The Government of India has approved and launched Multi-sectoral programme to address the problems of maternal and child under-nutrition in the country on 24th January 2014 on the occasion of Girl Child Day at New Delhi.
The Multi-sectoral Nutrition Programme has been launched as a special intervention i) to improve maternal and child under nutrition in 200 High Burden Districts and to prevent and reduce the under nutrition prevalence in children in age group of 0-3 years and ii) to reduce incidence of anemia among young children , adolescent girls and women.
The programme envisages coordinated action at the Central and State levels for affirmative multi-sectoral action in fulfilling the objectives. An Inter-Ministerial Coordination Committee (IMCC) headed by Cabinet Secretary at National level has been created for coordination at National level.
At the State level, the State Nutrition Council headed by the Chief Minister would be the highest body for providing policy direction and oversight to the Multi-sectoral Nutrition Programme. The State Nutrition Council would be assisted by the Executive Committee headed by the Chief Secretary of the State and would comprise of Principal Secretaries/Secretaries of all line departments concerning the Multi-sectoral Nutrition Programme.
Similar coordinating bodies would be set up at the District and village levels to provide all support in effective implementation, monitoring and supervision of the programme.
The first phase will begin in 100 districts during the year 2013-14, while in the second phase, it will be scaled up to cover 200 districts during the year 2014-15. The list of the initial 100 High Burden districts is as following. While there is no district from Haryana in first phase, five districts have been included for implementation of the programme from the State in second phase.
The Multi-sectoral Nutrition Programme would be implemented during the 12th Five Year Plan with a total cost estimates of Rs.1213.19 crore with Centre: State cost sharing ratio of 90:10 for all components in North Eastern Region (NER) States and special category States and 75:25 for other States and Union Territories. Rs.944.39 crore is the Central share and the State share would be Rs.268.80 crore.
The Ministry of Women & Child Development has launched various programmes in all the States/Union Territories including Haryana like Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme – a flagship programme, Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls (RGSEAG)-SABLA, Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojna (IGMSY) for prevention and reduction of undernutrition and anaemia.
In addition to the above, two Schemes under National Nutrition Mission i.e. Information, Education and Communication (IEC) Campaign against Malnutrition; and Multi-sectoral Nutrition Programme are focusing the issues of mal-nutrition in creating greater awareness on nutrition amongst pregnant women, lactating mothers, promoting healthy lactating practices and importance of balanced nutrition.
Under Multi-sectoral programme, efforts are made to improve maternal and child under-nutrition in 200 high burdened districts and to prevent & reduce the under-nutrition prevalent in children in the age group of 0-3 years and to reduce incidence of anaemia among young children, adolescent girls and women.
Besides, Food and Nutrition Board (FNB) of the Ministry of Women and Child Development has 43 field units all over India and is engaged in creating awareness in Health and Nutrition Education in collaboration with State Government / NGOs by organizing various programme such as Workshop/Seminars, Exhibition, Nutrition rally, Recipe competition and Lecture-cum practical demonstration etc. Efforts are also made for popularization of low cost nutritious recipes from locally available food items
This was stated by Smt. Krishna Tirath, Minister for Women and Child Development, in a written reply to the Lok Sabha today.