Packaged food provided under Supplementary Nutrition Programme (SNP) as a subcomponent of Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) has landed in controversy as the beneficiaries of world’s biggest nutrition scheme seem to have developed distaste for the food supplied and consider it not better than animal feed.
Instead of acquiring taste of the fortified food item containing—minerals and vitamins-beneficiaries — children, pregnant women and lactating mothers — have developed a taste of disapproval to the poor standard of the ready-to-eat packaged food item. The protesters are slowly knocking at the capital to register their protest. Representatives of Murramkala Panchayat in Ramgarh wanted to return food packets to officials anticipating their participation in a conference on right to food organised at Ranchi on February 20.
“The food tastes like animal feed and nobody eats it. Although they (beneficiaries) procure it they feed it to their cattle. We wanted it to return to officials if they had come to attend the programme but we are dumping it on the venue to register our protest,” said Mukhiya of the Panchayat, Archana Mahto. The scheme intends to meet nutritional requirements of children and women.
Bad taste is just the tip of the controversial iceberg of the SNP which allows States to have their say in the implementation of the programme and entails strict monitoring, quality control provisions to meet the objectives of ICDS.
The packaged food opened a can of worms with complains of the food aiding growth of fungus; containing inedible items like plastics, metals becoming more like a rule than exception. Social audit of the scheme exposed utter irregularities in the scheme being implemented in different pockets of the State. Reports from Dhanbad, latehar, Chandwa, Balumath, Koderma,Palamau and Deoghar are eye opener and also how the scheme is being implemented by disregarding complains of shoddy food quality.
“There are a lot of problems with the scheme. Taste of the food doesn’t matches food habits of people. Credibility is another issue and monitoring apparatus doesn’t exist at all. These are the issues because of which the packaged foods are being sold in market as animal feeding. Government had said that they will investigate the matter however they are yet to deliver on their promises of probe,” said social activist, Balram.
Supply of expired food and supplying packets days before manufacturing date are some of the startling revelations that raises finger at the loose quality control and monitoring of the scheme. The programme entails a 5-tier monitoring system in states to monitor implementation and related issues. “Printed manufacturing date on the packaged food supplied in Deoghar’s Devipur block was February 12, 2014. They can’t even monitor date. There is no monitoring system at all,” added Balram.
The scheme was launched in Jharkhand after August, 2014 yet social audits of the social sector scheme revealed that the packed foods that were supplied to some Aanganwadis were manufactured in February. Theories of foods being pushed in Jharkhand from other states who were forced to amend its policies due to Supreme Court rulings, gained currency in the tribal land which introduced the scheme later than most of the provinces.
“There are firms who were blacklisted in other States. They changed names but supplying the same products. It could be that they are pushing the products in Jharkhand before anyone knows about it,” maintained Balram. Minister Social Welfare, Women & Child Development, louis Marandi was unavailable for her action plan to address scheme related issues. However, the department officials assured to look into the matter.