Children, mother deprived of food schemes: Report by Shiv Sahay Singh

Food entitlement schemes that are aimed to provide food security to children are not being properly implemented in the Left Front-ruled West Bengal.

According to Food Entitlements in West Bengal: Survey on Supreme Court Orders, about 41.2 lakh children, which comprises nearly 40 per cent children in the age group of zero to six years are not covered under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS).

The ICDS is one of the most important schemes in terms of providing food security to children under which food and nutrition supplement is provided to children, mothers and adolescent girls.

The survey found that in case of pregnant and lactating mothers, about 17 per cent or 2.2 lakh women entitled to get the benefit have not been covered. Moreover, the state government has been able to provide food to only 3.5 per cent of adolescent girls under the scheme.

The report has cited staff shortage behind the non-implementation of the scheme. “The quality of services is suffering both at the level of supervision and implementation. The department has 24 per cent shortage of

Child Development Project Officer (CDPO) and 55 percent Assistant CDPO and 51 per cent supervisors,” stated the report.

It goes on to point that in 45,899 anganwadi centres (42 per cent), one anganwadi worker has no helper. The report also pointed to the lack of infrastructure, as 26 per cent of the total ICDS centres in the state don’t have their own buildings.

The report has also pointed to the lacunae in implementation of Midday Meal Schemes. According to the survey done, though the scheme is implemented in 89 per cent primary schools of the state, the problem lies in urban areas.

“So far only 37 per cent children enrolled in the primary school has been covered. This non-coverage is mainly because the Kolkata Primary School Council (KPSC) which has the largest number of children enrolled — 1,52,212 — covers less than ten per cent of the children,” the report stated.

“In Kolkata, the urban poor is being deprived of right to food. If the government is able to provide mid day meals in primary schools in Kolkata, the children who drop out would get back to school,” said Anuradha Talwar, one of key persons behind the report.

The report has found flaw in the number of days when the beneficaries are provided with the food under the scheme.

“Coverage under feeding in ICDS has been only 242 days in 2009, as opposed to 300 days in a year as per the Supreme Court Order.

In Midday Meal Schemes, primary school children were fed for 164 days and upper primary children for 110 days in (2008-09) instead of 200 days and statutory orders of the Supreme Court,” the report pointed out.