Following news report appeared in Economic Times ( Nov 05 , 2016 ) :
" Nutrition in Sachets: Minister's Answer to Malnourishment
"
Some parts of the report reads :
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Union
minister for Women & Child Development Maneka Gandhi wants to put an end to children consuming empty calories.
Instead, she wants them to consume calories rich in nutrition, and her ministry
wants to have sachets containing 600-1000 calories of nutrition for children.
The plan,
brainchild of Gandhi, suggests
that the central government will supply the nutrients list and the state(s) can
have them made. The sachet will bear the Government of India's stamp.
" No
monitoring systems have
been developed in 40 years and there has been no reporting..production and distribution should be kept separate “, reads the
ministry's note
The
ministry plans to kick off the Nutrition Mission by December 2016. As for anganwadi women,
it suggests that since they will “in effect be irrelevant to the food
distribution system“ they can be “moved to government schools for pre-school
education which is now severely lacking “.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is one more example of NDA ministers , listening
to the suggestions sent by ordinary citizens - and acting upon the same , if
found good
Dear Madam
Maneka Gandhi :
While congratulating you on this LIFE SAVING initiative ( - equal in importance to
abolition of Black Money ) , I urge you to consider my following suggestion in
its totality ( sent to you and other NDA ministers through email ( '
gandhim@sansad.nic.in' ) on 30 June 2016 :
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saving 1.2 million
Kids
Monday / 27 June
:
Shri Amitabh Kant , CEO -NITI Aayog , holds a
consultation meeting with experts , Ministries and State departments on ,
" National Nutrition Policy / India's Malnutrition : A Call for Action "
Tuesday / 28 June
:
UNICEF releases a report which says, in India , 1.2
million kids ( under age 5 ) died in 2015 , due to " preventable "
causes
Even though the eventual manifestation could well be
pneumonia / diarrhea / sepsis etc , the root cause is starvation ( - although ,
to remain politically correct , UNICEF uses the term " malnutrition "
! )
That is 3288 kids daily - 137 kids per hour !
This need not come as a shock , despite the fact that
the Integrated Child Development Scheme - ICDS
- was launched in India , as far back as 1975
In 2013 , a CAG report had criticized the Women and
Child Development Ministry ( which is piloting the ICDS ), for diverting ICDS
funds !
CAG further pointed out that the State Governments had
diverted Rs 57.82 crore from ICDS to other activities !
Finding faults will not save these kids !
There are 74 millions of them in the age group of 3-6
Of these , 54 million go to schools , where , I
presume they get some nutrition thru Mid-Day meals , even with all the associated
deficiencies and corruption scandals !
That leaves 20 million who do not go to school , hopelessly mal-nourished
How can we ensure that they get some nutritious food
every day ?
If there is a will , there is a way - the following way
:
# FOOD
India's own " Energy Bar
" ( a Chikki ) , made of a protein-rich mixture of Peanuts + Jagerry
( 50 gms )
Call it NEUTRA-KID ( - may be our Food
Research Institute can come up with a better product )
# PACKING
Eco friendly paper wrapper and paper
boxes
# MANUFACTURERS
FSSAI approved units located in Food Parks planned by Smt Harsimrat Kaur Badal , Minister
for Food
1000 Food Processing Units ,
each producing 20,000 NEUTRA-KID bars per day and delivering to 100 nearby post
offices ( for 20 million kids )
# DELIVERY
POINTS
1.45 lakh post offices of India Post . May be they
can pick-up / collect their daily consignments from Units
# TECHNOLOGY
* Each NEUTRA-KID bar wrapper will have a bar-code ( till
such time inserting RFID sensors become a reality )
* Bar code will
carry all normal instructions + Delivery Destination ( Post Office )
* Each NEUTRA-KID bar will pass thru a Bar Code Reader
on the Assembly Line , before dispatch
* Info collected
thru this reader will get transmitted to the Central Server of concerned Ministries
* After taking his
/ her weight and entering in a online Database , hosted on the Central Server
of the concerned Ministries, each targeted child will get registered at the
nearest Post Office
* Each registered
child will be issued a blue tooth enabled Smart phone, duly pre-installed
with a Mobile App called " BANMALI " ( Banish
Malnutrition in India ) , in which Child's data / Aadhar No will be
entered
* Every day , the
concerned child ( and parent ) will visit the post office to collect the NEUTRA-KID bar
* Before handing
over bar, child will be weighed on a weighing machine and the weight entered in
BANMALI
The
weight record graph will appear on the screen of the PC located at the Post
Office ( Blue Tooth )
* This record will
also get transmitted ( of course , automatically ) to the COMMUNITY HEALTH
CENTRE where the concerned child is
" registered " ( this will be compulsory in order to be eligible for
this Scheme )
* Every time , a
child is taken for his/her monthly HEALTH CHECK UP ( also compulsory in order
to receive next month's NEUTRA-KID bars ) ,
concerned doctor will examine the child and enter his findings in BANMALI
Doctor will
be required to enter medicines prescribed as also , increase / decrease in the
QUOTA of NEUTRA- KID bars recommended for the next month
All of these data will get relayed to
the Central Servers of the concerned Ministries
As to the roles to be played by various agencies
involved , I conceptualize as follows :
WOMEN and CHILD
DEVELOPMENT MINISTRY :
# Preparation
of overall Policy and Procedures
# Laying
down of targets for each agency
# Preparing
and Monitoring Project Implementation
# Making
available funds to various agencies ( Rs 5 per bar = Rs 10 cr per day for 20
million kids )
# Creating
/ hosting IT Infrastructure and disbursement of hardware / software / weighing
scales / phones etc
# Publishing
on its web site , " Targets Vs Actual Achievement " graphs , every
quarter
FOOD MINISTRY
# Laying
down Nutrition Specifications for NEUTRA-KID bars
# Selecting
/ approving Food Processing Units
# Place
purchase orders using Auction process / making payments thru UPI ( Universal
Payment Interface )
# Ensuring
timely delivery to 1.45 lakh post offices
# Ensuring
Quality through SGS
POST OFFICES
# After
thorough scrutiny / verification , to register under-nourished kids . Central
Database
will ensure that there is no duplication ( same child registering at more than
one post office )
# Receive
/ Store / Distribute the NEUTRA-KID bars to registered kids , as per direction of
doctor
at Community Health Centre
# Enter
all data in BANMALI mobile app of each child
and sync it with post office server ,
connected to Central Servers
# At the
end of the day , enter DAILY TRANSACTION DATA ( Receipts / Disbursement /
Balance ) in
server
COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTERS
# Resident
doctor to examine each registered ( and eligible ) child , once a month and
prescribe ( into BANMALI
) medicines / next month's bar-quota
Medicines
to be handed out ( Free ) , on the spot ( no visit to chemist )
# All
these data to be entered into BANMALI ( and then synced with server of Health
Centre )
In turn , all these data will
get transmitted to Central Servers of concerned Ministries
If there is a way to physically move the COMMUNITY
HEALTHCARE CENTRES into the premises of nearby Post Office , that would
save a lot of hassle to the parents / kids
You will notice that my proposal
tightly integrates ALL the concerned Agencies through internet enabled hardware
and a SINGLE / COMMON software database , which
not only prevents any " Benefit Leakages
" but broadcasts actual " Achievements
" ( Weight gain / Reduced Mortality ) , instantaneously / automatically /
transparently
I hope the concerned Ministers and Secretaries and Shri
Amitabh Kant , will debate my proposal
It is quite likely that they may improve upon it
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
15 Nov 2016
www.hemenparekh.in / blogs
No comments:
Post a Comment