Chief Minister Raman Singh on Monday inaugurated Statewide ‘Aanganbadi Quality Campaign’ and said that eradication of malnutrition in Chhattisgarh is ‘our collective social responsibility’.
The Chief Minister appealed for public participation for the cause so as to ensure healthy and malnutrition-free future of Chhattisgarh.
The State Women and Child Development Department had organised the programme at the Balvir Singh Juneja Indoor Stadium in the city. The campaign will conclude on January 13.
In the programme, the Chief Minister felicitated members of women self-help groups (SHGs) and ‘Suposhan Mitra’ and also Sarpanchs of concerned Gram Panchayats for their excellent achievement under ‘Nava Jatan Yojana’ phase-3.
He also released the video training film on record maintainence for Aanganbadi workers and a film based on success of Phulwari centres. Besides, Chief Minister also released a software developed for monitoring important department schemes, a mobile App developed for Aanganbadi workers called ‘Vazan Mitra’ and primary child education kit - ‘first step’.
As Chief Guest of the programme, Singh said that body weight of newly-borns less than prescribed standards leads to health complications and obstructs their physical and mental growth. This is the time when Aanganbadi centres need to focus more on health of such young ones.
He lauded Aanganbadi centres for improvement in quality of their services. Active support of Women and Child Development Department, social workers and NGOs have miraculously decreased the level of malnutrition by 17 per cent.
Under this campaign, ‘Aanganbadi Mitra’ and ‘Bal Mitra’ will adopt Aanganbadi centres and children suffering from malnutrition. After six months, improvement in health of adopted children and quality of services in adopted centres will be reviewed.
The ‘Aanganbadi Mitra’ and ‘Bal Mitra’ will be felicitated for their excellent works in this field. Chief Minister said that in year 2003, there were total 21,123 Anganbadi centres in the State, which have increased to 50,000 at present.
likewise, number of beneficiaries of Aanganbadi centres have also crossed the mark of 25 lakh. Women and Child Development Minister Ramsheela Sahu also addressed the programme, saying that best performing Bal Mitra and Aanganbadi Mitra will be honoured on the occasion of Independence Day on August 15. She said that Aanganbadi quality improvement campaign will prove to be a milestone in the direction of malnutrition eradication.
The inaugural programme was presided over by Chhattisgarh Assembly Speaker Gaurishankar Agrawal. Agriculture Minister Brijmohan Agrawal, PWD Minister Rajesh Munat, Parliamentary Secretary lakhan lal Dewangan, Chairman of Chhattisgarh Textbook Corporation Devji Bhai Patel, State Commission for Protection of Child Rights Chairperson Shatabdi Subodh Pandey, State Industrial Development Corporation Chairman Chhagan Mundra, State Social Welfare Board Shobha Soni, President District Panchayat Raipur Sharda Verma, Mayor Raipur Municipal Corporation Pramod Dubey were also present as special guests of the occasion.
As a part of the Anganwadis’ Quality Improvement Mission in Chhattisgarh, Chief Minister Raman Singh and Assembly Speaker Gaurishankar Agrawal, Cabinet Ministers, Chairmen of various Corporations, Chief Secretary and senior officers have also pledged to adopt one Anganwadi and a malnourished child each in 20 Angawadis’ centres.
The Chief Minister had adopted Village Surgi Anganwadi number-1 and a child Kashish Deemar. Chhattisgarh Ass-embly Speaker Gaurishankar Agrawal adopted village Kasamsra (Kasdol) Balod-abazar district Anganwadi and child Devanjali. Raipur lok Sabha MP Ramesh Bais adopted village Giroud Anganwadi centre number-3 and a child Gayatri in Raipur district. Agriculture Minister Brijmohan Agrawal adopted village Barbandha Anganwadi Centre Number -1 (Dharsiva-2) and a child Kumhari Kruti.