Citizens Initiative on Malnutrition launched to fight malnutrition

Gwalior, Mar 29 (UNI) In view of half of the Indian children suffering from malnutrition, a Citizens' Initiative on Malnutrition led by young MPs from different parties has been launched to fight the malaise on a ''war footing''.

The Initiative has been formed in response to the latest National Family Health Survey which has revealed that every second child in India is malnourished and there has been very little change in malnutrition levels during the past six years with India having malnutrition higher than Sub-Saharan Africa. Micronutrient deficiencies cause serious ailments such as brain damage, mental retardation, goitre, anaemia, weak immune system and blindness.

Moreover, malnutrition also lowers the country's productivity by two to three percentage points.

It has Congress MPs Sachin Pilot, BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain, NCP MP Supriya Sule, BJD MP Jay Panda and Convenor of Parliamentary Forum on Children Prema Cariappa along with Ghazal singer Penaz Masani, actress Gauri Karnik and veteran journalist Neerja Chowdhury. CPI(M) MP Mohammed Salim, BSP MP Brajesh Pathak, and Shyam Benegal (nominated MP) have also agreed to join the Initiative along with actors Rahul Bose, Nandita Das, Raveena Tondon, Karishma Kapoor, Industrialist Guatam Thapar, Mr Manjo Kumar of Nandy Foundation, Sarod Players Aman and Ayaan Ali Khan, journalist Barkha Dutt and Rajdeep Sardesai.

The Initiative visited three tribal villages of Madhya Pradesh yesterday to assess the status of implementation of various government schemes meant to curb malnutrition, like the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), Mid Day Meal Scheme and what measures could be taken to improve the situation as Scheduled castes and tribal populations showed the highest level of malnutrition.

Giving a call to fight malnutrtion on a war footing, Sachin Pilot of the Congress said the Initiative was a non-political move to initiate a national movement to check malnutrition which generally remained hidden from public view and affected the growth and development of an entire generation. Mr Pilot said the Initiative would make more field trips in the future after Madhya Pradesh to Maharashtra to create awareness, build capacity and help the better utilisation of resources.

Mr Jay Panda of BJD said the Initiative's visit was not meant to blame any government or administration, but to study the situation at the grassroot level. He said the team would next visit Maharashtra and then Eastern states to study the situation and then compare which system worked better and give suggestions both in Parliament and outside.

Ms Sule gave the example of Maharashtra where the Self- Help Groups's involvement in Mid-day meal scheme had been quite successful and said similar experiments could be carried out in other parts of the country.

UNI