whereas Indian laws like juvenile justice, child labour etc. differ on the age parameters.
Participants suggested that we should work towards making ‘18 years age’ a common parameter for defining a child, under all Indian laws. They also proposed that there is a need of strengthening of implementation of the various laws and policies besides engaging communities in implementation. “There is need of increasing awareness not only amongst communities but also among implementers,” added a participant from Maharashtra.
Representatives of World Vision, Plan International, and Child Line Foundation along with others contributed various suggestions for the report. Non-governmental organisations from Madhya Pradesh namely Aarambh, Oasis, Madhya Pradesh Samaj Sewa Sanstha, Madhya Pradesh Voluntary Health Association, Vikas Samvad, Janshas, National Institute of Women Youth and Child Development contributed from the state perspective. C K Reejonia, Under Secretary, Women and Child Development Department, Government of India; Representatives from Women and Child Development, Education and Social Justice from the state and Women and Child Development Maharashtra also participated in the meeting.
A THREE-DAY REGIONAL consultation meet for preparation of India’s country report on the Convention on the Rights of the Child was recently held at Bhopal. This was second such meeting organised by Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India, wherein first one was held at Chandigarh. More than 50 civil society and state partners from states like Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh participated in the consultation. The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is an international treaty signed by Government of India in year 1992. It is also a legal binding international instrument, incorporating the full range of human rights—civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights.
The Convention sets out these rights in 54 articles and two Optional Protocols to which India is signatory and these are for the benefit of children. The four core principles of the Convention are non-discrimination; devotion to the best interests of the child; the right to life, survival and development; and respect for the views of the child. Dr Hamid El Bashir, State Representative, UNICEF office for Madhya Pradesh, participating in the meet said that society needs to lead the change process and could lead the thinking of the government as well. Children have unmet rights in Madhya Pradesh and we need a holistic approach when we talk about child’s rights. We need to create a mass movement around children for making that happen. Madhya Pradesh state needs to strengthen the child rights monitoring and take into account child views when we decide for children view. When we decide not to include children in fact we are missing important members of the society.
Karuna Bishnoi, Communication Officer, UNICEF Delhi who was participating in the meet spoke on the need of taking views of children into account and also increase our understanding of many issues which have got reflected at the consultation so that suitable recommendations can be provided. She said that India will be reporting for the first time on the Optional Protocols on children affected by armed conflict and sale of children, may be we need to understand the context better and provide suitable suggestions. Razia Ismail Abbasi, Co-Convenor of India Alliance for Child Rights, a national network of non governmental organisation working for child rights who participated in the workshop said that we need to invest more in children and young people and it is an investment not just the welfare.
Issue of ’defining the age of a child’ in India came up in the meeting. As per ’Convention on the Rights of the Child article one, anyone below 18 is considered a child. Whereas Indian laws like juvenile justice, child labour etc. differ on the age parameters.
Participants suggested that we should work towards making ‘18 years age’ a common parameter for defining a child, under all Indian laws. They also proposed that there is a need of strengthening of implementation of the various laws and policies besides engaging communities in implementation. “There is need of increasing awareness not only amongst communities but also among implementers,” added a participant from Maharashtra.
Representatives of World Vision, Plan International, and Child Line Foundation along with others contributed various suggestions for the report. Non-governmental organisations from Madhya Pradesh namely Aarambh, Oasis, Madhya Pradesh Samaj Sewa Sanstha, Madhya Pradesh Voluntary Health Association, Vikas Samvad, Janshas, National Institute of Women Youth and Child Development contributed from the state perspective. C K Reejonia, Under Secretary, Women and Child Development Department, Government of India; Representatives from Women and Child Development, Education and Social Justice from the state and Women and Child Development Maharashtra also participated in the meeting.
Monday, August 6, 2007
Immunisation need of the hour : Workshop gets under way
Bhopal, Aug 6: 'Need is to change at grassroots and you can inspire that change', Dr Hamid El Bashir State Representative UNICEF Office for Madhya Pradesh said while addressing District Immunisation Officers and others present from twenty four districts of the state in inaugural of three day Routine Immunisation workshop.
He added that though State of Madhya Pradesh has indicators, which are low, and have problems of delivery of services to the people at the village level. But he added that change is possible, imminent and is near. We need to strengthen monitoring, engage communities and support behaviour change. He added that UNICEF is committed to that change and suggested a five-point mechanism which can help bring in that change.
The points according to hims are 1. Identify pockets that are hard to reach which have low performance indicators, 2. Need to identify, difficult to reach populations in the above identified pockets, 3. To Increase focus on urban slums, 4. To strengthen monitoring system and database management and 5. To adopt a campaign that can build an enabling atmosphere of change by engaging civil society partners.
Dr Naresh Goyal Assistant Commissioner Government of India while opening the meeting stressed on the importance of immunisation. He said that Government of India had reviewed progress of routine immunisation in the year 2004 and all the recommendations that were suggested in that review were agreed by the Government in the year 2005. All efforts are being put both by Centre and State and in case still we are not reaching may be we need to look into it. He spoke on the need of strengthening reporting and accuracy of the reported data, which is very important. He added that ten districts in Madhya Pradesh have low routine immunisation indicators, but there are examples of districts which are doing well.
This is first of the series of the initiatives, Dr Gagan Gupta, Health Specialist with UNICEF office for Madhya Pradesh. He added that this training will not only look at the elements of strengthening routine immunisation, but will also look into the issue of adverse events following Immunisation and issue of the database.
Dr Yogiraj Sharma, Director Public Health, while addressing the participants said that we must use this training an opportunity to improve. We need to follow a bottom up approach and not only plan better, deliver better and also ensure timely reporting. Dr Balwinder of WHO, Dr Vijay Kiran of 'Immunisation Basics, Dr A N Mittal Joint Director RCH Directorate of Health Services, Dr Jayshree Chandra, Deputy Director, Child Health, Directorate of health services were also present.
He added that though State of Madhya Pradesh has indicators, which are low, and have problems of delivery of services to the people at the village level. But he added that change is possible, imminent and is near. We need to strengthen monitoring, engage communities and support behaviour change. He added that UNICEF is committed to that change and suggested a five-point mechanism which can help bring in that change.
The points according to hims are 1. Identify pockets that are hard to reach which have low performance indicators, 2. Need to identify, difficult to reach populations in the above identified pockets, 3. To Increase focus on urban slums, 4. To strengthen monitoring system and database management and 5. To adopt a campaign that can build an enabling atmosphere of change by engaging civil society partners.
Dr Naresh Goyal Assistant Commissioner Government of India while opening the meeting stressed on the importance of immunisation. He said that Government of India had reviewed progress of routine immunisation in the year 2004 and all the recommendations that were suggested in that review were agreed by the Government in the year 2005. All efforts are being put both by Centre and State and in case still we are not reaching may be we need to look into it. He spoke on the need of strengthening reporting and accuracy of the reported data, which is very important. He added that ten districts in Madhya Pradesh have low routine immunisation indicators, but there are examples of districts which are doing well.
This is first of the series of the initiatives, Dr Gagan Gupta, Health Specialist with UNICEF office for Madhya Pradesh. He added that this training will not only look at the elements of strengthening routine immunisation, but will also look into the issue of adverse events following Immunisation and issue of the database.
Dr Yogiraj Sharma, Director Public Health, while addressing the participants said that we must use this training an opportunity to improve. We need to follow a bottom up approach and not only plan better, deliver better and also ensure timely reporting. Dr Balwinder of WHO, Dr Vijay Kiran of 'Immunisation Basics, Dr A N Mittal Joint Director RCH Directorate of Health Services, Dr Jayshree Chandra, Deputy Director, Child Health, Directorate of health services were also present.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Breast feed newborn for healthy development, says Minister
The Pioneer, Aug 1, 2007
Minister for Woman and Child Development Kusum Mehdele has urged the expectant mothers on the occasion of World Breast Feeding Week, which began on Tuesday, to breast feed their newborn within an hour of their birth for their all round development. She said that mothers' milk during the first few days helps increase immunity and promotes growth of the child.
It may be mentioned that several programmes are being organised by the Woman and Child Development Department in cooperation of UNICEF, CARE and Breast Feeding Promotion Network of India to mark the 16th Breast Feeding Week which is being observed from August 1 to 7 in the State.
A pilot project prepared by the department is being implemented in 30 hospitals of Bhopal during the World Breast Feeding Week. Under the project, 46 college girl students and 14 supervisors of the department would highlight the importance of breast feeding within an hour after the delivery to the expectant mothers and would encourage its practise. Director WCD Kalpana Shrivastava throwing light on the project said that such campaign would be launched in all the districts of the State on the basis of its success. She further stated that the women will have to accept the breast feeding as the most important foundation step for the child development.
Breast Feeding Promotion Network of India State coordinator Dr Sheela Bhambal mentioned that the milk secreted by mothers during the first few days, which is called colostrum transmits life to the baby. This initiative could control infant mortality rate to a greater extent. State representative UNICEF Hamid El Bashir said that the first three years after the birth are critical in the development of the child and during this period various capabilities are largely determined in the child.
Minister for Woman and Child Development Kusum Mehdele has urged the expectant mothers on the occasion of World Breast Feeding Week, which began on Tuesday, to breast feed their newborn within an hour of their birth for their all round development. She said that mothers' milk during the first few days helps increase immunity and promotes growth of the child.
It may be mentioned that several programmes are being organised by the Woman and Child Development Department in cooperation of UNICEF, CARE and Breast Feeding Promotion Network of India to mark the 16th Breast Feeding Week which is being observed from August 1 to 7 in the State.
A pilot project prepared by the department is being implemented in 30 hospitals of Bhopal during the World Breast Feeding Week. Under the project, 46 college girl students and 14 supervisors of the department would highlight the importance of breast feeding within an hour after the delivery to the expectant mothers and would encourage its practise. Director WCD Kalpana Shrivastava throwing light on the project said that such campaign would be launched in all the districts of the State on the basis of its success. She further stated that the women will have to accept the breast feeding as the most important foundation step for the child development.
Breast Feeding Promotion Network of India State coordinator Dr Sheela Bhambal mentioned that the milk secreted by mothers during the first few days, which is called colostrum transmits life to the baby. This initiative could control infant mortality rate to a greater extent. State representative UNICEF Hamid El Bashir said that the first three years after the birth are critical in the development of the child and during this period various capabilities are largely determined in the child.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Cast away: No takers for these Dalit snake charmers
Suchandana Gupta,Times of India, July 29, 2007
HOSHANGABAD: While most other boys his age jump at the sight of a cat, six-year-old Khemchand Sapera helps his dad catch poisonous snakes. Too young and feeble to lift a python, Khemchand can, however, give a free demonstration of how to catch a live cobra. You would think he's a local hero, idolised by neighbourhood boys. On the contrary, Khemchand is shooed away by them as they cry out calling him an "untouchable".
If you thought untouchability has lost its grip, here's a reality check — it's being practised, and not by the upper castes only.
Just 20 metres from National Highway 12 and 170 km from Bhopal near Rani Pipariya village in Hoshangabad district resides a community of snake charmers. Considered one of the lowest among Dalits, even other sects of the Dalit community do not mix with them. "We cannot even reside in the main village and have to live at least 200 metres away from rest of the society," said Mallunath Sapera, an elderly member of the community.
"Although they might be pushed to one corner, other Dalit communities are permitted to at least live inside the villages. But no one will accept us. The Kathiars, Charmkars and Meras are also scheduled castes, but they don't touch us. At weddings, we sit to eat with animals. As for the upper castes, we go stand in front of their houses during Nag Panchmi festival and they throw us a rupee or two. We still cannot enter the temples, our children cannot go to school and politically we have no power since we are less in numbers," said Mallunath.
Hoshangabad district has only 1,200 members of the Sapera community, while Madhya Pradesh has less than 25,000 families. Every successive government in the state has formulated policies and spent thousands of crores for the uplift of the Dalit community, but nothing seems to have reached this group.
In January 2002, the then Digvijay Singh-led Congress government had announced its Dalit agenda and claimed to distribute thousands of acres of government land among Dalits — nothing reached the Saperas of Rani Pipariya.
The successive Uma Bharati government promised a new Dalit policy and the current Shivraj Singh Chauhan administration called a Dalit panchayat in the CM's official residence. But life has hardly changed for Khemchand and his brother Tulsiram (5), who still go with their father to catch snakes in the morning because other students refuse to study with them and there is nothing else they can do.
An average Sapera family in Rani Pipariya earns about Rs 35-50 a day. Though they have BPL cards, they don't have the Rs 120 required to fetch the rations. Snake charming, their only source of livelihood, is also under "threat". "The forest department takes away our snakes and puts us behind bars. They say catching snakes is a crime. But how do we live? We have no other means of livelihood. No one even stepped into our village till six years ago when our names were included for the first time in the electoral list," said Chandabai, mother of eight children.
