Showing posts with label Children of India. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Children of India. Show all posts
Vedanta Khushi : Vedanta's "Nand Ghar" Project Aligns With PM's Vision On Child Care
Ministry of Women & Child Development, Government
of India and Vedanta Group have come together to construct 4000 modern
Anganwadis – “ Nand Ghar” in different parts of the country. The first ‘Nand
Ghar’ was inaugurated by the Hon’ble Union Minister of Women & Child
Development, Government of India, Smt. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi on 24th
June at Hasanpur village in district Sonepat, Haryana. Anil Agarwal,
Chairman of Vedanta Group was also present at the inaugural ceremony.
Smt. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi, delighted at this unique
partnership with Vedanta Group, entering into construction of 4000 “Nand Ghar”
said, “Nand Ghar” will be developed in some of the high burden districts
where the Ministry is proposing to launch the ‘National Nutrition Mission’
shortly. “Mission will involve more non-government partners contributing
collectively to one common objective of eliminating malnutrition” she informed.
Under the Public-Private-Partnership model, Vedanta
Group and Ministry of Women & Child Development, Government of India will
share the cost of construction of the “Nand Ghar”, which would have prefab
structures with solar power. The land for the “Nand Ghar” would be provided by
the Gram Panchayats and the construction will be undertaken by National
Building Construction Corporation Limited (NBCC).
Speaking on the occasion Anil Agarwal, Chairman -
Vedanta Group said, “Nand Ghar” is an extension to the existing Anganwadi
initiative and will be Vedanta Group endeavour to provide a better
environment to the children of India. Healthy children and empowered women will
eradicate poverty and malnutrition, and make a prosperous nation. Our “Nand
Ghar” project aligns with our honourable Prime Minister’s vision and commitment
to provide quality education for children and skill development for women in
the entire country,"
Vedanta’s “Nand Ghar“ will act as a focal area for
immunisation, gender sensitisation and maternal care. It also aims to enhance
the learning environment through an e-learning module and skill enhancement
program for women. The “Nand Ghar” centres are proposed to be run as a shared
space in which 50% of the time will be devoted to children’s education and the
remaining half will support women’s skill development, Anil Agarwal added.
“This Nand Ghar model will provide targeted delivery
of supplementary nutrition services along with related healthcare services for
both mother and child including skill training for women,” said Smt. Maneka
Sanjay Gandhi. She also stressed on the need of having toilets in “Nand
Ghar” for women to strengthen Swachh Bharat Mission.
Emphasised on the need of first-of-its-kind Public
Private Partnership, she said “ Many come to me with projects but do not
turn-up, but Anil Agarwal has kept his promise”.
Vedanta Group’s philanthropic arm Vedanta
Foundation has pioneered in the areas of child care. Since 2008, Vedanta Group
has been time to time adopting Anganwadis for providing supplementary
nutrition, primary education and health to underprivileged children. Recently
it has signed an MoU with Rajasthan Government and adopted 3050 Anganwadi
Centres. Out of these 1000 Anganwadi Centres would be converted into
Model Anganwadi Centres with facilities of child friendly toilets as well.
Aligning with the objective of child care, the Vedanta
Group launched its campaign “Khushi” that is disseminating message on
nutrition, primary education and health to deprived children and encourages
individuals to take-up direct steps.
Hindustan Zinc, Vedanta Group company in Rajasthan is
running a unique project “Sakhi” to empower rural and tribal women and develop
them as rural women entrepreneurs.
Vedanta Khushi : The Little Sparrows of Vedanta “Khushi”
With 75 Vedanta Khushi
child care centres across India, Vedanta’s company in Rajasthan, Hindustan Zinc
and Vedanta foundation adopts 3055 Anganwadis to provide
nutrition-health-education to underprivileged children
You
visit any of the 75 across India spread Vedanta “Khushi” centres and you will
find many stories surrounding the deprived children, who are given daily three
meals, uniform, drinking water, books, utensils, toys and colourful posters to
enjoy the education through play-way method.
Where
Radha takes-out groundnuts from her ‘breakfast poha’, to eat it later,
Billu likes playing with the ‘puppets’. Some children play with blocks
and some like swings. Every morning their day starts with the prayer and
follows with joyful classes. Ask them to sit for breakfast or for lunch without
washing hands, and they would refuse. Hygiene has been imbedded in their
course-curriculum.
Care
for the underprivileged children is very close to the heart of Anil Agarwal,
Chairman of Vedanta Group. “No child in India should remain malnourished and be
deprived of nutrition, health and primary education” is what he has envisaged.
“Make India a child-malnourished free nation” is what he wants to see. In this
process Vedanta initiated adoption of government run Anganwadis in the year
2008. The intervention was for a limited period, benefiting children in
age-group of 0-6 years.
A
country that has the highest number of malnourished children in the world and
also accounts for largest child deaths, the private sector intervention, under
public-private-partnership model, becomes significant.
Recently,
Vedanta Foundation, Hindustan Zinc and Government of Rajasthan signed a 5 years
MoU for the adoption of 3055 Anganwadis in Rajasthan. Rajasthan Government has
a strong focus on child care and under this MoU, Vedanta Foundation and
Hindustan Zinc would also develop 1000 Anganwadis into model Anganwadis.
Besides regular facilities to all the 3055 Anganwadis, like books, toys,
drinking water, mats, utensils, etc., the 1000 Anganwadis will see
strengthening of infrastructure, child-friendly toilets, colourful walls,
smokeless chulah to name a few.
200
Anganwadis will see facelift every year so as to complete the project in 5
years. The company has deputed coordinators, supervisors and senior-supervisors
to ensure smooth functioning of the Vedanta “Khushi” centres and adopted
Anganwadis.
