For the first time ever, ‘Special Gram Sabhas on Nutrition’ would be held in all 4,423 panchayats of Jharkhand by State Panchayati Raj along with State Social Welfare, Women and Child Development from September to October.
Highlighting the concept, l Khiangte, Principal Secretary of Panchayati Raj department, while talking to the media persons, said, “Our State Government departments and UNICEF has developed a guideline for conducting two-hour-long gram sabhas involving the participation of grassroot-level functionaries of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), health, education followed by drinking water and sanitation.”
The agenda for discussion in the gram Sabha under the aegis of Panchayat Sevak Mukhiya will include impact of under nutrition, status of under nutrition and anemia in the concerned panchayat, interventions to reduce under-nutrition ending with an open discussion among the panchayat people. As an impact on this discussion, each village panchayat will develop an Action Plan to reduce under-nutrition and anemia. “About 45 per cent of the child deaths below 5 years can be attributed to malnutrition according to the medical journal lancet. Therefore, Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) will decrease if malnutrition rate is brought down,” said UNICEF Jharkhand Chief Job Zachariah.
To empower the rural mass with more hand to hand information, Panchayati Raj department has finalized the making of Village Information Card which according to Khiangte will be distributed among the village population by November 30. “This card will help the villagers as basis of Gram Sabha Yojna,” said Khiangte. Another source informed that such card availability would help in framing integrated development plan of the village which in turn will help the villagers on knowing the local resources available in their area.
Speaking more about state government’s initiative for rural development, Khiangte said that his department aims to provide schemes under Rajiv Gandhi Panchayat Shashaktikaan Abhiyaan (RGPSA) to all the panchayats within two years. Around 75 percent of such schemes are funded by Central government and 25 percent is contributed by the State Government.