Chief Secretary Rajiv Kumar asked officers to adopt at least two most-malnourished villages so that Sabri Sankalp Abhiyan could be effectively implemented in 39 districts with the specific aim to lower malnutrition among kids in the age group of 0-3 years.
“If officers adopt at least two villages it would be easy for the administration to make them malnutrition-free villages,” the top official while presiding over a meeting of State Nutrition Mission at his office on Thursday.
Kumar said that constant co-ordination between different agencies was necessary to tackle the complex problem which had links to the health, nutrition mission and sanitation departments.
“Commissioners and DMs should hold regular meetings to review progress in this scheme. Smart phones with in-built common application software will be provided to Aanganbadi workers that would help in online tracking,” he said.
Kumar said that under this scheme, kids between 0 and 3 years would be identified and put in ‘Yellow’ (Malnourished) and ‘Red’ (Severly Malnourished) categories. The campaign whould be initiated for publicizing effects of malnutrition through films, documentaries and other means to aware the common people about it.
Secretary of Child Development and Nutrition, Anita Mesharam said in order to prevent malnutrition special co-ordination was ensured among 39 selected districts namely-Gorakhpur, Jaunpur, Mirzapur, Kaushambi, Fatehpur, Gazipur, Etah, Azamgarh, Chandauli, Bhadohi, Bulandsahar, Mainpuri, Siddarthnagar, Banda, Kannauj, Etawah, Farrukhabad, Kanpur Dehat, Chitrakoot, Raibarielly, Hamirpur, lakhimpur Kheeri, Shahjahanpur, Hardoi, Gonda, Faizabad, Shrawasti, Kashganj, Aligarh, Badayun, Pilibhit, Bahraich, Sitapur, Barabanki, Sant Kabirnagar, Balrampur, Kushinagar, Mahrajganj and Basti.
She said that State Nutrition Mission in co-ordination with ICDS, Health, Panchayati Raj, Rural Development, Primary Education and Food and Civil Supplies departments could play an effective role in preventing malnutrition and could also help anemic women and school going girls on a large scale.
Principal Secretary of Medical and Health, Prashant Trivedi, Principal Secretary, Food and Civil Supplies, Nivedita shukla Verma, Director of State Nutrition Mission Anoop Srivastava and other concerned department officials were present during the meeting.