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Resource centre on India's rural distress
 
 

Credit diet starves state midday meals-Chhandosree
-The Telegraph


Ranchi: If cronyism and callousness led to the Bihar midday meal tragedy earlier this month, Jharkhand is staring at a credit crisis that is barely able to put food on plates in schools and anganwadis.

Jharkhand's multi-crore food-for-children schemes - midday meal for schools and supplementary nutrition for anganwadis - are starved of funds and limping on credit, a survey conducted by the state adviser to the commissioner of Supreme Court on Right to Food campaign has found.

The annual budget for midday meal and supplementary nutrition in Jharkhand is Rs 500 crore and Rs 300 crore, respectively.

Balram, state advisor to the commissioner of Supreme Court on Right to Food case, told The Telegraph that the midday meal had stopped in more than half a dozen districts of Jharkhand.

The finding came to fore after the panel inspected around 50 randomly chosen primary schools across 24 districts of the state after the Bihar tragedy which left 23 children dead.

Utter fiscal mismanagement rules Jharkhand when it comes to disbursing funds to schools and anganwadis to feed hungry children, resulting in funds getting delayed every step of the way.

According to norms, the state distributes funds through definite channels. The department of human resource development sends money to respective district school education departments, which in turn hands over sums to schools in its area. The department of social welfare hands out funds to district social welfare officers, who give amounts to child development welfare officers, who finally hand over money to anganwadi staff.

Sharing an instance of his findings in Ranchi district on July 22, Balram said he and his team - Jharkhand State Commission for Child Rights (JSPCR) member Sunita Katyayan, MGNREGS ombudsman Haldhar Mahto and research assistant Mansi - went to schools and an anganwadi centre in Cheti panchayat, Nagri block.

"At Cheti, teachers of the primary school and anganwadi centre workers told us they purchased rice and pulses on udhaar (credit) and were not sure whether such an arrangement could work for long," Balram said.

The situation was worse in hinterland districts such as Jamtara, Pakur, Deoghar and Godda.

"There, primary schools and anganwadi centres were refused cereals by grocers. School and anganwadi staff couldn't pay bills for six months in a row. Cumulative bills ran into thousands," said Balram.

He added that the corrective measure had to start from the state departments.

"Unless the government ensured timely release of funds at the start of the fiscal year for midday meals and supplementary nutrition, one cannot expect smooth execution of these schemes," he said.

Katyayan added the anganwadi centres also lack basics in infrastructure and skills.

"Anganwadi workers can't weigh children properly. Not even 50 per cent of children enrolled attend centres regularly. Plus, cooking is either done in dark and dingy rooms or out in the open," she said.

Unhygienic kitchens or makeshift cooking zones led to the risk of food getting contaminated during storage or cooking.

In case of any emergency, none of the schools or centres had any signboard to highlight redress mechanisms or helpline numbers.

"The findings of the team has been shared with the deputy commissioners of all the districts. We must wake up," said Balram. "We will propose that the government constitutes a state review mission to submit reports at least twice a year on these meal schemes," he added.

He added that the state health department has constituted a similar review mission. "It proved helpful in improving delivery mechanisms across villages. Let us learn from others," he added.