Right To Food Campaign Activists Demand Immediate Reopening Of ‘Sishu Gruhas’ In Odisha

Bhubaneswar: The state chapter of National Right to Food Campaign has demanded to restart Odisha Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) Nutrition Improvement Programme (OPNIP), run by the ST and SC Development department.

The programme was discontinued by the department from September 30, without consulting elected representatives, or tribal groups or organisations involved in health and nutrition of PVTG communities, members of the campaign said.

“It will have serious impact on the nutrition of PVTG children in 12 districts that were covered under it,” they said. The OPNIP was implemented in 89 gram panchayats of 17 micro project agencies in 12 districts.

The three components under it include community-based creche (Sishu Gurha) for children under the age of three years, maternal spot feeding centres and spot feeding centres for children in remote villages.

This creches provide childcare services during daytime for children under the age of 3 years in PVTG villages, with special focus on feeding, regular growth monitoring, early childhood care, early stimulation, program management etc.

Similarly, in inaccessible areas, pregnant mothers and 3 to 6 year-old babies were given hot cooked food, the members said.

“It is unfortunate that the noble initiative has recently been stopped by the state government as a result of which, thousands of children belonging to primitive tribes are going to get trapped into the vicious circle of malnutrition, causing an irreversible damage to the physical, emotional, intellectual, and mental development,” they added.

By this these children will not be able to be at par with the children of other sections of society in the field of education, health, and overall socio-economic development.

It may be noted that under this programme, 61 creches, 161 maternal spot feeding centres and 111 spot feeding centres for children were established in the 12 districts. These centres provided basic daycare facilities to children and hot cooked meals for both children and mothers.

The press meet was addressed by social activists and members of Right to Food Campaign, Prafulla Samantara, Gouranga Mohapatra, Puspa Das, Dr. Biswajit, and Sameet Panda.

“We call upon the Government to immediately intervene in the matter and restart the creche programme to protect rights of tribal children and maintain the trend of development in Odisha,” they said.