Amid the controversy that BJP Government is throwing the schemes of the previous Akhilesh Yadav government in the lumber room, the Yogi government has stealthily decided to implement the Hausala Paushan Scheme, meant to eradicate mal-nourishment from the state.
A senior official in CM’s office told The Pioneer that this government is committed to eradicate mal-nourishment among children and women from Uttar Pradesh and if this can be achieved the Human Development Index (HDI) of UP and India will also improve.
The Hausal Paushan Scheme was a brain child of the previous government. Under this Hausala Paushan scheme around 10 lakh pregnant women and over 14 lakh mal-nourished children between 6 month and 6 years of age would get cooked nutritious food in the Anganwadi centres in respective gram sabhas. The highly mal-nourished children would get 500 gm of desi ghee too while the women would get a seasonal fruits everyday as well as food.
“This government has decided to implement this scheme in letter and spirit as it has ingredients to eradicate mal-nourishment from Uttar Pradesh,” he said. “Think about the scenario where we will have healthy pregnant women and children. The Human Development Index of UP as well as India will go up,” the official said.
Malnourishment among women and children is abysmally high in Uttar Pradesh as it is among the worst performing states in the area of underweight and malnutrition among children between the age group of 0 to 6 years. UP stood fourth from the bottom on child nutrition rates, only falling behind Bihar Andhra Pradesh and Daman and Diu. According to the state’s own records, 35.5 per cent of the total children who were identified as beneficiaries of the supplementary nutrition programme under ICDS were underweight, with 62,728 falling in the Grade III and IV - severely malnourished - categories.
At present UP has more than two crore children identified as beneficiaries of the supplementary nutrition programme (SNP), while nearly 50 lakh pregnant and lactating mothers are covered under ICDS.