As
per the guidelines of World Health Organization, all the selected 3055
Anganwadis will have digital weighing scale to keep record of growth of
children. Special emphasis has been given to health & hygiene and monitoring
of weight of these children.
Pavan
Kaushik, Head of Corporate Communication (Hindustan Zinc), said - “taking care
of the underprovided children, their nutrition, health and primary education,
is an agenda Company has been following for almost 7 years. We are also
grateful to Government of Rajasthan for signing a MoU in this regard under the
PPP Model. This joint effort is expected to benefit about 90,000 children every
year. Besides providing the necessary colourful books, toys and other material
in Anganwadis, our focus is also to provide requisite orientation and training
to the Anganwadi workers in the adopted Anganwadis.”
On
one hand when Vedanta has gone yet again for the adoption of Anganwadis,
its campaign “Khushi” has been tirelessly spreading the message of child-care.
The message on social media has large followers and runs a blog that has 1.5
million page views. Several debates on child-care issues have been undertaken
by “Khushi” that had given some logical conclusion. It was in a debate in
Vedanta “Khushi” that had brought focus on adoption of government schools to
improve infrastructure so that more and more rural children are inclined to go
to school. As a result, Hindustan Zinc adopted 150 schools to improve their
infrastructure and has also signed a MoU with Rajasthan Government to construct
toilets in over 600 schools in Rajasthan.
VEDANTA KHUSHI - TIMES OF INDIA - GOVT SETS TARGET FOR CHILD IMMUNIZATION
TIMES OF INDIA
28th December, 2014
In a bid to accelerate immunization coverage, the health ministry has set a target of over 5% to vaccinate children every year.The ministry has launched `Mission Indradhanush' to cover all children who are either unvaccinated, or are partially vaccinated against seven vaccine preventable diseases which include diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio, tuberculosis, measles and hepatitis B.
In 2009, immunization coverage was estimated at around 61% and by 2013 it increased to 65%, indicating only 1% increase in coverage every year.
“The Mission mode has been adopted to achieve target of full coverage by 2020,“ health minister J P Nadda said.
The mission logo, depicting the seven colours of the rainbow, was launched on Good Governance Day to mark the birth anniversary of Bharat Ratna Shri Madan Mohan Malaviya and birthday of Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
In the first phase of the mission, the ministry has identified 201 high focus districts in the country with nearly 50% of all unvaccinated or partially vaccinated children. “These districts will be targeted by intensive efforts to improve the routine immunization coverage,“ Nadda said. Of the 201 districts, 82 districts are in just four states of UP, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan as nearly 25% of the unvaccinated or partially vaccinated children of India are in these 82 districts of four states.
Under the mission, the ministry plans to conduct four special vaccination campaigns between January and June 2015 with intensive planning and monitoring of these campaigns.
According to Nadda, the learnings from the successful implementation of the polio programme will be applied in planning and implementation of the mission.
While 201 districts will be covered in the first phase, 297 will be targeted for the second phase in the year 2015.
The ministry will also seek technical support from WHO, UNICEF, Rotary International and other donor partners.
In a bid to accelerate immunization coverage, the health ministry has set a target of over 5% to vaccinate children every year.The ministry has launched `Mission Indradhanush' to cover all children who are either unvaccinated, or are partially vaccinated against seven vaccine preventable diseases which include diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio, tuberculosis, measles and hepatitis B.
In 2009, immunization coverage was estimated at around 61% and by 2013 it increased to 65%, indicating only 1% increase in coverage every year.
“The Mission mode has been adopted to achieve target of full coverage by 2020,“ health minister J P Nadda said.
The mission logo, depicting the seven colours of the rainbow, was launched on Good Governance Day to mark the birth anniversary of Bharat Ratna Shri Madan Mohan Malaviya and birthday of Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
In the first phase of the mission, the ministry has identified 201 high focus districts in the country with nearly 50% of all unvaccinated or partially vaccinated children. “These districts will be targeted by intensive efforts to improve the routine immunization coverage,“ Nadda said. Of the 201 districts, 82 districts are in just four states of UP, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan as nearly 25% of the unvaccinated or partially vaccinated children of India are in these 82 districts of four states.
Under the mission, the ministry plans to conduct four special vaccination campaigns between January and June 2015 with intensive planning and monitoring of these campaigns.
According to Nadda, the learnings from the successful implementation of the polio programme will be applied in planning and implementation of the mission.
While 201 districts will be covered in the first phase, 297 will be targeted for the second phase in the year 2015.
The ministry will also seek technical support from WHO, UNICEF, Rotary International and other donor partners.
VEDANTA KHUSHI - TIMES OF INDIA - 80% IN RURAL INDIA DON'T GET REQUIRED NUTRITION
27th December, 2014
In the past two decades, India's eating habits have changed but the nutritional level seems to be the same, a recent survey has found. Across the board, people are eating less cereals, replacing them with more fat and snacks, beverages and processed foods. Protein consumption has declined in rural areas and remained the same in urban areas.
The average calorific val ue of food consumed was 2,099 kilocalories (Kcal) per person per day in rural areas and 2,058 Kcal in urban areas in 2011, according to the survey report released last week by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO).This is less than the nutritional value in 1993-94, when a similar survey had found the levels at 2,153 in rural areas and 2,099 in urban areas.
The National Institute of Nutrition, ICMR, recommends 2,320 Kcal a day for a man aged 18-29 years, weighing 60kg and in a sedentary job. Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat have nutritional levels that are almost 10% lower than the national average for rural areas while UP, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan have levels 10 to 20% higher, according to a National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) survey .
Another shocking aspect is the huge difference in nutritional intake of the poor and the rich. In rural India, a person belonging to the poorest 10% of population has a daily calorie intake of less than 1,724 Kcal, which includes 45g of protein with protein consumption at about 45g and 24g of fat. At the other end, a person from the richest 10% segment consumes more than 2,531 Kcal every day , almost 47% more than the poor person. A similar chasm can be seen in protein and fat consumption too.
