Bhubaneswar: Think of Talcher block in Angul district, images of coal mines, the second largest coal conveyor belt in the country and an economically well-off district flash in your mind. What one doesn’t associate with Talcher or even a coal-mining rich district like Angul is its malnutrition.
According to the 4th National Family Health Survey, 31.8% of children under five years of age are stunted and 21.6% are wasted (children too thin for their height) in Angul district.
And, a closer look at the area reveals how this inequality is rampant. Less than 500 metres from the coal conveyor belt and Jagannath mines in Talcher, there lies a village by the name Diajharana which falls under the Tentulei gram panchayat.
With more than 100 households and a population of about 400, according to the 2011 census, there is no Anganwadi Centre.
Anganwadi worker (AWW) Janaki Rani Chattar who runs the Anganwadi Centre (AWC) from a single room in her two-room house says that this is the best option since nobody has to go far to access these services. The AWC has been operating from her house since 2013.
AWC is a type of rural child care centre whose mandate is to combat child hunger and malnutrition. The AWCs were started in 1975 and are the focal points of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme run by the Central government and the Mamata scheme introduced by the state government.
There are 41 children and eight mothers registered as beneficiaries with this AWC. While the children are eligible to receive food supplements under the Supplementary Nutrition Programme (SNP) of ICDS from the AWC, the mothers are supposed to get food supplements, go for regular check-ups and immunization during pregnancy and register themselves for conditional cash transfer under the Mamata scheme at the AWCs. And going by the population of the area, the village is eligible for at least a mini AWC as per government norms.
Not a happy place for kids
But a dimly lit room with a tin roof propped up by wooden poles is not exactly a happy place for kids – it is an example of a makeshift AWC which doesn’t excite the kids to visit and eat their meals every day. “I have informed the CDPO (Child Development Project Officer) that I am running the AWC from my house and have submitted an application for the construction of an AWC in the village,” Janaki said.
The CDPO is the nodal officer for implementation of the ICDS in a block. Lilabati Nag, CDPO of Talcher, says that she is aware that the AWC is operating from inside the house of the AWW. “There is no government land in Talcher to take space on rent for an AWC,” she says over the phone. Nag adds that they have been talking to the Block Development Officer (BDO) in the area for the construction of an AWC, but to no avail.
Even though Angul district has the second highest per capita income in Odisha and contributes 5.7 percent to Odisha’s GDP, nutrition is clearly not on the top of Talcher administration’s agenda.
Janaki, the AWW, says that there are 20 children in the age group of 3-6 years who are registered to come every day to the Anganwadi Centre to get their hot cooked meals under the ICDS scheme, but not more than 12 turn up every day. However, there were only four present on 19th July 2019 and the AWC had not opened till 10.30 am when it is supposed to open at 9 am.
On hearing this, Nag says that the AWW is at fault if the Centre is opening late. “We will follow up with her and tell her the due procedure that needs to be followed.”
As per a request filed under RTI (Right to Information) in April 2019, the district of Angul spent almost Rs 26 crore on SNP in the year 2018-19. The aim of the SNP is simple – to ensure the supplementary food provided by the government helps in controlling the malaise of malnutrition among children aged 6 months to 6 years and pregnant and lactating mothers. But the real question here is whether this investment is reaching the right stakeholders and the problem of malnutrition is being addressed. There needs to be a better accountability mechanism in place to ensure malnutrition numbers go down.
Not getting enough eggs
The AWC also said that there were three children in the red zone at the AWC. Red zone is the formal word used in an AWC for a child who is severely malnourished. “Two girls and one boy are in the red zone and we give them extra food to take care of their nutritional needs,” added Janaki.
Children between the ages of 6 months – 3 years and pregnant and lactating mothers are supposed to get 12 eggs every month as Take Home Ration under the SNP. But in Diajharana village, they get only 10. “How am I supposed to give 12 eggs if what I get a lot of rotten and broken eggs?” says Janaki Rani. She says a huge number of eggs she receives are either broken or rotten; so she is able to give only 10 eggs to each beneficiary under SNP.
Neelu Devi, 27, is an immigrant from Bihar who has been living in the village for more than seven years now. She says that they never get eggs on time. Under the SNP, the beneficiaries are supposed to receive the eggs by the 5th of a month. “Today is the 19th and we still haven’t received the eggs for my young son who is a year and a half old,” adds Devi.
Dr Biswaranjan Padhy, former deputy director (nutrition), Government of Odisha, believes that while supplementing diets of children will improve malnutrition, it is a combination of factors which will improve nutritional status in the state.
“Nutrition needs to be looked at holistically and a lot of factors need to improve. Better education, income, changing mindset and increasing demand generation from communities are some issues which will impact nutrition in the long run.”
Padhy says the ultimate driver to improve nutritional status of communities will be political will. “If a sarpanch talks about nutrition and its importance then it works much better. We need to promote political leadership on the issues of nutrition,” he adds.
PNN
