What generally we would expect from Government employeesIJ The obvious answer from majority of us would be — at least they should perform their duty honestly if not more. However, Gujarat Government employees in the tribal-dominated Dahod district have risen beyond their duties and joined the State Government’s drive to combat malnutrition by adopting 2,800 malnourished children.
It is really hard to believe — especially in a developing country like India — where most of the Government employees are shying away to perform their normal duties. However, right from the super class-1 officials to the subordinate class-4 level employees in Dahod district administration have made a resolution to bring 2,800 ‘severely malnourished’ children back to normal life by Dussehra or October-end this year.
The Anandiben Government’s thrust on social sector is well-known as in its first Budget more than 48 per cent fund allocations have been done for the sector. It is not only the State Government’s employees in Dahod district who are whole heatedly supporting the Government’s cause, nearly 18,000 other Government employees have also decided to contribute Rs 25 lakh to buy nutritional food items to distribute among the parents of malnourished children, so they can feed nutritious food to their children.
The State Government’s drive against malnutrition is largely funded by the Government of India’s (GOI) Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS). According to the last report of the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India (CAG), every third child of under five-year age in Gujarat is underweight, especially the tribal children. Tribal population in the State is almost 14 per cent, and looking to seriousness of the problem, the State Government has initiated a drive to combat malnutrition among children in Gujarat.
The CAG statistics revealed that nearly 44 per cent tribal children are malnourished and five per cent of them are ‘severely malnourished’. The State Government has also admitted that as many as 73,348 children in the tribal district of Dahod were malnourished as of August 2013. Sources in the State Government said Chief Minister Anandiben Patel has instructed senior officials to work towards this important issue on war footing. She also appealed people, social organisations and even leading business houses to contribute and support the State Government’s initiative to combat the drive against malnutrition.