In urban areas, this gap is worse. The poorest people get less than 1,679 Kcal per day while the richest get over 2,518 Kcal each -a difference of nearly 50%.
Almost 80% of rural people and 70% of urban people are not getting the government-recommended 2,400 Kcal per day worth of nutrition, a situation that has very harmful health implications, apart from its sheer inhumanity .
At the national level, daily protein consumption dipped from 60.2g for a person in 199394 to 56.5g in 2011-12 in rural areas and from 57.2g to 55.7g in urban areas. Oil and fat consumption increased from 31 to nearly 42g in rural areas and from 42 to 52.5g in urban areas.
The shares of items like fruits and vegetables, dairy products and egg, meat and fish was about 9% in 1993-94 which has marginally changed to about 9.6% in 2011-12.
The only food item that has seen a substantial jump in intake is classified as `other' in the survey and consists of various hot and cold beverages, processed food like chips, biscuits etc. and snacks. In 1993-94 these made up just 2% of a rural person's nutritional intake but rose to over 7% in 2011-12. In urban areas, this was 5.6% earlier and increased to about 9%.
The report also estimates that the survey would have counted food bought and prepared in a household but eaten by visitors or employees. If this is accounted for, calorific values get reduced by as much as 15-17% in rural areas and 5-6% in urban areas.
VEDANTA KHUSHI - BUSINESS STANDARD - PUNISH PARENTS FOR FORCING KID INTO CHILD LABOUR, HC TOLD
IANS | New Delhi August 16, 2014
The Delhi High Court has sought a response from the central government on a plea seeking directions to prosecute parents who force their minor child into the labour market.
A division bench of Justice G. Rohini and Rajiv Shah Endlaw issued notice to the labour ministry and ministry of woman and child welfare and fixed Oct 29 as the next date of hearing.
The court was Wednesday hearing a public interest litigation filed by advocates Anu Mehta and Rubinder Pal Ghumman seeking formulation of guidelines for handling cases of child labour to ensure that every offender, including a delinquent parent, be dealt with sternly.
The plea said guidelines were required to create a state of 'zero tolerance' to stop child abuse.
"Children are immature, tender and incapable of guarding in situations of economic and physical exploitation as they lack the understanding, maturity and strength to protest against exploitation wrecked at the hands of parents," it said.
It also sought measures and comprehensive mechanisms to deal with child-related laws and crime against children as, the advocates claimed, there was an inherent flaw and lacunae in the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act and Children (Pledging of Labour) Act.
No punitive action was directed against erring parents who actively exploit their children, the advocates contended.
"State mechanism must be created to investigate the role of parents in child abused otherwise the government will not be able to reach the root of the problem and the recovery of children subjected to trafficking will be re-routed to the erring parents," the plea said.
It said it has been seen in a growing number of cases that parents actively push their minor children into the labour market, acting with collusion with exploiters and child traffickers and thus have "active role in participation in perpetrating crimes towards their own children".
View the Link:- http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/punish-parents-for-forcings-kid-into-child-labour-hc-told-114081600553_1.html
VEDANTA KHUSHI - TIMES OF INDIA - IN NCERT MANUAL - MIDDAY MEALTIME RIGHT FOR TEACHING GREEN BEHAVIOUR
Aug 17 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)
The
one hour given to midday meals (MDM) in schools is an opportunity for
discussing a variety of issues related to sustainable development. The MDM
scheme, introduced mainly to encourage kids to enroll and remain in school can
be used as teaching aid, argue the authors of a recently-compiled manual on
education for sustainable development for elementary schools published by
National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).
`Towards
a Green School' says that MDM provides a ready setting for discussing "resource
conservation" (fuels used and cooking practices), pollution (type of cooking
device), socio-cultural exchanges (types of food and taste), health and others.
Treating
sustainability and environment as yet another subject isn't enough anymore.
United
Nation's `Decade of Education for Sustainable Development' will be up in 2015
but there's much to be done.
While
ESD requires “infusion of environmental and sustainability perspectives into
the school curriculum“ what has actually happened, as the manual writers
observe, is that “at the school level the responsibility for this lies
exclusively with teachers teaching the environmental component, thus limiting
it to a subject-centric role.
The
manual uses several Delhi government schools as examples of institutions that
are doing it right. A government school in Baprola has an `eco-park', a gazebo
made of waste pipes and a water harvesting system. The students make compost
with the surplus being sold. Government Girls' Senior Secondary School (No. 1)
in Tilak Nagar ran a “my plant in my school“ drive-each student sowed a
sapling and took care of it. As water at the school was in short supply, some
kids brought water from home.
The
communal midday meal, however, is one exercise all elementary school children
take part in and the manual, preparedly by Kavita Sharma of NCERT's department
of elementary education, stresses on using this. Teachers may encourage
students taking MDM to inquire into where ingredients are grown, how they are
procured, in what quantities and at what costs and even how they are stored and
cooked. This, in turn, will help initiate discussions on hygiene, the link
between the nature of ingredient and geography and nutrition.
The
manual encourages teachers to undertake audits--including natural light,
ventilation, cleanliness, ambient temperature, noise, accessibility, seating
and water use to find out exactly how `green' their schools are.
VEDANTA KHUSHI : TIMES OF INDIA ARTICLE : 2.3CRORE KIDS IN INDIA MALNOURISHED
Subodh Varma
4th August, 2014
Bihar
Has Dubious Distinction, Maximum Percentage Of Underweight Kids: ICDS
About
2.3 crore children in India, up to 6 years of age, are suffering from
malnourishment and are under-weight, according to a status report on the
anganwadi (day care center) programme, officially known as ICDS.
This
staggering number amounts to over 28% of the 8 crore children who attend
anganwadis across India.
