T he National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, India organized a day-long Conference on the implementation of the National Food Security Act, 2013 in relation to children & lactating mothers and pregnant women in New Delhi on the 27th October, 2017. Inaugurating it, Mr. Justice H. L. Dattu, Chairperson, NHRC said that while India has registered faster economic growth in the recent period and the per capita income has increased, nutritional status among children and women of the country remains a matter of concern.
He said that the Commission would like to know from the State Governments whether they have been strictly following the orders of the Supreme Court banning contractors in supply of supplementary nutrition under ICDS? Have they made adequate funds available for full implementation of the Maternity Benefit Scheme? Whether the Mid Day Meal, MDM budget is inflation driven or not and whether schools have proper buildings and infrastructure with the facilities for cooking, drinking water and storage of food grains?
Justice Dattu said that malnutrition continues to haunt India despite the two biggest nutrition programmes, the Integrated Child Development Services, ICDS for children under 6 years and Mid Day Meal programme for school going children up to the age of 14. This, he said, is evident from India being ranked 100 among 119 developing countries on International Food Policy Research Institute's (IFPRI) Global Hunger Index (GHI) in 2017.
Earlier, Mr. Rakesh Srivastava, Secretary, Union Ministry of Women and Child Development said that the Centre hopes to make India free of malnutrition by 2022. About 30 per cent Anganwadi centres operating from rented buildings, are not meeting the prescribed norms but the government has instructed that the District Collectors have to review the status of malnutrition and stunting to ensure proper implementation of ICDS.
Ms. Rina Ray, Special Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy, Union Ministry of Human Resource Development said that linking of Aadhar with the Mid Day Meal has not been made mandatory but there is a serious issue of ghost beneficiaries, which could be checked with the help of Aadhar linkages. Four States, which linked Aadhar with Mid Day Meal, were able to expose about 5 lakh ghost enrolments for Mid Day Meal Scheme. However, she said that a balance will require to be maintained in having clear identities and also ensuring that no child is denied food due to the lack of it. She said that it is also a point for the States to consider providing Mid Day Meal to the poorest of the poor even during school holidays.
Mr. Ambuj Sharma, Secretary General, NHRC, underlying the significance of the deliberations during the Conference, said that India's economic growth does not match its hunger index and a lot is required to be done to plug-in the loopholes in the implementation of schemes to check that trend.
Apart from the inaugural and concluding sessions, the day long deliberations had two specific thematic sessions. These were: 'Mid-day Meal Scheme for children between 6 to 14 years - steps taken, structural problems, operational issues and bottlenecks' and 'Nutritional support to pregnant women and lactating mothers and children up to 6 years'.
The NHRC Members, Mr. Justice P.C. Ghose, Mr. S. C. Sinha and Mrs. Jyotika Kalra chaired the different sessions attended by the senior officers of the NHRC, Centre, States and Union Territories dealing with the subject, Members of the NHRC's Core Advisory Group on Right to Food, Special Rapporteurs, representatives of other National and State Commissions, technical institutions, international organizations, non-governmental and civil society organizations working at the grassroots and subject experts.
Some of the important suggestions on Mid Day Meal Scheme were as follows:
1) Any unutilized fund of Mid Day Meal scheme should be utilized for the targeted beneficiaries in the same year and should not be diverted for any other scheme.
2) The funds allocated for Management, Monitoring and Evaluation, cooking cost norms, honorarium of cooks and helpers, transportation costs, LPG etc to be rationalized and appropriately enhanced periodically.
3) Social audit reports of Mid Day Meal scheme for each district as well as action on them should be uploaded on the State portals.
4) The site plan of the schools should have earmarked kitchen, water facility, sanitation facility and washing area for utensils.
5) In order to enhance the nutritional content of the food, eggs and milk should be included in the meal, according to the local cultural preference.
6) No child should be excluded from the benefit of Mid Day Meal because of non-linking of Aadhar.
Some of the important suggestions on Nutritional Support to Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers and Children up to 6 years were as follows:
1. The recent move to go in for cash transfers rather than THR/hot cooked meal may be counterproductive and must not be encouraged.
2. Dilution of maternity benefits as provided in the NFS Act should not be permitted by clubbing with Janani Suraksha Yojana or similar entitlements. Also, iron out the conditionalities of Prime Minister's Maternity Benefit Scheme, which are in contradiction to the provisions under Section 4(b) of the NFS Act and the previous recommendations of the NHRC to this effect.
3. State Governments should take proactive steps to take innovative mechanism to address the issue of migrant population.
4. Anganwadi centres should be operated through innovative approach/community participation even for fewer numbers (e.g. Mobile units, mini Anganwadi centres etc.) to address the needs of left out/far flung/remote populations as far as possible. Also, these should have educational literature for the pre-school going children.
5. Ensure regular monthly payments to Anganwadi workers and these, as sub optimal honorarium, should match atleast the minimum wage level.
6. Coverage of children going to private schools also needs to be ensured to address the issues of malnutrition.
7. Adequate food testing facilities should be created preferably at District level by all States by utilizing public Health Department, Universities/Colleges etc.
9. Ensure proper and transparent system of selection of Anganwadi workers and set up Anganwadi training centres in each State for their training.