Want to have meal at Rs 1.35, visit an Aanganbari

Patna, Sep 24: If you are poor and want to enjoy a meal at an unbelievable price of Rs 1.35, visit any Aanganbari centre.

The centrally sponsored scheme to provide nutritious diet (poshahaar) to the kids, young girls and women of the poor section at Aanganbari centres is nothing but a 'mockery of poverty' if one goes by the prescribed rate and quantity approved by the government under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS). As per the prescribed norms 60 grams of rice at the rate of Rs 10 per Kg and 30 gm pulse at the rate of Rs 25 per Kg would be given to the kids. The total value of the sanctioned food grains comes to Rs 1.35.

An official document of the social welfare department further states that the acute malnourishment among children and women had to be removed with the paltry sum of Rs 3.00 per person.

With this fund they would get 120 gm rice at the rate of Rs 10 per Kg and 60 gm pulse at the rate of Rs 25 to improve their health.

The expecting and lactating mother and young girls in the age group of 11 to 19 belonging to poor section would get just 100 gm rice and 50 gm of pulse at the same rate.

The rate of the edible oil to prepare 'khichri' which is mostly provided at the Aanganbari centres had been astonishingly fixed at Rs 52 per kg.

One of the sevika working at an Aanganbari centre said, several acute malnourished children and young girls remain uncovered under the scheme as just 12 acute malnourished kids and only 3 young girls of the poor section would get the nutritional diet at each centre.

The sevika admitted that the quality of the nutritional diet could be gauged easily at the time when the prices of food grains were escalating.

Even the Accountant General was surprised and had verbally expressed how the nutritional diet could be provided to malnourished kids and women at such paltry sum.

UNI