The
status report includes state-wise data for underweight children. In Bihar, the
proportion of under-weight children is nearly 50%. Andhra Pradesh (37%), Uttar
Pradesh (36%), Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh (both 32%) are some of the other
large states with a high proportion of children being malnourished.
Delhi
reported that a shockingly high 35% of the nearly 7 lakh children who attend
anganwadis were underweight. This shows that the extent of poverty and
malnutrition amongst the urban poor is comparable to rural areas despite all
the advantages the cities offer.
In
all the northeastern states except Assam, Tripura and Meghalaya, less than 10%
of children were underweight children. Other large states with a comparatively
low rate of malnutrition are Maharashtra (11%) and Tamil Nadu (18%).
There
has been no comprehensive survey of children's malnutrition in India since the
last National Family and Health Survey in 2005-06. That had estimated 46% of
children in the 0-3 years age group as underweight after surveying a sample of
about 1 lakh households across the country . The data from anganwadis provides
a snapshot drawing upon a much larger base.
There
were an estimated 16 crore children of
There
are over 13 lakh anganwadis which look after the kids and provide
`supplementary nutrition' to them.
As
part of their duties, personnel at each anganwadi weigh the attending kids
every month and keep a record.
TOI
contacted anganwadi workers from several states to confirm the weighing
procedures. Till recently, two weighing instruments were provided for each
anganwadi center.
Vedanta Khushi - Raju Banega Gentleman
Raju, a small child of about 7 years old, living in a place
in district Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, was always on lookout of some
mischief. His father has a small tea-stall on the road-side. His
mother also helps in tea-stall during rush hours. Raju has a sister about 4
years younger to him.
Both brother and sister go to school. Raju goes for
formal school and the younger sister in the play school, rather a nearby house
where the land lady has organized some toys, few playful activities and
refreshment to attract children. Accordingly, she charges a nominal
amount and that has become a source of livelihood for her.
Raju does not like coming to his father tea-stall and he
wants to become a teacher like his maths teacher who comes in a motor-bike and
wears good clothes and has a concrete house. Raju lives in a small hut shaped
house that gives passage to water when it rains.
Raju father’s does not want him to study further as he feels
that he should handle the tea-stall as early as possible. Thus every day he
forcibly makes Raju sit in small shop and calculate the daily sales. His father
also sometimes asks him to serve tea to customers which Raju just hates.
Many times Raju has told his parents that he does not want
to do this work and wants to concentrate in studies and become a teacher.
But his parents would not listen. One day his father slapped him and
scolded him and threatened him that he would not send him to school from
tomorrow if he refuses to sit on the tea-stall.
Next day Raju decided to inform his school Principal about
all what happened. He even cried and told his Principal that he would run away
from house if his father kept insisting this. That night he did not go home and
stayed at the house of his Principal. Principal sent a message to Raju’s father
that his son would stay with him tonight and he should meet him next morning.
Next morning Raju’s father went to meet the Principal. Principal scolded his
father and told him that he is on the side of Raju and that he should not ask
Raju to sit in his tea-stall. He also
informed him that if he continues to do so he would be destroying the future of
Raju. The father understood that the matter was serious and is not mere a
child’s ego.
He promised the Principal that from now he would only encourage
his children to study and not involve them into tea-stall work. He also
promised that Raju can study as much he wants and
one day “Raju Banega Gentleman”.
Become a member of "Khushi" : www.facebook.com/groups/vedantakhushi
VEDANTA KHUSHI - HINDUSTAN ZINC ADOPTS 152 RURAL SCHOOLS IN RAJASTHAN TO IMPROVE INFRASTRUCTURE
112 schools were adopted earlier and the work is in progress, MoU for additional 40 schools signed today
To improve the
infrastructure in government run rural schools Hindustan Zinc today signed the MoU with the District Education Department, Government of Rajasthan to adopt
another 40 Government schools, including Girls’ Schools in Udaipur
District, covering Udaipur City(10), Zawar(12), Maton(8) and Debari(10) areas.
The company had recently adopted 112 government schools in Bhilwara(72),
Chittorgarh(20) and Rajsamand(20) to improve infrastructure facilities in these
schools.
The infrastructure work in these schools is already in progress.With signing of MoU
to improve infrastructure in 40 schools in Udaipur, Hindustan Zinc shall be
improving infrastructure in 152 schools with a cost of over Rs. 5 crore.
Many studies have
pointed out that in order to improve the enrollment in government run schools, there is a dire need to improve the infrastructure, which includes not only
repairs of the building but also sitting facilities, black-boards, electricity
fittings and teaching aids.
Through this project, Hindustan Zinc is providing
basic infrastructure facilities like construction of boundary wall, class rooms, labs, installation of hand pumps, ceiling fans, coolers, construction of
toilets, playground and furniture. Besides, scholarships to meritorious
students will also be given and to keep up the green belt in schools, special
plantation drives would be conducted.
UNICEF report has
also stated that in rural Rajasthan, the female literacy is about 42 per cent.
The sharp drop in secondary school attendance, particularly among girls is
because of no drinking water facilities, lack of separate toilets for girls, no proper teachers, improper
infrastructure etc. which is a matter of concern and requires immediate action.The company had two
years back launched a social media campaign "Khushi" which brought
out the issue of infrastructure improvement in schools in several on line debates and discussions.
Taking the campaign forward, Hindustan Zinc decided to improve the
infrastructure and give better facilities to students and improve their
education quality."Hindustan Zinc
is quite pleased with the progress of the work already initiated in 112 schools
and looking forward to complete the work at the earliest. This project under
the PPP model is expected to improve the quality of education in these
schools", said Pavan Kaushik, Head of Corporate Communication.
To
ensure the smooth running of project, a committee has been formed comprising members
from HZL and members to be proposed by the District Collector. Based on the
need of the school authority and the budget allotted, the project will be
executed by Hindustan Zinc, Pavan Kaushik informed further.
