The adolescent girls of Jharkhand will be spearheading campaign to enlighten people about nutrition and its importance for the fairer sex. One girl from each district has been selected by a group of non-governmental organisations for ‘social initiative for nutrition security’.
The initiative has been jointly launched by Save the Children, Vikas Bharti, Wada na Todo campaign besides Ranchi Women’s College and Doranda College. The initiative was lauded by Minister Social Welfare, Women & Child Development, louis Marandi for the sheer scale of the programme that helps Government in its effort to cut the barrier of space and reach out to masses to disseminate information about nutrition.
“Although Government is running many projects to alleviate malnutrition, it cannot deal with the problem through its efforts alone. Society needs to come forward and everyone needs to take a step to free Jharkhand from malnutrition,” said Marandi.
Human Resource Development Minister, Nira Yadav highlighted importance of healthy foods and knowledge of nutrition values of edible items available at home to reap the nutritional values of the items.
Yadav also put emphasis on social institutions role in spreading awareness about nutritional values of food items. “A healthy girl can only become a healthy mother so it is necessary to think about them. It is not necessary to eat costly food items but girls can stay healthy by eating food items available at home. Only requirement is to spread awareness about the nutrition value,” added Yadav.
Secretary of Vikas Bharti, Ashok Bhagat expressed the organisation’s commitment for malnutrition free Jharkhand and vowed to launch State-wide campaign to apprise people about the nutritious value of food items. The Padamshree awardee requested people not to overly depend on the State Government.
“We should not rely on Government for solutions to the problems (of malnutrition). It is imperative for all the stakeholders of the society to find solution to the problems,” maintained Bhagat.
The event was attended by Minister, labour, Employment & Training Raj Paliwar, Mandar MlA Gangotri Kujur, Gumla MlA Shivshankar Oraon, Chairperson SCPCR Rooplaxmi Munda, Country Head-Nutrition Save the Children Archana Chaudhary, State Programme Manager, Save the Children, Mahadev Hansda and other representatives of the non-Governmental organisations.