-The Indian Express Cash transfers instead of food has been widely debated with several criticising it for not being an actual substitute for take-home rations, which is a mix of cereals, fats, sugar and pulses, with added micronutrients. In a major policy shift, the Ministry of Woman and Child Development (WCD) has prepared a proposal to substitute take-home rations, given in aanganwadis for infants under three and pregnant and lactating mothers,...
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Muddled nutrition in Delhi ends up in PIL
-CivilSocietyOnline.com New Delhi: An estimated 50 percent of children in the National Capital Territory of Delhi are undernourished, but a State Food Commission that can address the problem has not been set up. The Food Security Act of 2013 stipulates the setting up of food commissions in the states to monitor mid-day meals served in government schools and supplementary nutrition provided in anganwadis, which are mother and child care centres. It has been...
More »Giving short shrift to children's rights -Jean Dreze
-The Hindu In the last three years, important entitlements for children have been undermined by the Centre The recent notification of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, making Aadhaar compulsory for midday meals in government schools, has attracted the criticism it deserves. This notification serves no clear purpose other than to force children to get enrolled under Aadhaar. The government, unfortunately, managed to create the impression that the notification had been retracted,...
More »Amended maternity law goes a long way, but has a long way to go still -Shalini Nair
-The Indian Express The new law allows maternity leave up to 12 weeks for women who adopt a child below the age of 3 months, and for commissioning mothers (in cases of surrogacy) The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2017, passed by Parliament last week, has made 26 weeks of paid maternity leave mandatory for all women employed in the organised sector. The more than doubling of the existing entitlement of 12 weeks...
More »Budget 2017 Disappoints, Maternity Benefit Programme Underfunded, Excludes Those Who Need It The Most -Dipa Sinha
-NDTV According to the World Health Statistics (2016), nearly 5 women die every hour in India due to pregnancy and delivery related complications. 17 per cent of maternal deaths in the world occur in India. Based on the data from the Rapid Survey on Children (2013), only 65 per cent of children are exclusively breastfed up to six months of age. Infant and child mortality rates are high as well. Child...
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