Mrs. Krishna Chauhan - DEO(Secondary) thanked Hindustan Zinc for their support in bringing quality
education in the government school by way of taking up the project towards
improving the infrastructure. Ms. Sushma Sharma - Head CSR, HZL briefed all
about the CSR initiatives being undertaken by Hindustan Zinc. Mr. CSR
Mehta - Head Corporate Relations spoke about the necessity to improve the
infrastructure in the schools but also emphasized that the project should also
monitored by Principals to ensure timely execution. Mr. Bhupendra Jain - DEO(Elementary)
spoke about how Hindustan Zinc initiative is improving health and education in
schools and has helped these children.
The MoU was signed
today by Ms. Sushma Sharma, CSR Head on behalf of Hindustan Zinc and from
Education Department by Mrs. Krishna Chauhan, District Education Officer
(Secondary) and Mr. Bhupendra Jain, District Education Officer
(Elementary). Also present on the occasion were Mr. CSR Mehta - Head
Corporate Relations, Mr. Pavan Kaushik - Head Corporate Communication, Dr. S.S. Jamrani - Additional
Director (Mines), Mrs. Hemlata Manaria - ADEO (Secondary), Dr. Suyesh Chaturvedi
- Principal GSSS Gudli, Mrs. Nirja Rodgers - Principal GGSSS Bhupalpura and Mrs.
Gauri Jamrani - Principal Ambamata Girls School.
VEDANTA KHUSHI:MAAHI'VES' CONCERN FOR THE STREET CHILDREN
Maahi Vaishnav working tirelessly for the needy children - "Khushi" at his best
It was another day of satisfaction. When you meet some one who strongly relates with "Khushi" and does its bit to ensure some change is brought in society, you tend to know more.
I met today a very simple girl, engrossed in her laptop, finding new ideas and ways to help the deprived children, particularly street children. We had fixed a time to meet and without wasting a single second she narrated her passion for the campaign "Khushi" and how the campaign has motivated her to take-up child care at the individual level.
I met today a very simple girl, engrossed in her laptop, finding new ideas and ways to help the deprived children, particularly street children. We had fixed a time to meet and without wasting a single second she narrated her passion for the campaign "Khushi" and how the campaign has motivated her to take-up child care at the individual level.
Her name is Maahi Vaishnav, Founder of an NGO Maitri Manthan and she does her bit MAAHI've'. This young woman is with high vision and her mission to help as many deprived children. She has been with them, listening to them, listening to their dreams, their thoughts and their needs. She narrates as how she gets inclined to help these children as she sees them. She is against giving money.
Maahi says, ' giving money will make these children further lazy and beggars. At least they are doing some work today, may be its not right but they are not begging'. Maahi is right. The children on the street are not by chance but by choice. Lack of education, motivation and guidance has made these children, the children of street. She has been counseling their parents to allow these children to study, but, the damage has already been done.
Maahi says, ' giving money will make these children further lazy and beggars. At least they are doing some work today, may be its not right but they are not begging'. Maahi is right. The children on the street are not by chance but by choice. Lack of education, motivation and guidance has made these children, the children of street. She has been counseling their parents to allow these children to study, but, the damage has already been done.
Maahi has also been helping these children with immunization and health attention. She checks with them if their immunization has been completed or not. And the time she finds its not done and their is scope of getting it done, she wastes no time.
I asked Maahi, what motivated her for this concern for deprived children. Maahi replied " when I joined Khushi campaign I realized how important is to do individual efforts in solving this national problem. Government, Companies, NGOs all are doing something, only we are not doing anything. So I decided I have to do something for these children. Today may be I am able to change lives of few, but at least I am doing my bit."
Maahi, you are doing things the Maahi've' (way) and we are proud to have you in "Khushi" group.
Pavan
VEDANTA KHUSHI - HOLLOW DREAMS
‘The city of dreams!’, is the sobriquet that is often
repeated in relation to the city of Mumbai. It was a phrase that dominated most
of my childhood in Chennai, as my father would travel to the city and come back
with tales of a place that never slept and trains that would take you to every
nook and corner. It was the trains, more than anything else that caught my
fancy. Trains had always symbolised freedom to me. The wind in your hair, the
rush of adrenaline to catch the seat by the window and the journey itself, made
me yearn to travel by these local trains. I got my first chance this summer as
I got an internship in the city. However, all these ‘dreams’ of mine were
crushed, not by the crowd as one might suppose but by the number of children I
saw begging on these trains.
These children were highly trained in, if you may be bold
enough to say, the art of begging. They went from passenger to passenger
singing in shrill voices, hardly stopping to give their vocal chords some rest.
It was a voice that pierced through your heart and through any apathy that you
may hold for those who refuse to work for a living. One can’t expect a child of
four or five to be employed; neither can you rudely refuse those pleading eyes that
speak of a hunger that fractures any resolve you may have. They were all
dressed in tattered clothes which had clearly been cast away by the original
owners.
It was one such child who entered the compartment I was
seated in that made my heart feel heavy and instil a sense of helplessness in
me. All of five years, she ran up to the train just as it was set to leave the
Mumbai Central station. Dressed in a green ‘ghagra’, you might not even take
her to be a beggar at first sight. But then the singing began. Two lines were
all she sang, repeating them over and over again, invoking the lord. I didn’t
understand much of what she sang but the desperation in it put me on the edge
and it took all my willpower to turn my head away as she approached. The child
then to my utter disbelief laid her head on my knee, a sign of complete
surrender. I looked at her in shock, sympathy engulfing my heart. She lay there
for more than a minute, continuing to sing, begging for some money. A
bespectacled old man next to me, who clearly travelled by these trains often,
looked at me understandingly and said- “Don’t fall for these tricks. It is an
emotional ploy.”