Fearing the police and forest departments, Chandabai sends her children with the snakes to the villages. "The police don't lock-up children. So we depend mostly on our children to do the earning
HOSHANGABAD: While most other boys his age jump at the sight of a cat, six-year-old Khemchand Sapera helps his dad catch poisonous snakes. Too young and feeble to lift a python, Khemchand can, however, give a free demonstration of how to catch a live cobra. You would think he's a local hero, idolised by neighbourhood boys. On the contrary, Khemchand is shooed away by them as they cry out calling him an "untouchable".
If you thought untouchability has lost its grip, here's a reality check — it's being practised, and not by the upper castes only.
Just 20 metres from National Highway 12 and 170 km from Bhopal near Rani Pipariya village in Hoshangabad district resides a community of snake charmers. Considered one of the lowest among Dalits, even other sects of the Dalit community do not mix with them. "We cannot even reside in the main village and have to live at least 200 metres away from rest of the society," said Mallunath Sapera, an elderly member of the community.
"Although they might be pushed to one corner, other Dalit communities are permitted to at least live inside the villages. But no one will accept us. The Kathiars, Charmkars and Meras are also scheduled castes, but they don't touch us. At weddings, we sit to eat with animals. As for the upper castes, we go stand in front of their houses during Nag Panchmi festival and they throw us a rupee or two. We still cannot enter the temples, our children cannot go to school and politically we have no power since we are less in numbers," said Mallunath.
Hoshangabad district has only 1,200 members of the Sapera community, while Madhya Pradesh has less than 25,000 families. Every successive government in the state has formulated policies and spent thousands of crores for the uplift of the Dalit community, but nothing seems to have reached this group.
In January 2002, the then Digvijay Singh-led Congress government had announced its Dalit agenda and claimed to distribute thousands of acres of government land among Dalits — nothing reached the Saperas of Rani Pipariya.
The successive Uma Bharati government promised a new Dalit policy and the current Shivraj Singh Chauhan administration called a Dalit panchayat in the CM's official residence. But life has hardly changed for Khemchand and his brother Tulsiram (5), who still go with their father to catch snakes in the morning because other students refuse to study with them and there is nothing else they can do.
An average Sapera family in Rani Pipariya earns about Rs 35-50 a day. Though they have BPL cards, they don't have the Rs 120 required to fetch the rations. Snake charming, their only source of livelihood, is also under "threat". "The forest department takes away our snakes and puts us behind bars. They say catching snakes is a crime. But how do we live? We have no other means of livelihood. No one even stepped into our village till six years ago when our names were included for the first time in the electoral list," said Chandabai, mother of eight children.
Fearing the police and forest departments, Chandabai sends her children with the snakes to the villages. "The police don't lock-up children. So we depend mostly on our children to do the earning
Friday, July 27, 2007
Breastfeeding best start to child's life
Bhopal, July 27: Dr Hamid El Bashir, State Representative UNICEF Office for Madhya Pradesh while participating at the training workshop for young volunteers in Bhopal said that early initiation of breastfeeding and exclusive breastfeeding till six months gives a child a best start in the life. It helps increase immunity within the child and benefits the development of the brain of the child, and child will grow better in the later years. He was speaking at the workshop organized for orienting and training young post graduate and graduate students of nutrition from Sarojini Naidu Girls College. He congratulated the young volunteers for their commitment to voluntarism. More than sixty volunteers were participating in this one day workshop which was organized by Women and Child Development department, Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India and UNICEF. These volunteers would help support raising awareness on the issue at various institutions.
Dr Sheela Bhambal, State Coordinator, Breastfeeding Promotion network of India, Madhya Pradesh chapter made a presentation on the key messages for optimal breastfeeding, early initiation of the breastfeeding and spoke on the answers to the common problems encountered during breastfeeding by women. She spoke on the importance of colostrums, the mothers' first breastfeed and early initiation. Dr. Manjula Vishwas, Head of the department of Home Sciences from Sarojini Naidu College spoke to the participants about dangers of feeding prelacteals to the new born.
Suresh Tomar, District Programme Officer Women and Child Development department, Bhopal welcomed the participants and explained about the purpose of the workshop. Dr. Vandana Agarwal, Nutrition Specialist, UNICEF Bhopal motivated the participants to contribute during the world breast feeding week by creating awareness at the delivery institutions and later on they can be ambassadors for taking this vital information within communities. Dr Ohri Chief Medical and Health Officer Bhopal complemented the effort and assured the support from the health departments and hospitals. Honey Jhalani, National trainer for Infant and Young Child Feeding practices, explained about the significance of the colostrum feeding, its benefits, correct positioning and attachment between mother and the child while breastfeeding. Nisha Jain, Women and Child Development department spoke on the factors which influence early initiation of breastfeeding and how communication and its effective use can help overcome many myths associated with it.
Dr Sheela Bhambal, State Coordinator, Breastfeeding Promotion network of India, Madhya Pradesh chapter made a presentation on the key messages for optimal breastfeeding, early initiation of the breastfeeding and spoke on the answers to the common problems encountered during breastfeeding by women. She spoke on the importance of colostrums, the mothers' first breastfeed and early initiation. Dr. Manjula Vishwas, Head of the department of Home Sciences from Sarojini Naidu College spoke to the participants about dangers of feeding prelacteals to the new born.
Suresh Tomar, District Programme Officer Women and Child Development department, Bhopal welcomed the participants and explained about the purpose of the workshop. Dr. Vandana Agarwal, Nutrition Specialist, UNICEF Bhopal motivated the participants to contribute during the world breast feeding week by creating awareness at the delivery institutions and later on they can be ambassadors for taking this vital information within communities. Dr Ohri Chief Medical and Health Officer Bhopal complemented the effort and assured the support from the health departments and hospitals. Honey Jhalani, National trainer for Infant and Young Child Feeding practices, explained about the significance of the colostrum feeding, its benefits, correct positioning and attachment between mother and the child while breastfeeding. Nisha Jain, Women and Child Development department spoke on the factors which influence early initiation of breastfeeding and how communication and its effective use can help overcome many myths associated with it.
Thursday, July 5, 2007
MP to increase enrolment in schools
Lalit Shastri, The Hindu, July 5, 2007
Free textbooks for all children, uniforms to girl students being offered
JHABUA (MADHYA PRADESH): With the reopening of schools for the new academic year, efforts are being made by the Madhya Pradesh Government to ensure maximum enrolment of children in schools.
Travelling through the tribal district of Jhabua, bordering Gujarat, this correspondent could notice that special efforts were needed on a large scale to address issues like poor quality of education, lack of trained teachers and academic support as well as the problem of migrating families, which was making it difficult to retain a large number of children in schools.
The Madhya Pradesh Government’s Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is aimed at improving the quality of education in schools through free distribution of textbooks for all children, provision of school uniforms to girl students and scholarships to children belonging to the disadvantaged and deprived sections, training of parent-teacher associations (PTAs) and improvement in the existing school infrastructure and by providing improved drinking water and toilet facilities.
To meet the larger objectives of primary education, a quality education initiative is presently being implemented in Madhya Pradesh. In Jhabua, UNICEF supports quality education in two clusters of 10 to 15 schools in each block in partnership with the district administration and Rajya Shiksha Kendra. Besides advocating the need for quality education, UNICEF has also provided school furniture and a mathematics kit, which includes self-learning material, for schools in this district.
Hamid El Bashir, State Representative at the UNICEF office for Madhya Pradesh, said that in villages there has been great progress in areas of elementary and primary education.
Especially in tribal areas, he said, enrolment has increased substantially. “We need to invest more on quality education and in efforts to retain the children of migrating parents in schools,” said Dr. Bashir, adding that UNICEF has agreed in principle to support mobile schools for the sake of children of migrating parents.
Dr. Bashir said that the State Government was doing good work but more efforts were needed. “We are working with the Government for teachers’ training and are also ready to join hands to motivate families to enrol girls in schools.”
While supporting activity-based teachers’ training and development of PTA training module and monitoring tools based on classroom observation, UNICEF plans to train cluster academic coordinators to monitor classroom activities.
Free textbooks for all children, uniforms to girl students being offered
JHABUA (MADHYA PRADESH): With the reopening of schools for the new academic year, efforts are being made by the Madhya Pradesh Government to ensure maximum enrolment of children in schools.
Travelling through the tribal district of Jhabua, bordering Gujarat, this correspondent could notice that special efforts were needed on a large scale to address issues like poor quality of education, lack of trained teachers and academic support as well as the problem of migrating families, which was making it difficult to retain a large number of children in schools.
The Madhya Pradesh Government’s Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is aimed at improving the quality of education in schools through free distribution of textbooks for all children, provision of school uniforms to girl students and scholarships to children belonging to the disadvantaged and deprived sections, training of parent-teacher associations (PTAs) and improvement in the existing school infrastructure and by providing improved drinking water and toilet facilities.
To meet the larger objectives of primary education, a quality education initiative is presently being implemented in Madhya Pradesh. In Jhabua, UNICEF supports quality education in two clusters of 10 to 15 schools in each block in partnership with the district administration and Rajya Shiksha Kendra. Besides advocating the need for quality education, UNICEF has also provided school furniture and a mathematics kit, which includes self-learning material, for schools in this district.
Hamid El Bashir, State Representative at the UNICEF office for Madhya Pradesh, said that in villages there has been great progress in areas of elementary and primary education.
Especially in tribal areas, he said, enrolment has increased substantially. “We need to invest more on quality education and in efforts to retain the children of migrating parents in schools,” said Dr. Bashir, adding that UNICEF has agreed in principle to support mobile schools for the sake of children of migrating parents.
Dr. Bashir said that the State Government was doing good work but more efforts were needed. “We are working with the Government for teachers’ training and are also ready to join hands to motivate families to enrol girls in schools.”
While supporting activity-based teachers’ training and development of PTA training module and monitoring tools based on classroom observation, UNICEF plans to train cluster academic coordinators to monitor classroom activities.
Friday, June 22, 2007
60 pc MP kids are malnourished: UN
Seth Doane,CNN
The latest report of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) says almost half of Indian children under the age of three are underweight and has called malnutrition in India a case of silent emergency.
Madhya Pradesh, which is the worst hit state, has thousands of children suffering. One of many such children is Kalpina, whose thinning legs, lightened hair and weakened stamina are clear signs of severe malnutrition.
“I am worried about my child. She is severely malnourished. I told my husband I should go to the hospital for treatment. He said if the child will die then let her die,” says Kalipna’s mother, Gita.
Meanwhile, UNICEF Representative in Madhya pradesh Hamid El Bashir says, “Malnutrition is much higher among girls in India because people culturally prefer to feed the boys. There is a preference in this. So there are many factors.”
UNICEF estimates there are more than 70,000 severely malnourished children in Madhya Pradesh. But there are just 30 centres like UNICEF to deal with the crisis.
“Zero to three is a critical age for children. Most of the brain formation and the intellectual formation of the child takes place within this period. So if we do not put much investment on children at this age we are going to lose a lot,” Hamid explains.
Malnutrition is a problem that has always been brushed under the carpets by politicians but the dire conditions in Madhya Pradesh now definitely call for some mandate moves.
Former district collector of Shivpuri, Dr Manohar Agnani says, “I think the word 'enough' effort will be only good to say when you do not have a single death of malnutrition.”
However, the state in the rest of the country is no better than Madhya Pradesh. India ranks amongst the worst countries when it comes to malnutrition cases.
According to UNICEF, even in so-called ‘posh’ areas like south Delhi up to 60 per cent children under the age of three suffer from malnutrition.
Although, there is a nationwide effort to curb malnutrition at UNICEF centres, the situation is so critical that it definitely calls for more measures and definitely on a much larger scale.
However, what is ironic is that India has long had a surplus in food grains and has one of the largest child health and nutrition programs in the world
The latest report of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) says almost half of Indian children under the age of three are underweight and has called malnutrition in India a case of silent emergency.
Madhya Pradesh, which is the worst hit state, has thousands of children suffering. One of many such children is Kalpina, whose thinning legs, lightened hair and weakened stamina are clear signs of severe malnutrition.
“I am worried about my child. She is severely malnourished. I told my husband I should go to the hospital for treatment. He said if the child will die then let her die,” says Kalipna’s mother, Gita.
Meanwhile, UNICEF Representative in Madhya pradesh Hamid El Bashir says, “Malnutrition is much higher among girls in India because people culturally prefer to feed the boys. There is a preference in this. So there are many factors.”
UNICEF estimates there are more than 70,000 severely malnourished children in Madhya Pradesh. But there are just 30 centres like UNICEF to deal with the crisis.
“Zero to three is a critical age for children. Most of the brain formation and the intellectual formation of the child takes place within this period. So if we do not put much investment on children at this age we are going to lose a lot,” Hamid explains.
Malnutrition is a problem that has always been brushed under the carpets by politicians but the dire conditions in Madhya Pradesh now definitely call for some mandate moves.
Former district collector of Shivpuri, Dr Manohar Agnani says, “I think the word 'enough' effort will be only good to say when you do not have a single death of malnutrition.”
However, the state in the rest of the country is no better than Madhya Pradesh. India ranks amongst the worst countries when it comes to malnutrition cases.
According to UNICEF, even in so-called ‘posh’ areas like south Delhi up to 60 per cent children under the age of three suffer from malnutrition.
