Anganwadis..

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Anganwadis: State does well, but more needs to be done

Madhavi Rajadhyaksha I TNN

Mumbai: In Rajasthan, there was a carcass rotting outside an anganwadi and no women or children were in sight. A childcare centre in Chhattisgarh was closed at 1 pm, though the official timings were from 10 am to 2 pm.
In Andhra Pradesh, anganwadis were either missing or not functioning properly. Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, though, presented a more hopeful picture with their “bright and cheerful children’’.
These were some of the observations of Planning Commission member Dr Sayeeda Hameed, who visited 48 anganwadis across 17 states over the last three years and recently sent an “eyewitness account’’ to the Maharashtra government.
Anganwadis are childcare centres in urban, rural and tribal districts, which provide supplementary nutrition to children below six years and are monitored under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS).
“The picture that emerges is a grim one,’’ is Dr Hameed’s hard-hitting observation, as her report goes on to detail how anganwadis in most parts are run from ‘kachcha’ premises with no space for children to spend the entire four hours and how personal hygiene is ignored. She
estimates that there are toilets in less than 25% of the centres and referral health services are seriously wanting.
Maharashtra, with its startling malnutrition rates, presented a comparatively encouraging picture in her report. Take the instance of the Abadimandi centre in Aurangabad, which the team visited in May 2007 and found “uniformed children sitting in neat rows’’.
The centre boasted of a child-friendly toilet, a tap for drinking water and was stocked with educational kits, a first-aid toolbox, a mirror and combs. “We learnt that children are given six different recipes in a week and the cooked food is given in take-home-rations to children below three,’’ the report states.
The observations have predictably pleased state officials. “Generally, we receive a lot of criticism. Her account came as a surprise even to us. We have started a lot of new activities under the Integrated Child Development Services and are glad that the efforts are showing,’’ says Dr Vijay Satbir Singh, secretary, women and child development department.
A centre in the Kagazipur area of Aurangabad district was, in fact, cited as a model in “personal hygiene’’ practices. “We were pleasantly surprised to see that all the children got up and went outside to wash their hands. They then dried them and sat down to eat,’’ says the report, adding that the children seemed comfortable with this routine and it didn’t seem like an act for the visitors.
Some of the other centres, however, received brickbats for the shortage of IFA (folic acid) tablets and the lack of drinking water facilities, which highlighted the poor coordination of Integrated Child Development Services with other departments. State officials say more projects are in the pipeline. “We recently sanctioned Rs 38 crore (for this year) for the construction of new buildings for anganwadis,’’ says Dr Singh.
But activists aren’t satisfied with Maharashtra’s high scores. “The observations for a few centres cannot be generalised when it comes to the implementation of Integrated Child Development Services across the state. In Aurangabad itself, there are many tribal and slum pockets, which still do not have Integrated Child Development Services centres,’’ says Amulya Nidhi from Bal Hakk Abhiyaan. He says malnutrition in the state has seen a huge public outcry in the last two years, be it in the heart of Mumbai or the tribal belts of Melghat.
While government records show that 80,00,000 children benefit from Integrated Child Development Services, the malnutrition-related infant deaths (which stand at more than 7,500 annually) suggest that Maharashtra though ahead of other states still needs a lot more to be done.
Apex court order
brings smiles
Demand an anganwadi and get one within three months? A little-known Supreme Court verdict of 2006 has brought a smile to several slumdwellers in Mumbai. The court had ruled that any community with more than 40 children below six years could petition the ICDS authorities for an anganwadi and get it within three months. Voluntary organisations Shahar Vikas Manch (SVM) and YUVA did precisely that.
“The verdict was delivered while hearing a petition, which questioned why government godowns were overflowing with rotting food, while children remained malnourished. We have been holding meetings with the slumdwellers and mobilising women’s groups in slums around Malad,’’ said Mohan Chavan of SVM. Their awareness drives saw 42 new anganwadi centres being inaugurated in P-ward (Malad-Malvani) on Saturday. TNN

HEALING TOUCH: A file picture of a doctor examining a child at an anganwadi