I nodded at his statement in acknowledgement and turned to
see that the child had already gone, paving her way through the crowded
compartment. All the voices that spoke of fulfilled dreams in Mumbai weighed
upon my memory and I couldn’t help but think of the irony. There went a little
child, whose dreams never even had the chance to blossom for they were nipped
at the bud. Her singing became fainter as she moved away and finally she was
out of sight. But the song never stopped. It continued to reverberate within my
head through the day. It was not her face that surfaced in my memories the
entire time but the eerie melody of the song she sang. It represented to me a
sense of hopelessness and the inability to wrought change. Every note the child
hit in the pitiful song, falls as a blow to a system that failed her.
Priyanka Thirumurthy
VEDANTA KHUSHI: TIMES OF INDIA ARTICLE: HUNGRY FOR VOTES, BUT NO NETA TO FIX MALNUTRITION PROBLEM
Rema Nagarajan
15th April, 2014
Politicians Call It A ‘Shame’, But Do Little To Cure Ills
That Plague System
In January 2012, PM Manmohan Singh declared half of India’s
children were malnourished and that was a national shame. Yet since then, not a
single comprehensive national survey was conducted to determine the acuteness
of the problem or measure progress, if any, of steps initiated to address
malnutrition. Worse, the issue figures in a token manner in the election
discourse of political parties and candidates.
The 2005-06 National Family Health Survey was the last one
conducted and it found 48% of children suffered chronic malnourishment — of
them, 20% acute malnourishment. The survey concluded that over half the women
were anaemic and 36% underweight. The Global Hunger Index, released in October
2013, placed India among a group of countries with ‘alarming’ levels of hunger,
figuring at the bottom of the heap, below China, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and
several in sub-Saharan Africa.
Key interventions to boost nutrition levels include the
targeted public distribution system (TPDS), Integrated Child Development
Services (ICDS) and the school midday meal scheme (MDMS).
Despite increased food production and procurement for TDPS,
food insecurity persists and is a chronic problem linked to poor delivery. The
large number of ineligible or fake ration cards issued — a serious problem in
some states, usually those that need TPDS the most — has caused huge leakages.
The TPDS has glaring exclusion errors. About 20% of the estimated 90 crore
eligible beneficiaries are denied subsidized grain as they have no ration card,
while 20% of the not-poor do. TPDS remains restricted to wheat and rice that would
alleviate hunger, but not address malnutrition. No recommendation to include
pulses, oil and nutritious millets has been implemented. Even the food security
Act — that UPA counts among its mega achievements — focuses on rice and wheat.
Had the Act included higher procurement of millets, pulses, fruits and
vegetables, it would have incentivised production of these, instead of just
rice and wheat that are water-intensive crops.
ICDS was meant to counter malnutrition in children between 0
and 6 years and pregnant women. Government allocation, including states’ share,
increased from over Rs 5,200 crore in 2007-08 to Rs 13,700 crore in 2013-14 and
the number of anganwadi centres (AWCs) has increased from 10.1 lakh to 13.1
lakh in 2012-13.
Though almost 90% anganwadis are operational, the ICDS
scheme reaches about 47% of eligible children, reported a CAG audit. Coverage
in states varies from about 75% in Odisha to 18% in Bihar. Most AWCs lack
infrastructure. In 2011-12, only 57% had drinking water on the premises, 47%
had toilets and only 25% had a kitchen.
ICDS is meant to provide supplementary nutrition 300 days a
year, or 25 days a month. But the number of days the programme worked ranged
from 180-250, a CAG audit found. The audit revealed irregularities such as
insufficient monitoring, suspected misappropriation of supplies, badly-trained
anganwadi workers and shortfall in expenditure on supplementary nutrition,
which meant lower per beneficiary expenditure. For a flagship programme that
addresses a “national shame” the ICDS programme leaves much to be desired.
Allocation for the midday meal scheme is up from Rs 6,700 cr
to over Rs 10,300 cr between 2007-08 and 2011-12. But many states aren’t
meeting yearly targets of number of meals served. The scheme’s plagued by
reports of children falling ill from eating poor quality or spoiled food. Many
states are yet to achieve standards set to run it: constructing a kitchen shed,
timely lifting of grains, proper food storage. Women employed as midday meal
cooks remain underpaid.
While proportion of malnourished children has fallen since
2005-06, not only has the decline been slow, from 46% malnourished to about 33%
by 2013, it’s been uneven with a few states and districts getting worse. But
with poor tracking of the schemes’ implementation, or of the population’s
nutritional status, no one seems sure if the situation has become any better or
worse. And that’s the national shame.
HUNGER POLITICS | Aug 2012 | Modi quoted in interview
blaming malnutrition in Gujarat on its “by and large vegetarian diet”. Because
it’s a middle-class state, Gujarat is “more beauty conscious than health
conscious”Media reports laid bare the bluff: His contentions didn’t
square with data whichever way it was spliced. Haryana, even more vegetarian
than Gujarat, has better nutritional figuresNSSO data (2009-2010) showed poverty behind state’s poor
nutritional indices.
SERVED DEATH | Scams plague the mid-day meal scheme. Last
July 27 village children died in Bihar’s Chapra after having the meal. Nitish
Kumar cried conspiracy – that they were poisoned. Fact was, there was no
monitoring, and the principal ran a racket, serving kids substandard fare.
Rema Nagarajan
15th April, 2014
Politicians Call It A ‘Shame’, But Do Little To Cure Ills
That Plague System
In January 2012, PM Manmohan Singh declared half of India’s
children were malnourished and that was a national shame. Yet since then, not a
single comprehensive national survey was conducted to determine the acuteness
of the problem or measure progress, if any, of steps initiated to address
malnutrition. Worse, the issue figures in a token manner in the election
discourse of political parties and candidates.