Although, there is a nationwide effort to curb malnutrition at UNICEF centres, the situation is so critical that it definitely calls for more measures and definitely on a much larger scale.
However, what is ironic is that India has long had a surplus in food grains and has one of the largest child health and nutrition programs in the world
Friday, May 25, 2007
Malnutrition stalks India’s children
AFP Release
Penny MacRae
Nearly a third of children are born underweight which means their mothers are underweight and undernourished. Many mothers do not have time to regularly nurse their baby’s as they must work as farm or manual labourers, domestic servants or in factories
KOLARAS, India: His wizened frame cradled in his mother’s arms, 18-month-old Nitish gazes listlessly at his surroundings in an Indian government feeding centre in this parched farming belt. The baby’s skin is so taut that each rib can be counted and his whispy hair is a rusty brown rather than glossy black, characteristic of malnutrition.
“He just got thinner and thinner after getting diarrhea,” said his mother Savitri, 24, a farm labourer’s wife. On the other side of the room, seven-month-old Niketa, being fed formula milk with a spoon by her grandmother, waves a stick-like arm. Her mother died two days after she was born following a difficult delivery.
“God is unjust — He took her mother away and her father doesn’t want her,” said her grandmother Soni, 55, rocking the tiny doll-like figure at the feeding centre in Kolaras in central Madhya Pradesh state.
These babies, lying in a room hung with pictures of roly-poly infants smiling down, are just two of the 46 per cent of all Indian children under three years old that the government says are malnourished. In the dust-bowl state of Madhya Pradesh, where monsoon rains have been scant for five years, the number is higher — a staggering 60 percent, the worst in the country.
“It’s the silent emergency — children are just fading away,” said Meital Rusdia, spokeswoman for the UN children’s agency Unicef. Malnutrition endures despite India’s booming economy, which grew by an average 8.5 per cent over the past four years.
“It’s shameful to have India become a trillion-dollar economy and to have nearly 50 per cent of the children hungry,” pediatrician Vandana Prasad, a member of the People’s Health Movement. Government investments in development are “insufficient,” Unicef says.
Figures for child mortality, underweight children and other basic health indicators have shown no significant improvement in seven years.
While India has banished the spectre of famine that plagued its history and overshadowed the early years of independence, “household level” food security has still not been achieved.
Millions subsist on the barest of basic foods — wheat, lentils and rice. Poor sanitation, under nourishment and haphazard immunisation makes them vulnerable to infection. Children suffer most in this cycle.
Just not enough feeding centres to care for all those in need. The “anganwadis” or village child care centres look after children under six and are the government’s first line of defence against malnutrition.
The Supreme Court has ordered free noon meals for all children under six. But the Citizens’ Initiative for the Rights of Children Under Six has highlighted lack of funds, poor staffing and corruption in providing meals that are often scanty and sometimes non-existent as the money has been pocketed.
At one centre visited by AFP, the children were served two small pieces of flat Indian bread and a tiny portion of potatoes. There was no protein.
“The government only gives two rupees (five cents) per child. What can you do with such small funds.
What they get is a disgrace,” said an aid worker who asked not to be identified.
To help severely malnourished babies, the government has set up intensive feeding centres but there just are not enough. “The babies’ mothers are often undernourished and they have low weight babies,” said Dr Nisar Ahmed, whose job it is at the Kolaras feeding centre to fatten up the children.
Nearly a third of children are born underweight which means their mothers are underweight and undernourished. “Some mothers just don’t produce enough breast milk,” he says.
Also, as pediatrician Prasad notes, many mothers do not have time to regularly breastfeed as they must work as farm or manual labourers, domestic servants or in factories.
“Some 97 per cent of working women in India work in the unorganised sector” — a catch-all phrase for casual workers — “and nobody makes time for them to breast-feed so their children suffer,” she says.
Some unlucky babies like Niketa lose their mothers in childbirth or soon after.
The maternal mortality ratio is 540 maternal deaths per 100,000 births, mainly due to lack of timely, proper health care. Malnutrition exacts a high cost.
“Their physical and mental development is stunted,” says Ahmed. With 40 per cent of India’s population under 18, the malnutrition figures are significant for India’s future.
Some studies suggest widespread malnutrition lops two to four percentage points off potential economic growth. Ahmed says for every baby who is saved, many go undetected. We do our best but we can’t reach everyone,” he said.
Penny MacRae
Nearly a third of children are born underweight which means their mothers are underweight and undernourished. Many mothers do not have time to regularly nurse their baby’s as they must work as farm or manual labourers, domestic servants or in factories
KOLARAS, India: His wizened frame cradled in his mother’s arms, 18-month-old Nitish gazes listlessly at his surroundings in an Indian government feeding centre in this parched farming belt. The baby’s skin is so taut that each rib can be counted and his whispy hair is a rusty brown rather than glossy black, characteristic of malnutrition.
“He just got thinner and thinner after getting diarrhea,” said his mother Savitri, 24, a farm labourer’s wife. On the other side of the room, seven-month-old Niketa, being fed formula milk with a spoon by her grandmother, waves a stick-like arm. Her mother died two days after she was born following a difficult delivery.
“God is unjust — He took her mother away and her father doesn’t want her,” said her grandmother Soni, 55, rocking the tiny doll-like figure at the feeding centre in Kolaras in central Madhya Pradesh state.
These babies, lying in a room hung with pictures of roly-poly infants smiling down, are just two of the 46 per cent of all Indian children under three years old that the government says are malnourished. In the dust-bowl state of Madhya Pradesh, where monsoon rains have been scant for five years, the number is higher — a staggering 60 percent, the worst in the country.
“It’s the silent emergency — children are just fading away,” said Meital Rusdia, spokeswoman for the UN children’s agency Unicef. Malnutrition endures despite India’s booming economy, which grew by an average 8.5 per cent over the past four years.
“It’s shameful to have India become a trillion-dollar economy and to have nearly 50 per cent of the children hungry,” pediatrician Vandana Prasad, a member of the People’s Health Movement. Government investments in development are “insufficient,” Unicef says.
Figures for child mortality, underweight children and other basic health indicators have shown no significant improvement in seven years.
While India has banished the spectre of famine that plagued its history and overshadowed the early years of independence, “household level” food security has still not been achieved.
Millions subsist on the barest of basic foods — wheat, lentils and rice. Poor sanitation, under nourishment and haphazard immunisation makes them vulnerable to infection. Children suffer most in this cycle.
Just not enough feeding centres to care for all those in need. The “anganwadis” or village child care centres look after children under six and are the government’s first line of defence against malnutrition.
The Supreme Court has ordered free noon meals for all children under six. But the Citizens’ Initiative for the Rights of Children Under Six has highlighted lack of funds, poor staffing and corruption in providing meals that are often scanty and sometimes non-existent as the money has been pocketed.
At one centre visited by AFP, the children were served two small pieces of flat Indian bread and a tiny portion of potatoes. There was no protein.
“The government only gives two rupees (five cents) per child. What can you do with such small funds.
What they get is a disgrace,” said an aid worker who asked not to be identified.
To help severely malnourished babies, the government has set up intensive feeding centres but there just are not enough. “The babies’ mothers are often undernourished and they have low weight babies,” said Dr Nisar Ahmed, whose job it is at the Kolaras feeding centre to fatten up the children.
Nearly a third of children are born underweight which means their mothers are underweight and undernourished. “Some mothers just don’t produce enough breast milk,” he says.
Also, as pediatrician Prasad notes, many mothers do not have time to regularly breastfeed as they must work as farm or manual labourers, domestic servants or in factories.
“Some 97 per cent of working women in India work in the unorganised sector” — a catch-all phrase for casual workers — “and nobody makes time for them to breast-feed so their children suffer,” she says.
Some unlucky babies like Niketa lose their mothers in childbirth or soon after.
The maternal mortality ratio is 540 maternal deaths per 100,000 births, mainly due to lack of timely, proper health care. Malnutrition exacts a high cost.
“Their physical and mental development is stunted,” says Ahmed. With 40 per cent of India’s population under 18, the malnutrition figures are significant for India’s future.
Some studies suggest widespread malnutrition lops two to four percentage points off potential economic growth. Ahmed says for every baby who is saved, many go undetected. We do our best but we can’t reach everyone,” he said.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Workshop on water management begins
The Pioneer, May 24, 2007
A two-day workshop on 'wise water management' began here on Wednesday. The seminar was inaugurated by Bhopal division Commissioner BK Naidu.He stressed on the importance of the Jal Abhishek Abhiyan, effective water management and sanitation.
At the inuagural session Bhopal-Hoshangabad Divisional Commissioner BR Naidu said that the motive of the workshop is to target the 200 nirmal gram per district project in the divisions. He called on officials to engage community and Panchayati Raj members in their efforts.
Assistant Commissioner (Tribal) Jassu spoke on the need to scale up the water and sanitation efforts in Ashram schools. HN Gupta, superintending engineer of Bhopal division also spoke at the meeting. Project officer of water and environmental sanitation of UNICEF Sam Godfrey said that aim of the workshop is to orient district level officials on global techniques for solving water scarcity (such as water reuse/recycling) with the objective of scaling up the wise water management approach to Ashram schools throughout the Bhopal division. He spoke on UNICEF experiences in Dhar and Jhabua. Wise water management was initially implemented in 26 Ashram schools of Dhar and Jhabua districts and construction in Ashram schools of Bhopal division to be undertaken in May, 2007. Tribal Welfare Department has already allocated Rs three crore for construction of 100 wise water management systems in addition to funds allocation by PHED for 300 systems in Madhya Pradesh. UNICEF's Pawan Kumar, HB Dwivedi of National Centre for Human Settlement and Environment (NCHSE) were also present. Officials of Public Health Engineering Department and Tribal Welfare Department from eight districts of Bhopal Division are participating in the same.
A two-day workshop on 'wise water management' began here on Wednesday. The seminar was inaugurated by Bhopal division Commissioner BK Naidu.He stressed on the importance of the Jal Abhishek Abhiyan, effective water management and sanitation.
At the inuagural session Bhopal-Hoshangabad Divisional Commissioner BR Naidu said that the motive of the workshop is to target the 200 nirmal gram per district project in the divisions. He called on officials to engage community and Panchayati Raj members in their efforts.
Assistant Commissioner (Tribal) Jassu spoke on the need to scale up the water and sanitation efforts in Ashram schools. HN Gupta, superintending engineer of Bhopal division also spoke at the meeting. Project officer of water and environmental sanitation of UNICEF Sam Godfrey said that aim of the workshop is to orient district level officials on global techniques for solving water scarcity (such as water reuse/recycling) with the objective of scaling up the wise water management approach to Ashram schools throughout the Bhopal division. He spoke on UNICEF experiences in Dhar and Jhabua. Wise water management was initially implemented in 26 Ashram schools of Dhar and Jhabua districts and construction in Ashram schools of Bhopal division to be undertaken in May, 2007. Tribal Welfare Department has already allocated Rs three crore for construction of 100 wise water management systems in addition to funds allocation by PHED for 300 systems in Madhya Pradesh. UNICEF's Pawan Kumar, HB Dwivedi of National Centre for Human Settlement and Environment (NCHSE) were also present. Officials of Public Health Engineering Department and Tribal Welfare Department from eight districts of Bhopal Division are participating in the same.
Friday, May 4, 2007
A sanitation revolution sweeps across Madhya Pradesh
By Anil Gulati
May 2007: Jabarha village in Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh is gripped with lliteracy poverty. Yet amidst all the grim socio-economic scenario, aray of hope shines.
A robust improvement in sanitation has metamorphosed the basic look of the village.
The central government has set a target of constructing a latrine in every house in all villages by 2012.With the implementation of the Total Sanitation Campaign, this tribal dominated hamlet nearly 100 kms from Dhar district headquarters, has gradually started learning the ABCs of sanitation. The first revolutionary step in this direction was the construction of a latrine in each of the 310 households of the village.
Like many traditional Indian villages Jabarha was almost untouched by modern infrastructural development. Open air defecation, uncontrolled movement of cattle, littering adjacent to water reservoirs---all the standard unhygienic characteristics were prevalent in the village.
But in the last four months the village has spruced up its 'hygiene quotient' and the residents have acquired a new sanitation vocabulary, all without any coercion. Each of the 310 houses has a latrine, a container has been kept outside each house to accumulate the garbage, the streets are without any stray cattle and the drains impeccably clean without overflow on the roads.
The campaign's reach was 8 percent in Dhar district in 2005 and has risen to 23 percent in 2007
In Indore district more than 75 percent of Below-Poverty-Line dwellers have constructed a latrine in their homes. In Seoni, Hoshangabad and Sehore this figure has touched between 50 to 75 percent.Sarpanch Ms Rajkunwar Jatav Jat maintains: "To bring such a change in four months time was an arduous task. The veterans of the village in particular had to be coaxed to give up the 'loti' habit and take to the new method."
