Lucknow: Public participation is needed to tackle malnutrition and make the Rashtriya Poshan Maah campaign successful, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Sunday. “If a country’s children are weak and malnourished, the youth of that nation can never be strong,” he said, launching the campaign and stressing the need for public participation. He said public participation and concerted efforts had helped contain the spread of viral diseases in the state, an official release said.
It should be kept in mind that no kid is left out during the campaign that will last for a month. Due to proper coordination, there was no outbreak of viral diseases such as dengue, kala-azar, chikungunya and filaria in Uttar Pradesh this time, he said.
The Chief Minister said earlier people in eastern Uttar Pradesh were angry over the encephalitis menace.
In the past two years, through concerted efforts of the departments concerned, we have successfully checked the spread of the disease. Public awareness and mass movement played an important role in this regard, he said.
Women and Child Welfare Minister Swati Singh said the aim of the campaign was to completely root out malnutrition from the state.
Last week, the Chief Minister had said that it is possible to win the fight against malnutrition through inter-departmental coordination and directed district magistrates to draw up strategies and implement those effectively.
Addressing district magistrates and officers of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) and others departments through video conference regarding preparations for National Nutrition month, he said stressed on reaching out to every household during this campaign.
We have to reach out to every household and every village during this campaign. The School Chalo Abhiyan can also be linked to this campaign while children can be associated with the campaign during the process of enrollment. The district magistrates must chalk out proper strategies with immediate effect to tackle malnutrition in their districts and implement it effectively. They must also appoint nodal officers for proper monitoring, he said.
The chief minister told the officers that if the anganwadi workers staged protest even after increase in their honorarium, the district magistrates must take stern action against them. He further said that cleanliness and availability of potable water were the primary requirement for eradication of malnutrition and asked all departments to launch awareness campaign for clean drinking water.
“Campaign for clean drinking water should be held in all the slums and gram panchayats as well,” Mr. Adityanath said, adding, “The Basic Shiksha Parishad must ensure appointment of basic education officers in all vacant posts”
