The Cabinet on Tuesday gave its approval to provide eggs at least six days a week to children in the age bracket of three years to six years along with meals at Anganwadi centres across Jharkhand in a bid to combat malnutrition, officials said.
“Under the ICDS programme, the Cabinet has decided to provide one egg six days a week to children in the age bracket of three years to six years at the Anganwadi centres,” Cabinet Secretary, Vandana Dadel, said, while addressing media persons soon after the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
So far, children were provided eggs three days a week at the 35,000 odd Anganwadi centres run across the State under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), officials from the Women, Child Development and Social Security department of Jharkhand said, adding that the Cabinet move would help the state in fighting malnutrition among children in rural areas of the State and address the protein deficit in their daily diet.
Children in the age bracket of six months to six years and pregnant and lactating mothers are provided dry ration, supplements and meals at Anganwadi centres to meet their daily nutritional needs in Jharkhand. The scheme also aims at addressing malnutrition in pregnant and lactating mothers, one of the major reasons for neonatal deaths and stunting in children.
However, while the Government had earlier announced to provide three eggs per week to children at Anganwadi centres, right to food activists claim that many Anganwadi centres were yet to receive regular supplies of eggs to meet the demand.
Besides adding more eggs to the meals provided to children at Anganwadi centres, the Cabinet on Tuesday also approved several road construction projects worth several hundred crore in various districts of the State, the Cabinet Secretary.
The Cabinet on Tuesday also hiked the House Rent Allowance (HRA) and Dearness Allowance (DA) of State Government employees under fifth pay commission, seventh pay commission and those under unrevised pay scale, officials said.
The Cabinet gave its approval for setting up a Pharma Park at Bijupara in Barhi worth over 34.94 crore. The Pharma Park will be a hub of various pharmaceutical companies, officials said.
Besides, in a bid to encourage easy and accessible higher education, the Cabinet approved setting up of an open university in the State, said the Cabinet Secretary. Through this Open University, working professionals will also be able to pursue higher studies without having to attend in-person classes, sources said.
The Cabinet also approved recruitment of professors and assistant professors for the government medical colleges in Jharkhand to address the shortage of teachers in the medical colleges.