Children malnourishment-A policy failure! part-IV
Under able leadership advocacy for nutrition as a national priority integrating into all existing government programs and missions will prove to be a strengthening force.
According to Economic Survey 2006-07, Ministry of Finance, appropriate design of programmes and execution and placing effective supervision over the programmes are critical in this aspect. The government should make sure that every tax rupee should be valued. Also the delivery mechanism of the public goods and services should be channelled properly. During the birth of the child, both the mother and child require high nutrition and ample care. In a malnourished child, these are absent, and hence the child's overall development is hampered. But although this is well known, malnutrition deaths remain a recurring phenomenon. Ending diseases like diarrhoea, vomiting, blood loss, pneumonia, measles, weight loss requires the coordinated efforts of a number of parties - parents, doctors, the state machinery, the courts, etc., and without all of these coming together; children will continue to be lost to malnutrition.
In South Asian countries, the girl child is commonly discriminated against males in all matters, including the best portions at meal times, for they are considered not worthwhile of manual labour, which they think is an arduous task involving lot of mental and physical task. The States and Union Territories have been directed by the Supreme Court to implement the ICDS in full and to ensure that every ICDS Centre in the country shall provide a prescribed intake of basic minimum calories to the malnourished.
The Coalition mentioned above should consider nutrition in a comprehensive manner, considering aspects like dietary diversification and supervision, adequate mineral supplementation, food enrichment, horticultural interventions like possible organic farming and backyard cropping and public health and sanitation measures. Under able leadership advocacy for nutrition as a national priority integrating into all existing government programs and missions will prove to be a strengthening force.
Long-term investments in the role of women as full and equal citizens—through education, economic, social, and political empowerment—will be the only way to deliver sustainable improvements in maternal and child nutrition. Strong supervision, monitoring, assessment and knowledge management to provide subsequent base for the timely and effective policy, programme and budgetary action development can work well against negative forces of social evils.
India is a land of diversity; dealing with such a grave problem which corrodes the roots of the nation, a single handed centralised policy would not work. A 3- D approach should be entitled to policy framework which in itself would be celebrated and welcomed. The approach largely encompasses the Decentralised, Documented and Dialogue approach. That is:
• Decentralised-the policy framework has to be designed in such a manner which involves rural panchayats and village level and urbanites at society level. Every person male/female has liberty to ask and resolve issues. Socialised backward communities are well engaged shedding the inhibition of caste, class, gender and myths.
• Documentation-this approach largely deals with the administrative policies wherein transparency in the PDS, regular computerised tabulation of records, policy upholders jobs and action plan distribution can be ‘tele-calli-graphe
• Dialogue- the most comprehensive and involving task among the policy implementation part needs to be designed. The major task of NGOs, media, corporate entities, schools, academicians etc come into foreplay. Breaking the common myths, education through audio-visual medium, social responsibility mechanism thus making people engage in discussion, debates, public forums and talks all will yield to a brighter literate free atmosphere.
Only then India can think of acquiring a dominant player position among the developed nations of the world.
The main cause is the non- availability of the required level of nutrition; resulting in disease or death. The problem lies not in policies but in their actual and honest implementation with close supervision on the ground. India’s leadership is recognised globally and its economy is growing enviably. In order to create an exemplary situation among the South Asian countries, she has to drive out more ambitious plans to work on the Millennium Development Goals in her Eleventh Five year plan. Not just an educational and administrative approach to the problem of under-nutrition instilling in women and children and their communities, the peril of not taking the programme seriously enough and following prescribed regimens for groups such as pregnant, lactating mothers and adolescent girls are on the verge of great youth mass collapse. After all right to care, nutrition and education is a fundamental right of every child since birth. Certainly there can be no shortcuts and no magic project models that can be applied across this diverse country. Only the careful dealing of the issues with apt methodology can make or break the future of this wonderful country.
India is a land of diversity; dealing with such a grave problem which corrodes the roots of the nation, a single handed centralised policy would not work. A 3- D approach should be entitled to policy framework which in itself would be celebrated and welcomed. The approach largely encompasses the Decentralised, Documented and Dialogue approach. That is:
• Decentralised-the policy framework has to be designed in such a manner which involves rural panchayats and village level and urbanites at society level. Every person male/female has liberty to ask and resolve issues. Socialised backward communities are well engaged shedding the inhibition of caste, class, gender and myths.
• Documentation-this approach largely deals with the administrative policies wherein transparency in the PDS, regular computerised tabulation of records, policy upholders jobs and action plan distribution can be ‘tele-calli-graphe
• Dialogue- the most comprehensive and involving task among the policy implementation part needs to be designed. The major task of NGOs, media, corporate entities, schools, academicians etc come into foreplay. Breaking the common myths, education through audio-visual medium, social responsibility mechanism thus making people engage in discussion, debates, public forums and talks all will yield to a brighter literate free atmosphere.
Only then India can think of acquiring a dominant player position among the developed nations of the world.
The main cause is the non- availability of the required level of nutrition; resulting in disease or death. The problem lies not in policies but in their actual and honest implementation with close supervision on the ground. India’s leadership is recognised globally and its economy is growing enviably. In order to create an exemplary situation among the South Asian countries, she has to drive out more ambitious plans to work on the Millennium Development Goals in her Eleventh Five year plan. Not just an educational and administrative approach to the problem of under-nutrition instilling in women and children and their communities, the peril of not taking the programme seriously enough and following prescribed regimens for groups such as pregnant, lactating mothers and adolescent girls are on the verge of great youth mass collapse. After all right to care, nutrition and education is a fundamental right of every child since birth. Certainly there can be no shortcuts and no magic project models that can be applied across this diverse country. Only the careful dealing of the issues with apt methodology can make or break the future of this wonderful country.
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