Adding diversity to plate
The Government of India has proposed mandatory rice fortification to tackle the issue of malnutrition in the country. The process of fortification includes externally adding nutrients to a food item with
Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS)
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Assam Annual Plan fixed at 12,500 crore
The Annual Plan for Assam for 2013-14 was on Tuesday finalised at Rs. 12,500 crore at a meeting here between Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and State Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi. Initiating the discussions, Mr. Ahluwalia lauded the State’s economic performance in the last four to five years with both expenditure realisation and growth showing positive trends and satisfactory progress in human development. Performance in the social sectors, including health and education, was also appreciable.
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Pass food bill even without amendments lest children die of starvation, says Sen
Nobel laureate upset at disruption of Parliament by Opposition Nobel laureate Amartya Sen is upset that disruption of Parliament has held up passage of important legislation including the UPA’s flagship National Food Security Bill. He feels that if the Bill is not passed — even if without amendments — several hundred children will go hungry or die from under-nutrition. The Bill has been criticised as “limited” and “targeted” by activists such as Jean Dreze and Kavita Srivastava, who on Monday shared the dais with Prof. Sen to advocate its passage albeit with changes.
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CAG finds holes in nutrition scheme for kids
Even children’s nutrition has been engulfed by the web of corruption. An audit conducted by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has revealed that malnourished children were being provided
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Malnutrition: one more infant dies in Kerala tribal hamlet
Death of 4 children is coming to light now One more infant has died of alleged malnutrition in Attappady here, taking the toll of such deaths to five in the past two months. Six-month-old Kaliyamma, daughter of Shelvan and Veeramma of Kadampara tribal hamlet in Sholayur grama panchayat of Attappady, who was admitted to the Kottathara Tribal Speciality Hospital on March 22, died on Friday night. Meanwhile, an ongoing survey by the Health Department to identify cases of anaemia and malnutrition among tribal people, found that 245 persons from 2,310 houses (6,515 persons) surveyed were affected by anaemia or malnutrition.
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Kerala tribal area bears the brunt of cut in nutrition plan
Five tribal children have reportedly died due to malnutrition at Attappady in Palakkad district of Kerala this year. The total deaths due to malnutrition in this tribal area has touched 24 in the last
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Govt seeks to deny subsidized rations to poor during crises
New Delhi: The government doesn’t want to be legally obliged to provide subsidized rations to the poor — under the National Food Security Bill — when they need them most such as during droughts, floods, fire, cyclones, earthquakes and other natural calamities. In the proposed bill, the government has inserted a special provision to suspend its legal commitment to provide subsidized grains to the poor whenever it — along with the Planning Commission — decides that such calamities have occurred.
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Food bill norms give contractors the edge
New Delhi: The government has provided a back-door entry for contractors and the food industry to corner the lucrative ICDS (Integrated Child Development Services) food supply budget through the National
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The National Food Security Bill, 2013
This revised version of National Food Security Bill 2013 tabled in Parliament on March 22, 2013 gives legal entitlement to 67 per cent population for subsidised grains under the Targeted Public Distribution System.
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Cabinet to take up revised food Bill today
The revised national food security Bill will be taken up by the Cabinet in a special meeting on Monday. Under the Bill, the subsidised price of the foodgrains to the defined sections of beneficiaries would be fixed for three years, rather than one year as proposed initially. Despite a parliamentary panel opposing it, the Bill would seek to continue with the policy of providing highly subsidised foodgrains to poorest of the poor BPL families under the Antyodaya Anna Yojna (AAY).
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CAG audit reveals lapses in ICDS implementation
India has registered higher infant and child mortality rates than Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Further the country’s position on the measure of the percentage of underweight and severely underweight children during the period 2006-10 was more than twice than that in the Sub-Saharan African region. This was revealed in the Comptroller and Auditor General of India’s performance audit of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme — Union Ministry of Women and Child Development’s flagship programme — that was tabled in Parliament on Tuesday. The report contains results of performance audit conducted between 2006-07 and 2010-11.