Jatav Jat says that she took the help of children and UNICEF supported NGO Vasudha Vikas Sansthan to accomplish this mission. Enumerating the steps taken she said films were shown to the villagers highlighting the benefits of sanitation. "The school teachers were also roped in to make the parents and grandparents realise
the virtues of having a latrine at home. Even we – the village leaders - took up the broom and did not shy away from cleaning the roads. This motivated the villagers to follow suit."
UNICEF's Dr Sam Godfrey says it is nothing less than a revolution for social change.
Five village panchayats had been chosen in the Badnawar Janpad of Dhar District for the Nirmal Gram Puruskar this year.
May 2007: Jabarha village in Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh is gripped with lliteracy poverty. Yet amidst all the grim socio-economic scenario, aray of hope shines.
A robust improvement in sanitation has metamorphosed the basic look of the village.
The central government has set a target of constructing a latrine in every house in all villages by 2012.With the implementation of the Total Sanitation Campaign, this tribal dominated hamlet nearly 100 kms from Dhar district headquarters, has gradually started learning the ABCs of sanitation. The first revolutionary step in this direction was the construction of a latrine in each of the 310 households of the village.
Like many traditional Indian villages Jabarha was almost untouched by modern infrastructural development. Open air defecation, uncontrolled movement of cattle, littering adjacent to water reservoirs---all the standard unhygienic characteristics were prevalent in the village.
But in the last four months the village has spruced up its 'hygiene quotient' and the residents have acquired a new sanitation vocabulary, all without any coercion. Each of the 310 houses has a latrine, a container has been kept outside each house to accumulate the garbage, the streets are without any stray cattle and the drains impeccably clean without overflow on the roads.
The campaign's reach was 8 percent in Dhar district in 2005 and has risen to 23 percent in 2007
In Indore district more than 75 percent of Below-Poverty-Line dwellers have constructed a latrine in their homes. In Seoni, Hoshangabad and Sehore this figure has touched between 50 to 75 percent.Sarpanch Ms Rajkunwar Jatav Jat maintains: "To bring such a change in four months time was an arduous task. The veterans of the village in particular had to be coaxed to give up the 'loti' habit and take to the new method."
Jatav Jat says that she took the help of children and UNICEF supported NGO Vasudha Vikas Sansthan to accomplish this mission. Enumerating the steps taken she said films were shown to the villagers highlighting the benefits of sanitation. "The school teachers were also roped in to make the parents and grandparents realise
the virtues of having a latrine at home. Even we – the village leaders - took up the broom and did not shy away from cleaning the roads. This motivated the villagers to follow suit."
UNICEF's Dr Sam Godfrey says it is nothing less than a revolution for social change.
Five village panchayats had been chosen in the Badnawar Janpad of Dhar District for the Nirmal Gram Puruskar this year.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
'Anganwadi calendar', a communication tool
Bhopal, May 2:
At a first look it may look like a typical monthly Indian calendar available in the nearby market place. But on a second look, it is not!
It is an 'anganwadi calendar' published by the State Women and Child Development Department of the central Indian state, Madhya Pradesh in India. Anganwadi centre is a child care centre in villages of the state which provides services to help improve the nutritional and health status of children below the age of six years and pregnant and lactating mothers. It is set up by the state with the support from Government of India under its Integrated Child Development Scheme. It includes package of services like supplementary nutrition, immunisation, health check-up, referral services, pre-school non-formal education and nutrition & health education for children below the age of six years and pregnant and lactating mothers. The said calendar probably has all the information which one Anganwadi worker needs to provide it to mothers, pregnant women who visit the centre along with their children.
As in all the calendars it has month wise dates in a 'week wise' format duly stapled on to the calendar. In this calendar the month slips could be removed after the month gets over and rest of the portion of the calendar for that month could be used as a poster. It could be stuck on to the wall of an 'anganwadi centre'. It becomes an IEC (information education and communication) tool and helps provide the much needed 'right' information to the families visiting the centre. The information on the calendar is provided both in written and pictorial format, keeping the literacy levels in mind the rural areas of the state.
The calendar has information on the various services available in the anganwadi centre, (very importantly) full child's immunization chart and information about care of pregnant women. It also talks about right age of marriage i.e. 21 years for boys and 18 years for girls and motivates parents to marry their children especially girls at the right age. That's not all it also has key messages on gender equality, importance of exclusive breast feeding till six months and complimentary feeding, which is important in the state which has high rates of infant mortality and low rates of exclusive breastfeeding.
The calendar also relays importance of institutional delivery and has key messages which probably ever family should know and understand. No doubt an effort worth praise, but it may be important to evaluate its effective distribution and use.
By Anil Gulati
At a first look it may look like a typical monthly Indian calendar available in the nearby market place. But on a second look, it is not!
It is an 'anganwadi calendar' published by the State Women and Child Development Department of the central Indian state, Madhya Pradesh in India. Anganwadi centre is a child care centre in villages of the state which provides services to help improve the nutritional and health status of children below the age of six years and pregnant and lactating mothers. It is set up by the state with the support from Government of India under its Integrated Child Development Scheme. It includes package of services like supplementary nutrition, immunisation, health check-up, referral services, pre-school non-formal education and nutrition & health education for children below the age of six years and pregnant and lactating mothers. The said calendar probably has all the information which one Anganwadi worker needs to provide it to mothers, pregnant women who visit the centre along with their children.
As in all the calendars it has month wise dates in a 'week wise' format duly stapled on to the calendar. In this calendar the month slips could be removed after the month gets over and rest of the portion of the calendar for that month could be used as a poster. It could be stuck on to the wall of an 'anganwadi centre'. It becomes an IEC (information education and communication) tool and helps provide the much needed 'right' information to the families visiting the centre. The information on the calendar is provided both in written and pictorial format, keeping the literacy levels in mind the rural areas of the state.
The calendar has information on the various services available in the anganwadi centre, (very importantly) full child's immunization chart and information about care of pregnant women. It also talks about right age of marriage i.e. 21 years for boys and 18 years for girls and motivates parents to marry their children especially girls at the right age. That's not all it also has key messages on gender equality, importance of exclusive breast feeding till six months and complimentary feeding, which is important in the state which has high rates of infant mortality and low rates of exclusive breastfeeding.
The calendar also relays importance of institutional delivery and has key messages which probably ever family should know and understand. No doubt an effort worth praise, but it may be important to evaluate its effective distribution and use.
By Anil Gulati
Monday, April 30, 2007
Ray of Hope from Bhind, Madhya Pradesh
Source - www.unicef.org/india
An Indian village with all children who have attended primary school, in educationally backward Madhya Pradesh seems unbelievable. Nonetheless, this is really the case in Baghora village in Bhind district.
The state’s literacy level is 64 percent, nearly paralleling the national literacy rate of 65 percent. However, the rural literacy rate is only 43 percent. The situation is particularly grim in rural areas: 87 percent (272) of the blocks record below average literacy rates and over 90 percent of the blocks have higher gender differentials in literacy levels than the national average. These figures clearly indicate the persisting gender disparities in the state. Bhind district also reflects these disparities with the female literacy at 55.2% and the sex ratio for children in 0-6 years being 832.
With a population of 450 people, Baghora village situated in Bhind district's rough terrain has more that 100 children in the age group of 3-14 years and all of them have either attained education till Class V or are in the process of completing it under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). The village has only one primary school - Shaskiya Prathmik Vidhyalaya, Baghora – which at present has 70 students enrolled, including 29 girls.
So what makes the children of this village attend school regularly when other parts of the state - barring a few - are plagued with teacher absenteeism and drop outs? This is despite incentives like mid-day meals, free textbooks, free uniforms for girls and scholarships. Apt comes the reply, "I go and pursue the parents to send their children to school regularly whenever any one is found absent", said the school's Parent Teacher Association (PTA) president Badou Singh Kushwaha.
Madhya Pradesh has passed the Peoples Education Act, 2002 and these PTAs have been constituted under its aegis. This is one of the landmark efforts of the State Government to enhance school-community linkages and bring about effective participation of parents and community in school development. UNICEF has collaborated with the state education department in developing the training modules for training of PTAs on their roles and responsibilities - modules which are now being used to train PTAs across the state.
“Both parents and teachers own joint responsibility to educate the child", said Krishna Murari Mishra, Headmaster of Sarva Primary School, whose school has five teachers and 229 students. "Earlier teachers used to be concerned only with teaching but now they also know about their responsibility of bringing the child to school and involving the community in school development”. To attract children to schools, education kits and school furniture provided by UNICEF have added to ensuring regularity of children’s’ presence in school.
A few kilometers away from Sarva is Dhamsa - another Bhind village with a government primary school exclusively for girls. This school has 96 girls studying from Class I to Class V. "I want to be a doctor", says Revati (14), who has three brothers and two sisters. Asked the reason why, she said "My father died for want of treatment because there is no doctor in my village". Whether Revati succeeds in fulfilling her desire only time will tell, but one amongst so many Revatis will definitely achieve that milestone one day. "And this has been possible due to Quality Education inputs which have helped improve learning among children", says Sanjay Manjhi, one of the teachers.
UNICEF is partnering the state in implementing Quality Education Initiative across the state to improve quality of education under SSA. There is a special focus on four districts viz. Guna, Shivpuri, Jhabua and Bhind.
Hamid El- Bashir, UNICEF State Representative for Madhya Pradesh, said that 'State of Madhya Pradesh has many developmental challenges and of course many potentials. Among the challenges is to get girls into school and to retain them up to higher grades. Educating children, particularly girls multiplies positive implications on the family and the society at large. Girls’ education is an important indicator for total social change in society. These are some successful initiatives that need to be replicated state wide.”
An Indian village with all children who have attended primary school, in educationally backward Madhya Pradesh seems unbelievable. Nonetheless, this is really the case in Baghora village in Bhind district.
The state’s literacy level is 64 percent, nearly paralleling the national literacy rate of 65 percent. However, the rural literacy rate is only 43 percent. The situation is particularly grim in rural areas: 87 percent (272) of the blocks record below average literacy rates and over 90 percent of the blocks have higher gender differentials in literacy levels than the national average. These figures clearly indicate the persisting gender disparities in the state. Bhind district also reflects these disparities with the female literacy at 55.2% and the sex ratio for children in 0-6 years being 832.
With a population of 450 people, Baghora village situated in Bhind district's rough terrain has more that 100 children in the age group of 3-14 years and all of them have either attained education till Class V or are in the process of completing it under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). The village has only one primary school - Shaskiya Prathmik Vidhyalaya, Baghora – which at present has 70 students enrolled, including 29 girls.
So what makes the children of this village attend school regularly when other parts of the state - barring a few - are plagued with teacher absenteeism and drop outs? This is despite incentives like mid-day meals, free textbooks, free uniforms for girls and scholarships. Apt comes the reply, "I go and pursue the parents to send their children to school regularly whenever any one is found absent", said the school's Parent Teacher Association (PTA) president Badou Singh Kushwaha.
Madhya Pradesh has passed the Peoples Education Act, 2002 and these PTAs have been constituted under its aegis. This is one of the landmark efforts of the State Government to enhance school-community linkages and bring about effective participation of parents and community in school development. UNICEF has collaborated with the state education department in developing the training modules for training of PTAs on their roles and responsibilities - modules which are now being used to train PTAs across the state.
“Both parents and teachers own joint responsibility to educate the child", said Krishna Murari Mishra, Headmaster of Sarva Primary School, whose school has five teachers and 229 students. "Earlier teachers used to be concerned only with teaching but now they also know about their responsibility of bringing the child to school and involving the community in school development”. To attract children to schools, education kits and school furniture provided by UNICEF have added to ensuring regularity of children’s’ presence in school.
A few kilometers away from Sarva is Dhamsa - another Bhind village with a government primary school exclusively for girls. This school has 96 girls studying from Class I to Class V. "I want to be a doctor", says Revati (14), who has three brothers and two sisters. Asked the reason why, she said "My father died for want of treatment because there is no doctor in my village". Whether Revati succeeds in fulfilling her desire only time will tell, but one amongst so many Revatis will definitely achieve that milestone one day. "And this has been possible due to Quality Education inputs which have helped improve learning among children", says Sanjay Manjhi, one of the teachers.
UNICEF is partnering the state in implementing Quality Education Initiative across the state to improve quality of education under SSA. There is a special focus on four districts viz. Guna, Shivpuri, Jhabua and Bhind.
Hamid El- Bashir, UNICEF State Representative for Madhya Pradesh, said that 'State of Madhya Pradesh has many developmental challenges and of course many potentials. Among the challenges is to get girls into school and to retain them up to higher grades. Educating children, particularly girls multiplies positive implications on the family and the society at large. Girls’ education is an important indicator for total social change in society. These are some successful initiatives that need to be replicated state wide.”
Saturday, April 28, 2007
100 per cent sanitation in Madhya Pradesh village
Tarawata village in Madhya Pradesh's Guna district stands apart from other villages - it's spick and span. This has been made possible through the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) launched by the administration almost six months back.
Slogans propagating sanitary habits and cleanliness adorn its walls. The alleys passing through the nearly 200 'pucca' (concrete) houses are bereft of any litter. There are no flying plastic bags, no unwanted paper, no cow dung scattered on the streets that look immaculately clean.
