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New Delhi: Doctors and activists have sought to highlight the futility of the government's programme to take care of nutritional needs of children attending daycare centres (anganwadis).
Experts say that packaged food being given to children below six years of age in several states is grossly inadequate in every sense.
Experts have pointed out that the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) that envisages free food for anganwadi pupils only provides for food worth Rs2 per child per day.
"With such a low allocation, packaged food cannot provide required nutrition. We should go for hot cooked food from available local products," said Arun Gupta, a member of the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN).
Quoting the latest National Family Health Survey, Devika Singh of Mobile Creche, a non-government organisation, said malnutrition levels had an improvement of just one per cent in eight years.
Local involvement urged
"Our children need nutrition, care and support. Instead of going for public private participation (PPP) ventures to give packaged food, we need to involve more local people in anganwadis," Singh told reporters.
Activists said Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat were handing out packaged food in day care centres. "Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh and Pondicherry are doing well because they are providing hot cooked meals every day," said Sameer Garg, an activist from Chhattisgarh.
"Instead of giving packaged food twice or thrice a month to kids below six years of age, it's better to give them dal [lentils] and roti [flat bread]," said Garg, who is a Supreme Court-appointed monitor to oversee the ICDS programme implementation in Chhattisgarh.
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