COVID-centric nutrition strategy needed for underprivileged children and lactating mothers hit by closed schools, Anganwadis: Plea in SC

A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking directions to the Central government to formulate a uniform COVID-centric nutrition strategy for underprivileged children and lactating mothers who have been badly hit due to the closure of schools and Anganwadis amid the pandemic..The petition filed by Prayas Juvenile Aid Centre (JAC) and Make Environment Green Again (MEGA) Foundation filed through Advocate on Record Mohini Priya states that “an abrupt lockdown with little preparation, triggered by Covid-19 is threatening a further blow to decades of slow progress in lowering malnutrition.”.The Supreme Court had earlier taken suo motu cognisance of the same issue on March 18. This led to issuance of various guidelines by the Union Human Resource Development Ministry from time to time. However, the guidelines have not been implemented on the ground level due to lack of proper monitoring and several administrative bottlenecks, says the plea..The plea avers that the lockdown has resulted in a temporary closure of many manufacturing units which make raw materials of Take Home Rations (THR) provided under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS). Further, the transportation of commodities across regions has been severely restricted, which has disrupted the implementation of THR distribution in many places. The petition reads,.“Even places where such dry ration is reaching in limited or full amount to beneficiaries, there is a serious risk of it getting diverted from children and women, for whom it is originally meant. The sharing of distributed food among family may worsen the nutrition status of children and women, who are already malnourished and may lead to severe acute malnutritionPlea filed in Supreme Court.The plea further states that the services of frontline workers - the Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) and Anganwadi workers - had to be diverted for COVID-19 surveillance activities. Since they have been the lifeline of the government’s nutrition programmes like the ICDS, “this has resulted in further neglect of children and their nutrition status”, the petitioners argue.“The children and women in migrating families are already experiencing a considerable disruption in supplementary nutrition services, as they may be registered as beneficiaries for ration in their place of work, but not in their home-states. At a time of resource crunch, ensuring proper food supply to the migrant population is a grave challenge, aggravating the risk of malnutrition among children and women.".In addition to a COVID-centric nutrition strategy, the petition seeks directions to the Centre and the states to formulate a policy to engage the partnership of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) consisting of Non–Profit Organizations (NPOs), Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) and the voluntary sector registered with the NITI Aayog, and forthwith operationalize the same to combat the menace of malnutrition posed by the COVID-19 pandemic..The petition also prays for directions to monitor the food and nutrition situation among especially women and children, and to provide appropriate responses.