The National Food Security Act 2013 guarantees maternity benefit to the tune of Rs. 6,000/- per child by the Central Government for pregnant women and lactating mothers, barring those who are already availing such benefits while being in regular employment with the Central Government or State Governments or Public Sector Undertakings or under other laws. The NFSA 2013 also legally guarantees free meals for every pregnant woman and lactating mother...
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Extend maternity benefits to tackle child and maternal malnutrition -Kanmani Palanisamy
-IDROnline.org How a government scheme designed to extend maternity benefits to pregnant women in India is unequal and exclusionary. child stunting (low height for age) has increased in 13 states, child wasting (low weight for height) has increased in more than 12 states, number of underweight children has increased in 16 states, and children who are overweight has increased in 20 states. (All four indicators refer to children between the ages of...
More »India’s pandemic generation: 375 million children will suffer poor health, educational losses, says Centre for Science and Environment study
-The Hindu The pandemic also has its hidden victims — over 500 million children forced out of school globally and India accounted for more than half of them. The country is all set to usher in a ‘pandemic generation’, with 375 million children (from newborns to 14-year-olds) likely to suffer long-lasting impacts, ranging from being underweight, stunting and increased child mortality, to losses in education and work productivity, according to the State...
More »Mid-Day Meals play a crucial role in guaranteeing child nutrition in the post-pandemic world
School meals ensure nutrition for millions of vulnerable children across the world. Almost 370 million children worldwide are covered by school feeding programmes. While 100 million school children benefitted from the noon meal scheme in India prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, countries like Brazil (48 million), China (44 million), South Africa (9 million) and Nigeria (9 million) too run similar programmes for school children. However, an estimated 39 billion in-school...
More »This Year's Budget Is Critical to Ensure a Comprehensive Nutrition Response -Happy Pant
-TheWire.in One of the most disturbing effects of the pandemic has been on the nutritional needs of the disadvantaged. The Budget needs to prioritise addressing this issue. The pandemic led disruptions of nutrition services have exacerbated India’s existing burden of undernutrition. Children did not get the mid-day meals and supplementary nutrition under the anganwadi services scheme they were registered under. Critical health services like immunisation, iron-folic acide and calcium supplementation, treatment of...
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