The populace, which consists of mainly Kushwah and Brahmin communities, depends mainly on agriculture for sustenance. And it's not just external cleanliness that the around 1,950 villagers have imbibed.
Only two houses in the village had toilets just six months back. Today, it boasts of having a 100 percent sanitation graph. "Not a single house of the village is without a toilet," says SK Mishra, nodal officer of TSC.
"Earlier, the nullahs (drains) would always be choked. But after the district administration's efforts and the implementation of the project, the village has undergone a 'sanitation surgery'," says Sarpanch Hanumant Singh Kushwah. Initially, a lot of counselling had to be done to convince the villagers to discard the age-old tradition of taking a 'lota' (small utensil) and going out for defecation.
"Motivating them to change their mindset was an extremely arduous task. But gradually each one started aping the other. They understood the importance of having a personal and exclusive toilet," says Mishra. Even the children of this village have learnt the importance of personal hygiene. Talk to them about the subject and they start parroting lines straight out of the Class 5 environmental science book: "We should wash our hands before eating. We should brush daily. We should bathe daily and wear clean clothes...."
The children of Tarawata now have a game "Play Pump" installed in their schools by which they lift water to the rooftop. This has helped them to get enough water for drinking and cleaning in their school. This new technique has also helped them understand that electricity is not needed for lifting water - all through the "learn by play" technique.
"What is more important, no case of dysentery has been reported from the village in the past few months. The health indices have become more hygienic," says the sarpanch.
"Efforts of the Guna district team will indeed go a long way in bringing positive results for the children of the district and the state as the scheme is being replicated in other districts," said Hamid El Bashir, the Madhya Pradesh state UNICEF representative.
Slogans propagating sanitary habits and cleanliness adorn its walls. The alleys passing through the nearly 200 'pucca' (concrete) houses are bereft of any litter. There are no flying plastic bags, no unwanted paper, no cow dung scattered on the streets that look immaculately clean.
The populace, which consists of mainly Kushwah and Brahmin communities, depends mainly on agriculture for sustenance. And it's not just external cleanliness that the around 1,950 villagers have imbibed.
Only two houses in the village had toilets just six months back. Today, it boasts of having a 100 percent sanitation graph. "Not a single house of the village is without a toilet," says SK Mishra, nodal officer of TSC.
"Earlier, the nullahs (drains) would always be choked. But after the district administration's efforts and the implementation of the project, the village has undergone a 'sanitation surgery'," says Sarpanch Hanumant Singh Kushwah. Initially, a lot of counselling had to be done to convince the villagers to discard the age-old tradition of taking a 'lota' (small utensil) and going out for defecation.
"Motivating them to change their mindset was an extremely arduous task. But gradually each one started aping the other. They understood the importance of having a personal and exclusive toilet," says Mishra. Even the children of this village have learnt the importance of personal hygiene. Talk to them about the subject and they start parroting lines straight out of the Class 5 environmental science book: "We should wash our hands before eating. We should brush daily. We should bathe daily and wear clean clothes...."
The children of Tarawata now have a game "Play Pump" installed in their schools by which they lift water to the rooftop. This has helped them to get enough water for drinking and cleaning in their school. This new technique has also helped them understand that electricity is not needed for lifting water - all through the "learn by play" technique.
"What is more important, no case of dysentery has been reported from the village in the past few months. The health indices have become more hygienic," says the sarpanch.
"Efforts of the Guna district team will indeed go a long way in bringing positive results for the children of the district and the state as the scheme is being replicated in other districts," said Hamid El Bashir, the Madhya Pradesh state UNICEF representative.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Women bidi industry workers lament neglect
Workers of hand-rolled traditional cigarette or bidi industry, most of whom are women are lamenting poor working conditions and low wages.
Thousands of women work for long hours in the predominantly unorganised sector, to roll bidis - tobacco rolled into tendu leaves - but are paid less than Rupees 50 rupees per day.Many bidi manufacturers outsource bidi rolling to women, who take the raw material from these manufacturers and roll it at their at home during free time. They roll around 1000 bidi sticks in a 10-hour shift.The workers complain that they neither get the minimum wages stipulated under law, nor any compensation for health hazards."My eyesight has suffered and my limbs ache as a consequence of working in the tobacco industry for so long. We have to deal with persistent cough and fever due to constant exposure to tobacco, but continue to work due to poverty," said Batibai, a bidi worker.The government runs several schemes for the tobacco industry workers but most say the schemes either remain on paper, or a privileged few draw all benefits."We have become old working in this industry. Fifty years ago I rolled the first bidi but my hands shiver now. I am dependent on my children for food and clothing. Our children have no work; we have no security, pensions or houses to live in," said Sarmania Bai, a septuagenarian. According to a study by the Union Health Ministry, the health hazard in the industry is relatively high - 34 per 100 population, especially get affected by tuberculosis and cancer.State functionaries responsible for labour welfare say the welfare of bidi workers is the responsibility of the Central government, and they are mere facilitators.
"All the welfare schemes pertaining to the 'bidi rolling' workers are under the purview of the Labour Ministry. We are mere co-coordinators. Even the scholarship forms are submitted in the relevant office. If they (the bidi industry workers) have any grudges or applications for identity cards, they can submit them to the Labour Ministry through us. But personally, my office has no direct role in the matter," said S S Dixit, Assistant Labour Commissioner.Bidi accounts for about 53.5 per cent of the country's domestic consumption of tobacco as compared to cigarettes, which account for18.8 percent.The bidi market is pegged between 120 billion rupees to 150 billion rupees.The industry is fragmented across the country, with around 200 manufacturers in every state. But Madhya Pradesh is the major producer of bidis, for easy availability of raw material in the state.
Thousands of women work for long hours in the predominantly unorganised sector, to roll bidis - tobacco rolled into tendu leaves - but are paid less than Rupees 50 rupees per day.Many bidi manufacturers outsource bidi rolling to women, who take the raw material from these manufacturers and roll it at their at home during free time. They roll around 1000 bidi sticks in a 10-hour shift.The workers complain that they neither get the minimum wages stipulated under law, nor any compensation for health hazards."My eyesight has suffered and my limbs ache as a consequence of working in the tobacco industry for so long. We have to deal with persistent cough and fever due to constant exposure to tobacco, but continue to work due to poverty," said Batibai, a bidi worker.The government runs several schemes for the tobacco industry workers but most say the schemes either remain on paper, or a privileged few draw all benefits."We have become old working in this industry. Fifty years ago I rolled the first bidi but my hands shiver now. I am dependent on my children for food and clothing. Our children have no work; we have no security, pensions or houses to live in," said Sarmania Bai, a septuagenarian. According to a study by the Union Health Ministry, the health hazard in the industry is relatively high - 34 per 100 population, especially get affected by tuberculosis and cancer.State functionaries responsible for labour welfare say the welfare of bidi workers is the responsibility of the Central government, and they are mere facilitators.
"All the welfare schemes pertaining to the 'bidi rolling' workers are under the purview of the Labour Ministry. We are mere co-coordinators. Even the scholarship forms are submitted in the relevant office. If they (the bidi industry workers) have any grudges or applications for identity cards, they can submit them to the Labour Ministry through us. But personally, my office has no direct role in the matter," said S S Dixit, Assistant Labour Commissioner.Bidi accounts for about 53.5 per cent of the country's domestic consumption of tobacco as compared to cigarettes, which account for18.8 percent.The bidi market is pegged between 120 billion rupees to 150 billion rupees.The industry is fragmented across the country, with around 200 manufacturers in every state. But Madhya Pradesh is the major producer of bidis, for easy availability of raw material in the state.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Madhya Pradesh moves to curb child marriages
Madhya Pradesh is using an auspicious day in the Hindu calendar to crack down on child marriages.The government has unveiled 'Raksha Sootra Bandhan' programmes under its special action plan to check mass child marriages that take place on 'Akshay Tritiya' day April 20. On that day, minor children will tie a band on their parents' wrists with a message that they should not marry off their adolescent children.Akshay Tritiya generally falls in April or May and is considered auspicious for Hindu marriages. Wedding ceremonies, including child marriages, take place on this day in Madhya Pradesh, besides Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.
The plan envisages the holding of camps and rallies to generate awareness among the people in Madhya Pradesh. These events would be organised at district and block headquarters and main villages.NGOs say nearly 20,000 children were married off last year on this day in Madhya Pradesh alone. Child marriages normally take place within the Tawar Rajputs, Lodhas, Sodhiyas and Dangi communities. Yadavs and Gujjars also join the cult.Madhya Pradesh comes second to Rajasthan as far as marriage of minor girls is concerned. While the average age of marriage for an Indian girl is 20 years, it is 17 in Madhya Pradesh.
The Unicef's state of the children report for 2007 states that the average age for marriage of girls has been increasing during the last 20 years, but 46 percent girls are still married off before they reach 18 years.The reason for early marriage of girls is not only financial. People also feel that by getting their daughters married off early the girls could be saved from sexual harassment and getting pregnant prior to marriage.
As per Unicef's 'The State of the World's Children 2007', girls marrying before 15 years have five times more chances of dying while giving birth. The state already has a high maternal mortality rate.Realising that such malpractices cannot be curbed through government efforts alone and there is a need to generate awareness in the society, Chief Secretary Rakesh Sahni has instructed district collectors to follow the plan guidelines to make the campaign against child marriage successful.Sahni has asked the collectors to chalk out their own strategy and take action against the 'culprits'.The collectors have been directed to organise awareness camps at every block headquarters, where influential people should be invited.
IANS
The plan envisages the holding of camps and rallies to generate awareness among the people in Madhya Pradesh. These events would be organised at district and block headquarters and main villages.NGOs say nearly 20,000 children were married off last year on this day in Madhya Pradesh alone. Child marriages normally take place within the Tawar Rajputs, Lodhas, Sodhiyas and Dangi communities. Yadavs and Gujjars also join the cult.Madhya Pradesh comes second to Rajasthan as far as marriage of minor girls is concerned. While the average age of marriage for an Indian girl is 20 years, it is 17 in Madhya Pradesh.
The Unicef's state of the children report for 2007 states that the average age for marriage of girls has been increasing during the last 20 years, but 46 percent girls are still married off before they reach 18 years.The reason for early marriage of girls is not only financial. People also feel that by getting their daughters married off early the girls could be saved from sexual harassment and getting pregnant prior to marriage.
As per Unicef's 'The State of the World's Children 2007', girls marrying before 15 years have five times more chances of dying while giving birth. The state already has a high maternal mortality rate.Realising that such malpractices cannot be curbed through government efforts alone and there is a need to generate awareness in the society, Chief Secretary Rakesh Sahni has instructed district collectors to follow the plan guidelines to make the campaign against child marriage successful.Sahni has asked the collectors to chalk out their own strategy and take action against the 'culprits'.The collectors have been directed to organise awareness camps at every block headquarters, where influential people should be invited.
IANS
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Young MPs show they care
Nitin Sethi, Times of India
GWALIOR: Not that one needs to travel deep into India to find it, but a few young MPs, cutting across party lines, decide to, nevertheless, trace the contours of malnourishment in the rural areas of Gwalior. Lack of nutrition makes 46% of children under the age of three underweight, says the third National Family Health Survey. Madhya Pradesh has the highest levels of malnourishment among children, and substantially worse than Gujarat and Meghalaya, the two other states with high levels of malnourishment. But the MPs are not tossing up the stats in a political cauldron. One just can't. It's a phenomenon entrenched long — and wide — enough in the hinterland to make all parties equally culpable. Sachin Pilot (Congress), Supriya Sule (NCP), Shahnawaz Hussain (BJP), Jay Panda (BJD) and Prema Cariappa (Congress) comprise the team. First official stop on the day-long tour and they learn visual evidence can hide or tell as much as statistics do. UNICEF is backing up the tour, with logistics and information. The district administration, aware of the visit, has tried to 'sanitise' the villages on the schedule. The Anganwadi centre, run under the government's Integrated Child Development Scheme, at the two villages that the MPs visit are working on the day. Villagers voice their issues well when they confront the MPs. The primary health centre at one village is freshly painted, the mattresses have just been brought in from the town and the ice and water too have been arranged for the visiting dignitaries. But the Anganwadi at Rampura village, the first official pit stop, is just like one of the 7.44 lakh Anganwadis under ICDS. It's got its attendant problems, but the village is right now too bothered about the lack of water for agriculture. "Get us water and we will sort out the rest,"says one villager to the team, which also has Peenaz Masani, the veteran singer, and Gauri Karnik, a budding actor. It's an expected statement but it underpins the fact about doles. No Anganwadi project can perpetually provide nutritional security to rural India. Nutritional and food security is a far larger political question of second-generation agrarian reforms. Till politics finds an answer to that question, Anganwadis and other programmes under ICDS remain key operational tactic to reduce malnutrition, albeit, an expensive tactic. The government's expenditure on ICDS has risen from Rs 1,444 crore in 2003-04 to Rs 4,087 crore in 2006-07, an annual growth of 41%. "We are not here to point out problems or mistakes; we are here to understand what causes such chronic malnourishment in India. This is just the first place we are visiting and it's not as if we have not seen the situation in our own regions but it's a collective effort by us to see if we can voice these concerns louder, at a greater level,"says Sachin Pilot. The journalists travelling with them are enthusiastic-sceptics: "So what will this lead to? What does this venture by the young MPs really mean for the people?"— they fire out the questions at the first given opportunity. "The problem is acute and it needs to be addressed in Parliament just as much as the media needs to put it out prominently in the public domain,"replies Sule. "If we can get it higher on national priority, a tad bit higher, we will achieve our bit,"she adds.