The 2005-06 National Family Health Survey was the last one conducted and it found 48% of children suffered chronic malnourishment — of them, 20% acute malnourishment. The survey concluded that over half the women were anaemic and 36% underweight. The Global Hunger Index, released in October 2013, placed India among a group of countries with ‘alarming’ levels of hunger, figuring at the bottom of the heap, below China, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and several in sub-Saharan Africa.
Key interventions to boost nutrition levels include the targeted public distribution system (TPDS), Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) and the school midday meal scheme (MDMS).
Despite increased food production and procurement for TDPS, food insecurity persists and is a chronic problem linked to poor delivery. The large number of ineligible or fake ration cards issued — a serious problem in some states, usually those that need TPDS the most — has caused huge leakages. The TPDS has glaring exclusion errors. About 20% of the estimated 90 crore eligible beneficiaries are denied subsidized grain as they have no ration card, while 20% of the not-poor do. TPDS remains restricted to wheat and rice that would alleviate hunger, but not address malnutrition. No recommendation to include pulses, oil and nutritious millets has been implemented. Even the food security Act — that UPA counts among its mega achievements — focuses on rice and wheat. Had the Act included higher procurement of millets, pulses, fruits and vegetables, it would have incentivised production of these, instead of just rice and wheat that are water-intensive crops.
ICDS was meant to counter malnutrition in children between 0 and 6 years and pregnant women. Government allocation, including states’ share, increased from over Rs 5,200 crore in 2007-08 to Rs 13,700 crore in 2013-14 and the number of anganwadi centres (AWCs) has increased from 10.1 lakh to 13.1 lakh in 2012-13.
Though almost 90% anganwadis are operational, the ICDS scheme reaches about 47% of eligible children, reported a CAG audit. Coverage in states varies from about 75% in Odisha to 18% in Bihar. Most AWCs lack infrastructure. In 2011-12, only 57% had drinking water on the premises, 47% had toilets and only 25% had a kitchen.
ICDS is meant to provide supplementary nutrition 300 days a year, or 25 days a month. But the number of days the programme worked ranged from 180-250, a CAG audit found. The audit revealed irregularities such as insufficient monitoring, suspected misappropriation of supplies, badly-trained anganwadi workers and shortfall in expenditure on supplementary nutrition, which meant lower per beneficiary expenditure. For a flagship programme that addresses a “national shame” the ICDS programme leaves much to be desired.
Allocation for the midday meal scheme is up from Rs 6,700 cr to over Rs 10,300 cr between 2007-08 and 2011-12. But many states aren’t meeting yearly targets of number of meals served. The scheme’s plagued by reports of children falling ill from eating poor quality or spoiled food. Many states are yet to achieve standards set to run it: constructing a kitchen shed, timely lifting of grains, proper food storage. Women employed as midday meal cooks remain underpaid.
While proportion of malnourished children has fallen since 2005-06, not only has the decline been slow, from 46% malnourished to about 33% by 2013, it’s been uneven with a few states and districts getting worse. But with poor tracking of the schemes’ implementation, or of the population’s nutritional status, no one seems sure if the situation has become any better or worse. And that’s the national shame.
HUNGER POLITICS | Aug 2012 | Modi quoted in interview blaming malnutrition in Gujarat on its “by and large vegetarian diet”. Because it’s a middle-class state, Gujarat is “more beauty conscious than health conscious”Media reports laid bare the bluff: His contentions didn’t square with data whichever way it was spliced. Haryana, even more vegetarian than Gujarat, has better nutritional figuresNSSO data (2009-2010) showed poverty behind state’s poor nutritional indices.
SERVED DEATH | Scams plague the mid-day meal scheme. Last July 27 village children died in Bihar’s Chapra after having the meal. Nitish Kumar cried conspiracy – that they were poisoned. Fact was, there was no monitoring, and the principal ran a racket, serving kids substandard fare.
15th April, 2014
Politicians Call It A ‘Shame’, But Do Little To Cure Ills
That Plague SystemThe 2005-06 National Family Health Survey was the last one conducted and it found 48% of children suffered chronic malnourishment — of them, 20% acute malnourishment. The survey concluded that over half the women were anaemic and 36% underweight. The Global Hunger Index, released in October 2013, placed India among a group of countries with ‘alarming’ levels of hunger, figuring at the bottom of the heap, below China, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and several in sub-Saharan Africa.
Key interventions to boost nutrition levels include the targeted public distribution system (TPDS), Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) and the school midday meal scheme (MDMS).
Despite increased food production and procurement for TDPS, food insecurity persists and is a chronic problem linked to poor delivery. The large number of ineligible or fake ration cards issued — a serious problem in some states, usually those that need TPDS the most — has caused huge leakages. The TPDS has glaring exclusion errors. About 20% of the estimated 90 crore eligible beneficiaries are denied subsidized grain as they have no ration card, while 20% of the not-poor do. TPDS remains restricted to wheat and rice that would alleviate hunger, but not address malnutrition. No recommendation to include pulses, oil and nutritious millets has been implemented. Even the food security Act — that UPA counts among its mega achievements — focuses on rice and wheat. Had the Act included higher procurement of millets, pulses, fruits and vegetables, it would have incentivised production of these, instead of just rice and wheat that are water-intensive crops.
ICDS was meant to counter malnutrition in children between 0 and 6 years and pregnant women. Government allocation, including states’ share, increased from over Rs 5,200 crore in 2007-08 to Rs 13,700 crore in 2013-14 and the number of anganwadi centres (AWCs) has increased from 10.1 lakh to 13.1 lakh in 2012-13.
Though almost 90% anganwadis are operational, the ICDS scheme reaches about 47% of eligible children, reported a CAG audit. Coverage in states varies from about 75% in Odisha to 18% in Bihar. Most AWCs lack infrastructure. In 2011-12, only 57% had drinking water on the premises, 47% had toilets and only 25% had a kitchen.
