Smriti Irani: WCD, NITI Aayog examining measures to strengthen child development services

Union Minister Smriti Irani, Ministry of Women and Child Development, NITI Aayog and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare announced that they will work together to examine measures to strengthen the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS). It is a government programme which provides food, pre-school education, primary healthcare, immunization, health check-up and referral services to children under 6 years of age and their mothers. "The WCD, NITI Aayog and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare are examining measures to strengthen the ICDS programme in order to ensure that targeted children are benefitted," said Smriti Irani at the inaugural session of Northern Regional Workshop on Best Practices and Innovations from POSHAN Abhiyaan. 

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"Malnutrition is not restricted to women and children belonging to the poor strata of society, many children from affluent families living in urban areas are equally afflicted with malnutrition. Proper nutrition depends on the selection of nutritious food for children, expectant mothers and lactating women," she said while emphasising on malnutrition as a crucial problem. 

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The Union Minister also addressed the problem of a large number of cases of pregnancies amongst underage married girls saying that the government is considering amendments to the Prevention of Child Marriage Act to make reporting of cases of child marriages mandatory for the concerned agencies. The number of cases of pregnancies in girls under 18 years is as high as 21 percent in the country and  malnourishment is a by-product. Children born of child marriages are more prone to undernourishment. 

WCD and Niti Aayog

Recently, the Ministry for Women and Child Development and the Niti Aayog also collaborated on ranking states on the basis of their performance in implementing various schemes related to women and children. The WCD Ministry suggested the move will help improve the performance of states in implementing the programmes of the Centre, officials said. Earlier, the Women and Child Development Ministry expressed concern over the slow roll-out of different activities under the POSHAN Abhiyaan (nutrition mission) and urged states and union territories to ensure targets are achieved. Speaking on POSHAN Abhiyan on Monday, Smriti said that 2.7 lakh activities were undertaken by the WCD for 85 million beneficiaries.

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(With Agency Inputs)