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Gujarat govt to hold ‘Bal Adalat’ in primary schools to curb malnourishment

At Bal Adalat, students will conduct moot courts from January 30 till February 3 “accusing parents, husbands or mother-in-laws” of not providing nourished food to their children, pregnant wives or daughter-in-laws and holding them responsible for malnourishment.

Gujarat govt to hold ‘Bal Adalat’ in primary schools to curb malnourishment Over 1 lakh children under the age of six years are still identified as severely acute malnourished while 63 per cent children, 55 per cent females and 22 per cent males are found to be anaemic in Gujarat. (File)

After various methods to curb malnutrition in the state failed, the Gujarat government will now try ‘Bal Adalat’ at government primary schools in all the districts in a bid to create awareness on the menace affecting women and children across the state.

At Bal Adalat, students will conduct moot courts from January 30 till February 3 “accusing parents, husbands or mother-in-laws” of not providing nourished food to their children, pregnant wives or daughter-in-laws and holding them responsible for malnourishment.

The Bal Adalat will be held as part of 1,302 events to be held in 33 districts as part of a three-day campaign across the state and will later be institutionalised across government primary schools in the state, for which instructions along with scripts have been passed on to government primary schools in all districts.

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The moot courts will be prepared under the guidance of teachers and will be conducted in the presence of parents and villagers or city residents. While concluding, the gathering will be asked to take an oath to provide sufficient nutritious food to both girls and boys without any discrimination and also make maximum use of the take-home ration food packets provided at the anganwadi centres.

“Objective is to involve both the government and stakeholders. The scripts for these adalats have been prepared keeping in mind how students can pass on the message in an effective manner through role play,” said Ashok Sharma, director of Integrated Child development Services (ICDS).

Festive offer

The content has been prepared by the ICDS under the Women and Child Development Department and provided to the government schools through Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). “The WCD is undertaking the campaign where we are supporting them,” said SSA state project director, P Bharathi.

In one of the scripts, parents are accused by the court saying, “despite being educated parents, you are responsible for the your child being malnourished, which is a serious offence as you do not provide healthy and nutritious food”. In response, parents say that the children do not listen to them and spend Rs 10-15 daily on packaged food. This is cross-examined and children disclose that they only eat khichdi, potato and chapati. The anganwadi worker is also brought as a witness and states that the children are very irregular at anganwadi centres, resulting in their poor health.

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In another case, husband and mother-in-law of a pregnant woman are tried, accusing them of not taking care of her, while in another, the mother accuses her daughter of not eating properly in order not to “gain weight and get fat”.

“The initiative will also have a message of promoting government schemes among the masses,” said a senior official from the health department.

Gujarat government claims to be the first state that distributes nearly 16,000 metric tonnes of take-home ration to 42 lakh beneficiaries through Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) and the only state that is running Dudh Sanjeevani Scheme where fortified pasturised milk is given to children as well as including pregnant and lactating women in 109 tribal and developing talukas across the state. Also, it claims to be the only state where pregnant and lactating women and adolescent girls are given double fortified salf to recover from iodine deficiency.

Despite all these measures, over 1 lakh children under the age of six years are still identified as severely acute malnourished while 63 per cent children, 55 per cent females and 22 per cent males are found to be anaemic in Gujarat.

‘Adopt a child’

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Aiming to bring Gujarat out of malnourishment before January 26, 2021, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani announced ‘ek balak, ek palak’ scheme as a part of Poshan Abhiyan 2020-22 campaign on Monday. Stating that the severely malnourished children are not only the responsibility of the state government but also of the society, appeals are made to the society, NGOs and social organisations, to adopt one severely malnourished child from each district. Instructions are given to the guardians to regularly be in touch with them, meet them at least once in a week at home or anganwadi centre and ensure that they are benefiting from the health schemes. The guardians are also asked to offer financial support through additional medical treatment and support till the child is out of malnutrition.

First uploaded on: 28-01-2020 at 13:32 IST
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