GWALIOR: Not that one needs to travel deep into India to find it, but a few young MPs, cutting across party lines, decide to, nevertheless, trace the contours of malnourishment in the rural areas of Gwalior. Lack of nutrition makes 46% of children under the age of three underweight, says the third National Family Health Survey. Madhya Pradesh has the highest levels of malnourishment among children, and substantially worse than Gujarat and Meghalaya, the two other states with high levels of malnourishment. But the MPs are not tossing up the stats in a political cauldron. One just can't. It's a phenomenon entrenched long — and wide — enough in the hinterland to make all parties equally culpable. Sachin Pilot (Congress), Supriya Sule (NCP), Shahnawaz Hussain (BJP), Jay Panda (BJD) and Prema Cariappa (Congress) comprise the team. First official stop on the day-long tour and they learn visual evidence can hide or tell as much as statistics do. UNICEF is backing up the tour, with logistics and information. The district administration, aware of the visit, has tried to 'sanitise' the villages on the schedule. The Anganwadi centre, run under the government's Integrated Child Development Scheme, at the two villages that the MPs visit are working on the day. Villagers voice their issues well when they confront the MPs. The primary health centre at one village is freshly painted, the mattresses have just been brought in from the town and the ice and water too have been arranged for the visiting dignitaries. But the Anganwadi at Rampura village, the first official pit stop, is just like one of the 7.44 lakh Anganwadis under ICDS. It's got its attendant problems, but the village is right now too bothered about the lack of water for agriculture. "Get us water and we will sort out the rest,"says one villager to the team, which also has Peenaz Masani, the veteran singer, and Gauri Karnik, a budding actor. It's an expected statement but it underpins the fact about doles. No Anganwadi project can perpetually provide nutritional security to rural India. Nutritional and food security is a far larger political question of second-generation agrarian reforms. Till politics finds an answer to that question, Anganwadis and other programmes under ICDS remain key operational tactic to reduce malnutrition, albeit, an expensive tactic. The government's expenditure on ICDS has risen from Rs 1,444 crore in 2003-04 to Rs 4,087 crore in 2006-07, an annual growth of 41%. "We are not here to point out problems or mistakes; we are here to understand what causes such chronic malnourishment in India. This is just the first place we are visiting and it's not as if we have not seen the situation in our own regions but it's a collective effort by us to see if we can voice these concerns louder, at a greater level,"says Sachin Pilot. The journalists travelling with them are enthusiastic-sceptics: "So what will this lead to? What does this venture by the young MPs really mean for the people?"— they fire out the questions at the first given opportunity. "The problem is acute and it needs to be addressed in Parliament just as much as the media needs to put it out prominently in the public domain,"replies Sule. "If we can get it higher on national priority, a tad bit higher, we will achieve our bit,"she adds.
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.
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.
Domestic Grey water reuse
United News of IndiaDhar, July 19:
Grey water reuse is one of the alternatives of water resource management to overcome water scarcity. Grey water is defined as water emanating from bathroom, kitchen and laundry. The water from bathroom is collected and treated in simple filtration system. The advantages of household water reuse system are reduction in water requirements, availability of water for non-potable purposes, minimization of sewage generation and also helps save water. Treated grey water reuse system can also be used for flushing toilets and gardening.This is also being promoted by UNICEF in Ashram schools of Dhar and Jhabua. The simple water reuse household system was inaugurated by a child named Sartaj in presence of Cynthia de Windt, State Representative UNICEF office for Madhya Pradesh at the house of Dr Samuel Godfrey Project Officer UNICEF. The installed domestic grey water reuse system can help treat 200 liters of grey water everyday and can be useful for irrigating plants and garden.
Grey water reuse is one of the alternatives of water resource management to overcome water scarcity. Grey water is defined as water emanating from bathroom, kitchen and laundry. The water from bathroom is collected and treated in simple filtration system. The advantages of household water reuse system are reduction in water requirements, availability of water for non-potable purposes, minimization of sewage generation and also helps save water. Treated grey water reuse system can also be used for flushing toilets and gardening.This is also being promoted by UNICEF in Ashram schools of Dhar and Jhabua. The simple water reuse household system was inaugurated by a child named Sartaj in presence of Cynthia de Windt, State Representative UNICEF office for Madhya Pradesh at the house of Dr Samuel Godfrey Project Officer UNICEF. The installed domestic grey water reuse system can help treat 200 liters of grey water everyday and can be useful for irrigating plants and garden.
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Communicating to bring about social change
Anil Gulati
www.merinews.com
01 April 2007, Sunday
Views: 3444 Comments: 3
Conventional strategies which focus on the individual’s behaviour change may not work, these have to be more broad-based, which address the wide range of determinants in the individual’s environment and settings.
‘Meaning is not something that is delivered to people, it is made by them’. A perspective paper by Panos Institute, 1998 had mention of this statement, which still is true. Lot of debate and discussion is held in recent times on the issue on communication and in the meetings on the subject one often hears a term i.e. behaviour change communication.
The experts say that this is it. It is the need of the day especially in the states like Madhya Pradesh in India, which has challenges like high rates of malnutrition in children under three years of age, infant mortality, and has large incidences of diarrhea especially in children. Many of these could be addressed to great extent by following simple practices. The need is to communicate these practices in form of simple messages, in a manner wherein this acquired information turns into a positive action. It is well known today that, that colostrum feeding and exclusive breast feeding can help reduce infant mortality and malnutrition, hygiene practices can help prevent diarrhea, simple precautions can help prevent respiratory tract infection to the new born, but still somehow we are unable to get these across to all including people in rural and tribal areas.
Fact is that we are lagging behind. May be it is easier said, than done. May be individual wanting to make changes in his life, does not feel the need for that change or even if the urge is there but it is not so strong to turn it into motivation for action, or face resistance from family, peers and community. Many a time’s services are often inadequate for their needs or insensitive to their situation. The system often fails them. ‘I want to take my child for vaccination but health centre is closed’ said one mother in Sidhi district of Madhya Pradesh, similarly ‘I want to go to school but teachers sent us back after taking attendance’ - a young boy of 10 years mentioned it in the gram sabha in Shivpuri district . They may also face religious, cultural, economic, or social pressures or a lack of structural and legislative support-that constrain their freedom to choose healthy and safe options.
Strategies designed to improve individual lives focus only on the “individual” pushing them to change practices by defining them as wrong and right. Such strategies ‘many a times’ ignore that there exists an environment and the forces within the society which push them following practices or doing things that undermine their health or health of their child. For example in case of just creating awareness on prevention of HIV/AIDS may not work, if we do not take into account the social determinants, cultural sensitivities and deep seated inequalities within the system. One may need different strategies, which is possible and there may be threats but may be that is the reason why working for change on both macro and micro level would help. When strategies for behaviour change are formed we therefore need to think in much broader terms, keeping the real picture in mind and think beyond the individual behaviour change.
Conventional strategies which focus on the individual’s behavior change may not work, these have to be more broad-based, which address the wide range of determinants in the individual’s environment and settings. One cannot push for hand washing if there is no water, or they cannot afford the soap.
May be that is the reason rather than focusing on ‘individual behaviour change’ need of the day is to focus on social change. For communication professional the focus needs to be communication for social change, may be the individual issues would get diluted, in actual they may not be the real problems, may get addressed in the process for social change.
In the process of this kind of communication for social change such “enabling” strategies would intend to remove barriers or constraints to positive action or conversely could erect barriers or constraints to behaviour which one should not practice. A combination of approaches is therefore necessary to promote the individual’s capacity for action within a supportive environment and community.
www.merinews.com
01 April 2007, Sunday
Views: 3444 Comments: 3
Conventional strategies which focus on the individual’s behaviour change may not work, these have to be more broad-based, which address the wide range of determinants in the individual’s environment and settings.
‘Meaning is not something that is delivered to people, it is made by them’. A perspective paper by Panos Institute, 1998 had mention of this statement, which still is true. Lot of debate and discussion is held in recent times on the issue on communication and in the meetings on the subject one often hears a term i.e. behaviour change communication.
The experts say that this is it. It is the need of the day especially in the states like Madhya Pradesh in India, which has challenges like high rates of malnutrition in children under three years of age, infant mortality, and has large incidences of diarrhea especially in children. Many of these could be addressed to great extent by following simple practices. The need is to communicate these practices in form of simple messages, in a manner wherein this acquired information turns into a positive action. It is well known today that, that colostrum feeding and exclusive breast feeding can help reduce infant mortality and malnutrition, hygiene practices can help prevent diarrhea, simple precautions can help prevent respiratory tract infection to the new born, but still somehow we are unable to get these across to all including people in rural and tribal areas.
Fact is that we are lagging behind. May be it is easier said, than done. May be individual wanting to make changes in his life, does not feel the need for that change or even if the urge is there but it is not so strong to turn it into motivation for action, or face resistance from family, peers and community. Many a time’s services are often inadequate for their needs or insensitive to their situation. The system often fails them. ‘I want to take my child for vaccination but health centre is closed’ said one mother in Sidhi district of Madhya Pradesh, similarly ‘I want to go to school but teachers sent us back after taking attendance’ - a young boy of 10 years mentioned it in the gram sabha in Shivpuri district . They may also face religious, cultural, economic, or social pressures or a lack of structural and legislative support-that constrain their freedom to choose healthy and safe options.
Strategies designed to improve individual lives focus only on the “individual” pushing them to change practices by defining them as wrong and right. Such strategies ‘many a times’ ignore that there exists an environment and the forces within the society which push them following practices or doing things that undermine their health or health of their child. For example in case of just creating awareness on prevention of HIV/AIDS may not work, if we do not take into account the social determinants, cultural sensitivities and deep seated inequalities within the system. One may need different strategies, which is possible and there may be threats but may be that is the reason why working for change on both macro and micro level would help. When strategies for behaviour change are formed we therefore need to think in much broader terms, keeping the real picture in mind and think beyond the individual behaviour change.
Conventional strategies which focus on the individual’s behavior change may not work, these have to be more broad-based, which address the wide range of determinants in the individual’s environment and settings. One cannot push for hand washing if there is no water, or they cannot afford the soap.
May be that is the reason rather than focusing on ‘individual behaviour change’ need of the day is to focus on social change. For communication professional the focus needs to be communication for social change, may be the individual issues would get diluted, in actual they may not be the real problems, may get addressed in the process for social change.
In the process of this kind of communication for social change such “enabling” strategies would intend to remove barriers or constraints to positive action or conversely could erect barriers or constraints to behaviour which one should not practice. A combination of approaches is therefore necessary to promote the individual’s capacity for action within a supportive environment and community.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Water management must to combat scarcity: UNICEF
The Pioneer, March 22, 2007
The theme, 'Coping with water scarcity' on this year's World Water Day -March 22, highlights the increasing significance of water scarcity worldwide and the need for increased integration and cooperation to ensure sustainable, efficient and equitable management of water resources.
The theme is quite relevant for Madhya Pradesh where many districts face water scarcity and level of ground water are going down. Almost 25 per cent of the groundwater, which is the main source of water in Madhya Pradesh, are over exploited. The Central Groundwater Board (CGWB) in its report stated that the State is facing water scarcity problem due to ongoing over exploitation of sources and inadequate recharge structures.
A study by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) points out that increased number of private boreholes has led to over consumption of water at domestic level.
India is in grip of water crisis and International Water Management Institute (IWMI) estimates that by 2025 one third of India's population will suffer from severe water scarcity. According to IWMI estimation, India supports over 15 per cent of world's population but has only 4 per cent of the world's water resources.
State Representative UNICEF office for Madhya Pradesh Hamid, El Bashir says that millions of people suffer every year from multiple episodes of diarrhoea and many other fall ill on account of other diseases caused by poor hygiene and unsafe drinking water, especially children. We need to bring the issue into focus not on just one day but every day and it is our call for action. According to NEERI 2006 report, approximately 60 per cent of water consumed in the household is from bathing. This water is known as is 'greywater' as it is not highly contaminated and easily treatable and reuseble.
UNICEF, in collaboration with Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) and NGOs have developed a system that recycles up to 200 litres of water per household for flushing toilets and for gardening. The system reduces the demand on groundwater by 60 per cent. At Ganaganagar ashram school in Dhar district, the reuse of greywater has resulted in for the first time during summer months of March, April and May 2006.
Bashir believes that it is imperative the State Government scales the wise water management statewide wherein UNICEF can bring on board experts both national and international to help draft the same plan. PHE department is already planning to build 1500 similar schemes.
