JULY 14, 2019 • THE WEEK 45uled Caste community, here say that
their children have never been to the
anganwadi.
Th is deprivation is because Bihar
has a shocking system in place.
Under ICDS, which is now covered
under the National Food Security Act
(NFSA), 2013, all children who are six
months to six years old and all preg-
nant and lactating women should get
supplementary nutrition, either as
take-home ration or hot cooked meal
from the local anganwadi. Th ey are
also entitled to regular growth moni-
toring and severe acute malnutrition
management.
But Manjhi Tola reveals a diff erent
reality. Ibha says the anganwadi
covers about 230 children and 37
pregnant and lactating women in the
settlement. But she provides take-
home rations to only 45 children
under three years and 16 women,
and hot cooked food to 35 children of
three to six years. “Th at is the norm,”
she says. So, 150 kids and 21 women
are simply left out.
Th e children are selected through
a quarterly survey, says Ibha; their
weight is checked and the weaker
ones included in anganwadi. Inquir-
ies reveal similar limiting of num-
bers at several anganwadis across
Muzaff arpur, Siwan, Gopalganj,
Saharsa and Madhepura. In some of
them, the limit was even lower at 30
children in the two categories.
So, it seems a tragedy—govern-
ment-made and far bigger than the
AES outbreak—is silently unfolding
in the villages and urban settlements
of Bihar.
Th e state already bears a terrible
ignominy: it has the highest percent-
age of stunted (48.3 per cent) and
underweight (43.9 per cent) children
in the country, as per the National
Family Health Survey-4 (2015-2016).
Th is means almost half its kids are in
the grip of acute malnutrition. So, it
is no surprise that a study of 92 AES
deaths from 2015 to 2017 by a team
at Sri Krishna Medical College and
Hospital, Muzaff arpur, found that the
deceased were all malnourished.
In this backdrop, THE WEEK’s
investigations reveal an appall-
ing fact—about two-thirds of the
children below six years are being
deprived of supplementary nutrition.
As stated on http://www.icdsbih.gov.in,
the Bihar ICDS directorate has fi xed
the number of benefi ciaries at 80
children (40 children each in the two
age groups), eight pregnant and eight
lactating women and three adoles-
cent girls per anganwadi centre. Th is,
irrespective of the number of eligible
children and women in its juris-There is an
immediate necessity
for a social audit
of child health and
nutrition programmes
in the state.
—Sachin Jain, activist,
Right to Food CampaignDEEPAK KUMAR