ICDS is meant to provide supplementary nutrition 300 days a year, or 25 days a month. But the number of days the programme worked ranged from 180-250, a CAG audit found. The audit revealed irregularities such as insufficient monitoring, suspected misappropriation of supplies, badly-trained anganwadi workers and shortfall in expenditure on supplementary nutrition, which meant lower per beneficiary expenditure. For a flagship programme that addresses a “national shame” the ICDS programme leaves much to be desired.
Allocation for the midday meal scheme is up from Rs 6,700 cr to over Rs 10,300 cr between 2007-08 and 2011-12. But many states aren’t meeting yearly targets of number of meals served. The scheme’s plagued by reports of children falling ill from eating poor quality or spoiled food. Many states are yet to achieve standards set to run it: constructing a kitchen shed, timely lifting of grains, proper food storage. Women employed as midday meal cooks remain underpaid.
While proportion of malnourished children has fallen since 2005-06, not only has the decline been slow, from 46% malnourished to about 33% by 2013, it’s been uneven with a few states and districts getting worse. But with poor tracking of the schemes’ implementation, or of the population’s nutritional status, no one seems sure if the situation has become any better or worse. And that’s the national shame.
HUNGER POLITICS | Aug 2012 | Modi quoted in interview blaming malnutrition in Gujarat on its “by and large vegetarian diet”. Because it’s a middle-class state, Gujarat is “more beauty conscious than health conscious”Media reports laid bare the bluff: His contentions didn’t square with data whichever way it was spliced. Haryana, even more vegetarian than Gujarat, has better nutritional figuresNSSO data (2009-2010) showed poverty behind state’s poor nutritional indices.
SERVED DEATH | Scams plague the mid-day meal scheme. Last July 27 village children died in Bihar’s Chapra after having the meal. Nitish Kumar cried conspiracy – that they were poisoned. Fact was, there was no monitoring, and the principal ran a racket, serving kids substandard fare.
Vedanta Khushi : Join “Khushi”, Raise Your Voice towards Child Care
Vedanta's “Khushi” campaign is a mission driven by the vision of Mr. Anil Agarwal, Chairman – Vedanta Group’s that “no child in India should remain malnourished and be deprived of education and primary health. Let India be a child malnourished free nation.” Join "Khushi" and raise your voice and concern towards child care in India.
India, a country with largest child population, largest malnourished children, largest child deaths, and largest street children in the world, put our minds and thoughts in a thinking-hat mode. For once, we felt apprehensive about building India for a bright and progressive future. It was sure, government, NGOs, corporates alone cannot bring this problem to a solution and common masses need to align and join on such national missions.
This is where we decided to launch an awareness campaign “Khushi”, which was aimed to spread the message of care for the underprivileged children and building a life of dignity for them. The message was clear that about 50% of India’s child population needs attention – attention towards their nutrition, education and good health. The message was also clear that without the involvement of similar minds, India would never be able to make it to a developed nation.
On this thought, on 10th April 2012, Vedanta Group launched “Khushi”, on blog and on the Facebook. We also decided to make “Khushi” a 100% non-funding campaign that would strongly engage with people and spread awareness to encourage them to take individual steps and initiatives towards child care.
Where the blog, www.khushi-creatinghappiness.blogspot.in, became a platform for encouraging people by uploading success stories, articles and statistics; the Facebook group, www.facebook.com.groups/vedantakhushi, became a platform for on-line discussions and debates and spreading awareness. By now, on “Khushi” group, about 60 debates have been carried out on a number of issues like girls’ education, infrastructure in schools, problem of street children, beggary, quality of education, rehabilitation, disparities in urban and rural education, sending underprivileged children back to school, malnutrition, corporal punishments to children, child labour making crackers, effects of TV advertising on children, portray of Indian Children in Cinema, mobile phone and their effects on Children, Safety of Children etc.
The debates have also become a platform for knowledge sharing and a guiding factor for proposed actions. Taking forward the outcomes from debates, Vedanta adopted 112 schools in Rajasthan for completely changing their infrastructure, study material and other facilities.
To further strengthen the objective of “Khushi”, 75 child care centres have been adopted in Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Rajasthan and Chattisgarh. These centres have about 2500 deprived and underprivileged children. These children are provided daily nutritious breakfast, lunch, books and primary health check-ups.
Vedanta “Khushi” also spent days with the street children to understand their issues and problems. Accordingly, workshops were conducted to inculcate the importance of education, health and hygiene, nutrition and behaviour change.
Recently, Vedanta’s “Khushi” came together with NDTV for the girl child campaign – Our Girls Our Pride. The campaign ambassador was the gorgeous bollywood film actress Ms. Priyanka Chopra. Ms. Krishna Poonia, the Padamshree, and the ace international athlete also became joined “Khushi” campaign.
Today, when we are about to complete 2 years in this mission (10th April 2014), we are quite pleased that we are able to communicate our message clearly to a number of opinion makers which include journalists, professors, engineers, social workers, bureaucrats, students, doctors, management graduates, entrepreneurs, etc.
Vedanta “Khushi” has become a global mission and there has been increasing interest from Indians living in different parts of the world. People are engaged and spreading message of child care through direct engagement with people and also through their social media presence.
One thing we could successfully bring forward through "Khushi" has been change in the behaviour of people towards deprived children.
Vedanta “Khushi” is growing every day and so changing the society.
Vedanta as a group has worked so far with 14,000 child care centres in India – in the state of Rajasthan, Karnataka, Chattisgarh, and Odisha, reaching out to more than 500,000 deprived and underprivileged children, since 2008.
Taking cognizance of the issue, Government of India has sanctioned Rs. 129,000 crore in the current plan to be spent under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) within 3 years.
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