The theme, 'Coping with water scarcity' on this year's World Water Day -March 22, highlights the increasing significance of water scarcity worldwide and the need for increased integration and cooperation to ensure sustainable, efficient and equitable management of water resources.
The theme is quite relevant for Madhya Pradesh where many districts face water scarcity and level of ground water are going down. Almost 25 per cent of the groundwater, which is the main source of water in Madhya Pradesh, are over exploited. The Central Groundwater Board (CGWB) in its report stated that the State is facing water scarcity problem due to ongoing over exploitation of sources and inadequate recharge structures.
A study by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) points out that increased number of private boreholes has led to over consumption of water at domestic level.
India is in grip of water crisis and International Water Management Institute (IWMI) estimates that by 2025 one third of India's population will suffer from severe water scarcity. According to IWMI estimation, India supports over 15 per cent of world's population but has only 4 per cent of the world's water resources.
State Representative UNICEF office for Madhya Pradesh Hamid, El Bashir says that millions of people suffer every year from multiple episodes of diarrhoea and many other fall ill on account of other diseases caused by poor hygiene and unsafe drinking water, especially children. We need to bring the issue into focus not on just one day but every day and it is our call for action. According to NEERI 2006 report, approximately 60 per cent of water consumed in the household is from bathing. This water is known as is 'greywater' as it is not highly contaminated and easily treatable and reuseble.
UNICEF, in collaboration with Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) and NGOs have developed a system that recycles up to 200 litres of water per household for flushing toilets and for gardening. The system reduces the demand on groundwater by 60 per cent. At Ganaganagar ashram school in Dhar district, the reuse of greywater has resulted in for the first time during summer months of March, April and May 2006.
Bashir believes that it is imperative the State Government scales the wise water management statewide wherein UNICEF can bring on board experts both national and international to help draft the same plan. PHE department is already planning to build 1500 similar schemes.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Four women village heads felicitated
Sahara Samay, Posted at Thursday, 08 March 2007 21:03 IST
Indore, March 8 : Four women village heads were honoured by the Madhya Pradesh government for their excellent performance under the UNICEF sponsored programme ‘Nirmal Village’, Sahara Samay sources said.During the UNICEF programme, a group of four village heads were travelled to Chennai and Mumbai through aeroplane, where they stayed in a five star hotel and learn about the western style toilet technique.The Deputy Commissioner Rajesh Shukla said that they were given tour package as an honour for their better performance.
Indore, March 8 : Four women village heads were honoured by the Madhya Pradesh government for their excellent performance under the UNICEF sponsored programme ‘Nirmal Village’, Sahara Samay sources said.During the UNICEF programme, a group of four village heads were travelled to Chennai and Mumbai through aeroplane, where they stayed in a five star hotel and learn about the western style toilet technique.The Deputy Commissioner Rajesh Shukla said that they were given tour package as an honour for their better performance.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Gritty women script stories of success
Vanita Srivastava. Hindustan Times, March 8, 2007 - women's day special
TWENTY-FIVE-YEAR-OLD Krishna of Tikariya village in Mandla district of Madhya Pradesh is a proud woman today. She is a primary school teacher in a government school. She is the ‘first’ girl of her village to have passed the 12th grade exam. The secondary school was very far from her village and one by one all her friends dropped out. Krishna, however, did not lose hope. Her father who had dropped out of school in grade seven knew how difficult it was to get a job without education.
He promised himself that he would educate all his children. Krishna would trudge several kilometers on foot to reach her school. Later, she started running night classes under the ‘Mahila Padhna-Badhna Andolan’. “Education enables us to express our thoughts and ideas to a wide spectrum of people,” she says. Krishna is one of the three women from the State who have been beautifully featured in ‘Girl Star’, UNICEF calendar of 2007, which focuses on those girls and women who have achieved something defying odds.
26-year-old Rupali Jain aka ‘Ruby’ runs a beauty parlour in Guna. After her father’s death, Rupali took over all the responsibilities of the family. She underwent training for a beautician’s course and also completed her Class XII exam. After that she did her BA. “My education helped me obtain a loan from the bank to open my parlour. Education is the only thing that helps a woman during hardship. It gives a woman the strength to brave challenges,” she says.
28-year-old Premlata Varma works as an accountant in the office of superintendent of police in Jhabua. She is the youngest in her department but has risen to this level through sheer hard work. She has four others working under her. Her grandmother who raised her was adamant that she should go to school although she had herself never been to a school. Premlata’s journey was, however, full of struggles.
As a child she used to collect water from a river for her neighbours and thus earned money both for her own and her sister’s education. She also had to look after her Nani (maternal grandmother) during her student days. Today, she has a masters in economics, a government job and lots of water in her house. “There was a time when I used to collect water from a river for others. Today, I have a house, a scooter and a tap for water,” she reminisces. The UNICEF calendar has some very beautiful pictures, which captures the strength of twelve different women from different areas of the country. Krishna, Premlata and Rupali are featured for the months of July, October and November respectively.
The calendar unveils the story of 12 ordinary women with special stories. All have written their own destiny by tasting the beauty of education.
TWENTY-FIVE-YEAR-OLD Krishna of Tikariya village in Mandla district of Madhya Pradesh is a proud woman today. She is a primary school teacher in a government school. She is the ‘first’ girl of her village to have passed the 12th grade exam. The secondary school was very far from her village and one by one all her friends dropped out. Krishna, however, did not lose hope. Her father who had dropped out of school in grade seven knew how difficult it was to get a job without education.
He promised himself that he would educate all his children. Krishna would trudge several kilometers on foot to reach her school. Later, she started running night classes under the ‘Mahila Padhna-Badhna Andolan’. “Education enables us to express our thoughts and ideas to a wide spectrum of people,” she says. Krishna is one of the three women from the State who have been beautifully featured in ‘Girl Star’, UNICEF calendar of 2007, which focuses on those girls and women who have achieved something defying odds.
26-year-old Rupali Jain aka ‘Ruby’ runs a beauty parlour in Guna. After her father’s death, Rupali took over all the responsibilities of the family. She underwent training for a beautician’s course and also completed her Class XII exam. After that she did her BA. “My education helped me obtain a loan from the bank to open my parlour. Education is the only thing that helps a woman during hardship. It gives a woman the strength to brave challenges,” she says.
28-year-old Premlata Varma works as an accountant in the office of superintendent of police in Jhabua. She is the youngest in her department but has risen to this level through sheer hard work. She has four others working under her. Her grandmother who raised her was adamant that she should go to school although she had herself never been to a school. Premlata’s journey was, however, full of struggles.
As a child she used to collect water from a river for her neighbours and thus earned money both for her own and her sister’s education. She also had to look after her Nani (maternal grandmother) during her student days. Today, she has a masters in economics, a government job and lots of water in her house. “There was a time when I used to collect water from a river for others. Today, I have a house, a scooter and a tap for water,” she reminisces. The UNICEF calendar has some very beautiful pictures, which captures the strength of twelve different women from different areas of the country. Krishna, Premlata and Rupali are featured for the months of July, October and November respectively.
The calendar unveils the story of 12 ordinary women with special stories. All have written their own destiny by tasting the beauty of education.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Blogs becoming new fad to raise social issues
The Pioneer, Bhopal edition Feb. 23, 2007
Blogs, which were earlier used to talk about ones work, travel or personal diaries, are now becoming new media platforms to raise social issues.
Blog is user-generated web pages, which an individual or a group generates to share views with people at large. If need be one can keep it private too. Many platforms like blogspot, wordpress, and rediff provide a facility to make blogs free of cost. You just need an email ID and you can do it. It is new techie now-a-days and thousand come up every day.
In a new trend in the State, people are increasingly making and using blogs to voice concern on social issues like maternal mortality, education, water, situation of children in the State.
There are some old one like www.safemotherhood.blogsopt.com. This is managed by the Campaign to Raise Concern on Maternal Deaths, which is working towards raising concern on the issue of high maternal deaths in the State. Many stories which have appeared in The Pioneer on the issue also feature in there, with due credit.
Blogs help to give expression to ones creative challenge, but one needs to devote time too shares view with it, says Anil Gulati, the Bhopal blogger. It is easy to make them but tough to maintain them, one gets pressurised to keep blogs fresh. I update them very regularly adds Gulati.
He contributes on blogs like www.newswhichmatter.blogspot.com, which focuses on news and view from the State and www.mpchildinfo.blogspot.com focusing on issues of women and children of the State. Both of them along with madhyapradesh.blogspot.com are mainly focussed on the State perspective. One on photographs from the State is http://madyapradesh1.blogspot.com is managed by Sandip, who is a freelance photographer.
Though this may be start but is a newer phenomenon to raise and share issues not only within the State but across on web world.
Blogs, which were earlier used to talk about ones work, travel or personal diaries, are now becoming new media platforms to raise social issues.
Blog is user-generated web pages, which an individual or a group generates to share views with people at large. If need be one can keep it private too. Many platforms like blogspot, wordpress, and rediff provide a facility to make blogs free of cost. You just need an email ID and you can do it. It is new techie now-a-days and thousand come up every day.
In a new trend in the State, people are increasingly making and using blogs to voice concern on social issues like maternal mortality, education, water, situation of children in the State.
There are some old one like www.safemotherhood.blogsopt.com. This is managed by the Campaign to Raise Concern on Maternal Deaths, which is working towards raising concern on the issue of high maternal deaths in the State. Many stories which have appeared in The Pioneer on the issue also feature in there, with due credit.
Blogs help to give expression to ones creative challenge, but one needs to devote time too shares view with it, says Anil Gulati, the Bhopal blogger. It is easy to make them but tough to maintain them, one gets pressurised to keep blogs fresh. I update them very regularly adds Gulati.
He contributes on blogs like www.newswhichmatter.blogspot.com, which focuses on news and view from the State and www.mpchildinfo.blogspot.com focusing on issues of women and children of the State. Both of them along with madhyapradesh.blogspot.com are mainly focussed on the State perspective. One on photographs from the State is http://madyapradesh1.blogspot.com is managed by Sandip, who is a freelance photographer.
Though this may be start but is a newer phenomenon to raise and share issues not only within the State but across on web world.
Saturday, February 17, 2007
NGOs need to involve communities : Bashir
Hindustan Times, Bhopal
HT Correspondent, Bhopal, February 16, 2007
A STATE-LEVEL meeting of campaign partners supporting the promotion of safe motherhood and raising concern on maternal mortality in Madhya Pradesh was held here on Friday.
More than 60 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) representing network organisations like Madhya Pradesh Voluntary Health Association, Madhya Pradesh Samaj Sewa Sanstha, Madhya Pradesh Jan Adhikar Manch, Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti, Central Regional Board of Health Services, Mahila Chetna Manch, Vikas Samvad, Department of Journalism, Makhan Lal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism shared their concern and outcomes of their efforts with communities and elected representatives.
Inaugurating the meeting, UNICEF Madhya Pradesh office State Representative Hamid El Bashir said civil society organisations should engage communities at a high level to push accountabilities within the system so that better care was delivered to women and children.
He added that Madhya Pradesh contributed to 10 per cent of maternal deaths in the country while India contributed 20 per cent of maternal deaths in the world. He said it was possible to reduce these deaths, but there was a need for sustained commitment to deliver for benefit of women and children in the State.
UNICEF Communication officer Anil Gulati spoke on the need for community empowerment and civil society’s engagement on the issue of women health. He said the media had helped to bring the issue to forefront but there was a need to take this momentum forward.
Makhan Lal Chaturvedi University of Journalism Department of Journalism’s PP Singh about the role of media in women’s health while Sachin Jain of Vikas Samvad stressed on media advocacy efforts in raising issues of women and child health.
Madhya Pradesh Voluntary Health Association’s Manoj Joshi, State Coordinator Jan Adhikar Manch Sandesh Bansal, Central Board of Regional Health Services Dr Sheela Bhambal, Mahila Chetna Manch Deep Damani, and Madhya Pradesh Samaj Sewa Sanstha Father Mathew and Sister Joicy spoke about their efforts in various parts of the State to help bring much needed momentum on the issue of maternal deaths and promoting safe motherhood state wide.
UNICEF Health Officer Dr Narayan Goankar presented the findings of maternal deaths audit in the districts of Guna and Shivpuri. UNICEF Planning officer Veena Bandyopadhyay presented a possible option of setting up of ‘Child Rights Observatory’ in Madhya Pradesh, which could act as a third party for monitoring rights of children and women. Himanshu Sikka of Infrastructure Professional Enterprise also participated in the meeting.
HT Correspondent, Bhopal, February 16, 2007
A STATE-LEVEL meeting of campaign partners supporting the promotion of safe motherhood and raising concern on maternal mortality in Madhya Pradesh was held here on Friday.
More than 60 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) representing network organisations like Madhya Pradesh Voluntary Health Association, Madhya Pradesh Samaj Sewa Sanstha, Madhya Pradesh Jan Adhikar Manch, Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti, Central Regional Board of Health Services, Mahila Chetna Manch, Vikas Samvad, Department of Journalism, Makhan Lal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism shared their concern and outcomes of their efforts with communities and elected representatives.
