J&K least prepared for effective implementation of Poshan Abhiyan, says NITI Aahyog report

Vikas Sharma
Tribune News Service
Jammu, May 27

The Union Territory (UT) of Jammu and Kashmir is among those States and UTs, which are least prepared in governance and institutional mechanism for proper implementation of centrally sponsored scheme Poshan Abhiyan.

J&K along with Kerala, Karnataka and Assam has scored five and below on a scale of 0 to 19.

This has been revealed in the report of National Institute for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog which has exposed big claims by the successive governments time and again about the quality implementation of the programme.

Under Poshan Abhiyaan, Resource Groups are formed for Incremental Learning Approach (ILA) training at different levels to enhance the capacity of frontline workers.

Finally, the Abhiyaan proposed a single unified technical set-up, i.e, Nutrition Resource Centre at National and State level to enhance and strengthen the quality of implementation and monitor and review the programme.

Under the theme of Governance and Institutional mechanisms, J&K, Kerala, Karnataka and Assam were found least prepared for the same while neighbouring state Himachal Pradesh along with Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan was best prepared for implementation.

Sources said poor governance of Poshan Abhiyan has adversely affected the coverage of food supplementation among children in J&K UT.

The coverage of food supplementation is lower than 25 per cent (ranging from 9 per cent to 24 per cent) in J&K.

Arunachal Pradesh and Delhi are also facing a similar situation in terms of food supplementation.

The national coverage of food supplementation is 49 per cent. Food supplementation, which is also called dietary or nutritional supplements are to deliver nutrients that may not be consumed in sufficient quantities.

Food supplements are vitamins, minerals, amino acids, fatty acids, and other substances delivered in the form of pills, tablets, capsules, liquid, etc.

About Poshan Abhiyan: It is an overarching umbrella scheme to improve the nutritional outcomes for children, pregnant women and lactating mothers to prioritize the efforts of all stakeholders on a comprehensive package of intervention and services targeted on the first 1,000 days of a child’s life.

For assessing the progress of the Poshan Abhiyaan, data was collected from the Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (CNNS) covering more than 1,12,000 children in the age group of birth to 19 years of age across the country.