india

Updated: Oct 15, 2019 03:43 IST

Union minister of women and child development (WCD) Smriti Irani has expressed her reservations about the idea of cash transfers instead of take-home ration for pregnant women and lactating mothers as well as children between six months and three years of age under the multi-ministerial nutrition programme, Poshan Abhiyaan, according to officials.

At the fifth meeting of the National Council of Nutritional Challenges held on October 10, Irani said that the WCD ministry was not confident whether the cash would go to the intended beneficiaries — women and children. Irani, who chaired the meeting, said there was a fear that the cash benefit could be utilised by their families in other pursuits and could remain unused for the intended usage, which is to alleviate malnutrition, said WCD ministry officials present at the meeting.

Under the pilot scheme scheduled to be launched in two districts each in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, children below the age of six would get Rs 8 per day, and pregnant women and lactating mothers would be given ₹9.50 per day by the anganwadis or rural child care centres.

The idea of cash transfers under the Anganwadi Services and Integrated Child Development Services was first mooted by the government think Niti Aayog in 2017 to plug alleged leakages in the Public Distribution System (PDS).

Irani’s predecessor Maneka Gandhi had expressed similar apprehension and written on more than one occasion to Niti Aayog, as well as the Prime Minister’s Office on the matter. It was eventually decided to roll out the scheme on a pilot basis in April last year.

In the meeting held last week, Irani suggested that the Niti Aayog may have a “relook” at the move, according to the minutes of the meeting reviewed by HT.

The meeting was attended by NITI Aayog vice-chairman Dr Rajiv Kumar, Uttar Pradesh WCD minister Swati Singh, Rajasthan WCD minister Mamta Bhupesh, WCD secretary Rabindra Panwar, officials of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), National Institute of Nutrition, Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) as well as representatives from Tata Trust, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the World Bank.

Also present were officials from the union ministries of Health and Family Welfare, Agriculture, Drinking Water and Sanitation, Rural Development, Tribal Affairs, Panchayati Raj, Consumer Affairs and Food, Finance, Human Resource Development, Housing and Urban Affairs, Information and Broadcasting and Environment Forest and Climate Change.

The decision to launch the pilot scheme was taken at a review meeting of the Scientific Steering Committee of the “Poshan Abhiyaan” or National Nutrition Mission in July this year.

It was to be launched in Lucknow’s Chinhat and Mohanlalganj blocks and Sitapur’s Khairabad and Mahmudabad blocks in Uttar Pradesh. In Rajasthan, Chaksu block in Jaipur district and Kishangarh block in Ajmer district were selected.

The scheme, however, is yet to start, and while money for the pilot has been allocated the quantum of cash to be handed out for a nationwide rollout remains to be finalised by the WCD ministry as well as Aayog.

Rajasthan minister Mamata Bhupesh, who attended the October 10 meeting, said her state was awaiting the nod from the Centre to roll out the scheme. “We have expressed it to the Union minister (Irani) and WCD officials univocally that we will rise above party lines to ensure a reduction in malnutrition numbers among women and children,” said Bhupesh.

She added that the Rajasthan government is installing biometric machines in anganwadis in Chaksu to ensure that the programme reaches genuine beneficiaries.