Inaugurating the meeting, UNICEF Madhya Pradesh office State Representative Hamid El Bashir said civil society organisations should engage communities at a high level to push accountabilities within the system so that better care was delivered to women and children.
He added that Madhya Pradesh contributed to 10 per cent of maternal deaths in the country while India contributed 20 per cent of maternal deaths in the world. He said it was possible to reduce these deaths, but there was a need for sustained commitment to deliver for benefit of women and children in the State.
UNICEF Communication officer Anil Gulati spoke on the need for community empowerment and civil society’s engagement on the issue of women health. He said the media had helped to bring the issue to forefront but there was a need to take this momentum forward.
Makhan Lal Chaturvedi University of Journalism Department of Journalism’s PP Singh about the role of media in women’s health while Sachin Jain of Vikas Samvad stressed on media advocacy efforts in raising issues of women and child health.
Madhya Pradesh Voluntary Health Association’s Manoj Joshi, State Coordinator Jan Adhikar Manch Sandesh Bansal, Central Board of Regional Health Services Dr Sheela Bhambal, Mahila Chetna Manch Deep Damani, and Madhya Pradesh Samaj Sewa Sanstha Father Mathew and Sister Joicy spoke about their efforts in various parts of the State to help bring much needed momentum on the issue of maternal deaths and promoting safe motherhood state wide.
UNICEF Health Officer Dr Narayan Goankar presented the findings of maternal deaths audit in the districts of Guna and Shivpuri. UNICEF Planning officer Veena Bandyopadhyay presented a possible option of setting up of ‘Child Rights Observatory’ in Madhya Pradesh, which could act as a third party for monitoring rights of children and women. Himanshu Sikka of Infrastructure Professional Enterprise also participated in the meeting.
Saturday, February 3, 2007
MP anganwadis provide nutritious food
Rubina Khan Shapoo
Wednesday, January 24, 2007 (Shivpuri):
Madhya Pradesh has the highest level of malnutrition amongst children under six in India but here is a story on a mini revolution that's successfully fighting it. An NDTV Correspondent travelled to another historical hunger spot Shivpuri to find that with a little initiative not only can malnutrition be fought but set new benchmarks.
MP has now become the first state in the country that's providing a nutritious a la carte menu to its youngsters. Earlier the children could barely walk now they run. Their faces are lit with excitement as kids wait for surprise packet they get each day at the anganwadi centre in Badharwaas. One of the leader is 45-year-old Shakuntala, an anganwadi worker known to people as amma or chachi.
Special menu
Last year when the collector asked for suggestion to make the aanganwadi more attractive for children, Shakuntala Sharma and a few other workers suggested that apart from the standard panjiri and daliya, they cook different food items for the children. The recipes, which would not cost more than the prescribed Rs 2 per child daily and also meet the calorie requirements set out by the Supreme Court. That suggestion is now part of a daily routine.
From October 2006, Shivpuri is the only district in Madhya Pradesh, which has 15 different recipes under the supplementary nutrition programme at all the 25 centres where the aanganwadi workers have volunteered to cook. For cooking the special meals they get the money at the beginning of each month. The result is phenomenal, almost 220 of those registered in the centres actually come here every day a five times increase in attendance. "Earlier the number would fluctuate between 35-60. Now you come any day, you will find from pregnant ladies to children, all of them are present," said Shakuntala.
No malnutrition death
In fact Shakuntala proudly claims that in the last five years no child has died due to malnutrition. This in an area where malnutrition deaths were amongst the highest in the country. Shakuntala says she is not harassed for bribes by officers to get her salary nor does she have to beg them for supplies for the aanganwadi. If only Shivpuri could set an example for the rest of the state, where today there are 49,784 aanganwadi workers while the need is for nearly double that number. What's more that 50 per cent say they have not been paid and 70 per cent say they are harassed by senior officials. It is a situation the collector says they can reverse.
"We have a lot of interaction with the aanganwadi workers through our follow up camps, routine meetings and visits. We try to keep them motivated," said Manohar Aganani, collector, Shivpuri.
She is allowed to speak her mind and her views on improving the childcare system. On being asked the best part is her work is appreciated and these are great motivating factors that indeed make a huge difference in combating a severe problem like malnutrition.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007 (Shivpuri):
Madhya Pradesh has the highest level of malnutrition amongst children under six in India but here is a story on a mini revolution that's successfully fighting it. An NDTV Correspondent travelled to another historical hunger spot Shivpuri to find that with a little initiative not only can malnutrition be fought but set new benchmarks.
MP has now become the first state in the country that's providing a nutritious a la carte menu to its youngsters. Earlier the children could barely walk now they run. Their faces are lit with excitement as kids wait for surprise packet they get each day at the anganwadi centre in Badharwaas. One of the leader is 45-year-old Shakuntala, an anganwadi worker known to people as amma or chachi.
Special menu
Last year when the collector asked for suggestion to make the aanganwadi more attractive for children, Shakuntala Sharma and a few other workers suggested that apart from the standard panjiri and daliya, they cook different food items for the children. The recipes, which would not cost more than the prescribed Rs 2 per child daily and also meet the calorie requirements set out by the Supreme Court. That suggestion is now part of a daily routine.
From October 2006, Shivpuri is the only district in Madhya Pradesh, which has 15 different recipes under the supplementary nutrition programme at all the 25 centres where the aanganwadi workers have volunteered to cook. For cooking the special meals they get the money at the beginning of each month. The result is phenomenal, almost 220 of those registered in the centres actually come here every day a five times increase in attendance. "Earlier the number would fluctuate between 35-60. Now you come any day, you will find from pregnant ladies to children, all of them are present," said Shakuntala.
No malnutrition death
In fact Shakuntala proudly claims that in the last five years no child has died due to malnutrition. This in an area where malnutrition deaths were amongst the highest in the country. Shakuntala says she is not harassed for bribes by officers to get her salary nor does she have to beg them for supplies for the aanganwadi. If only Shivpuri could set an example for the rest of the state, where today there are 49,784 aanganwadi workers while the need is for nearly double that number. What's more that 50 per cent say they have not been paid and 70 per cent say they are harassed by senior officials. It is a situation the collector says they can reverse.
"We have a lot of interaction with the aanganwadi workers through our follow up camps, routine meetings and visits. We try to keep them motivated," said Manohar Aganani, collector, Shivpuri.
She is allowed to speak her mind and her views on improving the childcare system. On being asked the best part is her work is appreciated and these are great motivating factors that indeed make a huge difference in combating a severe problem like malnutrition.
Thursday, February 1, 2007
Govt Schemes : It is same old story
Sonia Khandelwal, Indore, January 23, 2007
THE LOFTY schemes of Madhya Pradesh government for promoting institutional deliveries — for bringing down Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) — need a reality check at ground level as was highlighted by an incident in a village in Barwani district raising several questions about awareness and implementation of these schemes.
Twentyone-year-old Santoshi Raju from Rajpur was referred to the District Hospital at Barwani for delivery, from where she was referred to M Y Hospital here as her blood pressure had increased to a dangerous level. Then started her traumatic journey of running from pillar to post.
“At Barwani, they (the doctors) asked us either to fill a consent form for taking responsibility of complicated delivery (which could mean threat to the lives of either the mother or the child or both) at Barwani or take her to Indore,” Santoshi’s husband Raju, a labourer, told Hindustan Times at the post natal ward.
Not ready to take risk at Barwani, Raju asked Barwani Civil Surgeon Dr B K Sawner to provide him ambulance to take Santoshi to Indore. “But as we did not have Deendayal Antyoday Yojana card, the doctor did not agree for the ambulance,” Raju added.
However, Deendayal Yojana card is not required for ambulance service. Despite repeated requests when the hospital authorities did not agree, an Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) from Rajpur Sarika Gopal Mukesh, who had accompanied them to Barwani, suggested taking Santoshi back to Rajpur.
By this time, Raju, whose family comes under BPL, was penniless and collected funds from donors to take Santoshi back to Rajpur.
Fortunately, the PHC there provided an ambulance and Santoshi was brought to MY Hospital here on time, where she delivered a girl late Thursday night.The incident has exposed the cracks in the system and brings out the true picture painted by the actual implementation of the various welfare schemes of the state government. To start with, Sarika, an ASHA, did not have proper information about Janani Suraksha Yojana, wherein she is supposed to get Rs 600 for bringing any expectant mother to a health facility. Not just this one scheme, she was not aware of many other schemes.
“I have not heard about Janani Suraksha Yojana but during our training, we were told only about our incentives and basic work. They (trainers) never told us about how to tackle serious situations and also about facilities available like ambulance service for taking expecting women to a health facility,” Sarika told Hindustan Times at MY Hospital here.
When asked why the family had no Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana card, Sarika further said, “Almost 50 per cent of the people in our village (Rajpur) do not have this card as on today. The cards are being prepared for a long time and hence not distributed.” Higher medical officials do not want to take any responsibility and have been passing the buck when it came to pinning down the person responsible for such an incident. Barwani Chief Medical and Health Officer (CMHO) Dr Lakshmi Baghel, when contacted on telephone about the incident, said, “As far as I am concerned, we had organised fairs and programmes to create awareness about Janani Suraksha Yojana at all the villages under our jurisdiction. If the volunteers are still unaware about it, we will try to create more awareness about it.”
Dr Sawner when contacted over telephone first said “I had given permission for providing ambulance to Santoshi”, only to retract later saying “Santoshi was referred to Indore by Barwani District Hospital gynaecologist Dr Sushila Kumrawat. Santoshi’s relatives did not approach me for ambulance.”
The above incident raises several questions. Like inadequate training of ASHAs, no proper publicity about various schemes of the government amid the target group; officials not bothered about proper implementation of schemes and last but not the least lack of awareness on part of the individual (here both Santoshi and Raju are illiterate) about their rights and the facilities available for them.
THE LOFTY schemes of Madhya Pradesh government for promoting institutional deliveries — for bringing down Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) — need a reality check at ground level as was highlighted by an incident in a village in Barwani district raising several questions about awareness and implementation of these schemes.
Twentyone-year-old Santoshi Raju from Rajpur was referred to the District Hospital at Barwani for delivery, from where she was referred to M Y Hospital here as her blood pressure had increased to a dangerous level. Then started her traumatic journey of running from pillar to post.
“At Barwani, they (the doctors) asked us either to fill a consent form for taking responsibility of complicated delivery (which could mean threat to the lives of either the mother or the child or both) at Barwani or take her to Indore,” Santoshi’s husband Raju, a labourer, told Hindustan Times at the post natal ward.
Not ready to take risk at Barwani, Raju asked Barwani Civil Surgeon Dr B K Sawner to provide him ambulance to take Santoshi to Indore. “But as we did not have Deendayal Antyoday Yojana card, the doctor did not agree for the ambulance,” Raju added.
However, Deendayal Yojana card is not required for ambulance service. Despite repeated requests when the hospital authorities did not agree, an Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) from Rajpur Sarika Gopal Mukesh, who had accompanied them to Barwani, suggested taking Santoshi back to Rajpur.
By this time, Raju, whose family comes under BPL, was penniless and collected funds from donors to take Santoshi back to Rajpur.
Fortunately, the PHC there provided an ambulance and Santoshi was brought to MY Hospital here on time, where she delivered a girl late Thursday night.The incident has exposed the cracks in the system and brings out the true picture painted by the actual implementation of the various welfare schemes of the state government. To start with, Sarika, an ASHA, did not have proper information about Janani Suraksha Yojana, wherein she is supposed to get Rs 600 for bringing any expectant mother to a health facility. Not just this one scheme, she was not aware of many other schemes.
“I have not heard about Janani Suraksha Yojana but during our training, we were told only about our incentives and basic work. They (trainers) never told us about how to tackle serious situations and also about facilities available like ambulance service for taking expecting women to a health facility,” Sarika told Hindustan Times at MY Hospital here.
When asked why the family had no Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana card, Sarika further said, “Almost 50 per cent of the people in our village (Rajpur) do not have this card as on today. The cards are being prepared for a long time and hence not distributed.” Higher medical officials do not want to take any responsibility and have been passing the buck when it came to pinning down the person responsible for such an incident. Barwani Chief Medical and Health Officer (CMHO) Dr Lakshmi Baghel, when contacted on telephone about the incident, said, “As far as I am concerned, we had organised fairs and programmes to create awareness about Janani Suraksha Yojana at all the villages under our jurisdiction. If the volunteers are still unaware about it, we will try to create more awareness about it.”
Dr Sawner when contacted over telephone first said “I had given permission for providing ambulance to Santoshi”, only to retract later saying “Santoshi was referred to Indore by Barwani District Hospital gynaecologist Dr Sushila Kumrawat. Santoshi’s relatives did not approach me for ambulance.”
The above incident raises several questions. Like inadequate training of ASHAs, no proper publicity about various schemes of the government amid the target group; officials not bothered about proper implementation of schemes and last but not the least lack of awareness on part of the individual (here both Santoshi and Raju are illiterate) about their rights and the facilities available for them.
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