The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), which was started in 1975, marked the completion of 49 years on October 2, 2024. The occasion also witnessed the launch of the year-long Golden Jubilee celebrations of this key scheme for the development of our children.
A fortnight later, October 16 was also celebrated as World Food Day, marking the foundation of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in 1945. The twin anniversaries give us a chance to look at the status of nutrition security in our country.
India ranks poorly in Global Hunger Index
Around the same time, the Global Hunger Index (GHI) rankings were also announced. India ranks poorly in the GHI again, at 105 among 127 countries and is included in the “serious” category. The FAO has estimated that the prevalence of undernutrition (PoU) in India has increased from 11.5% to 13.7%.
According to data from National Family Health Survey-5 (2019-2021), more than 35% of children in the country are stunted (low height for age) and 19% of children are wasted (low weight for height).
Looking back, one recalls that the National Nutrition Policy (NNP) of 1993 had laid out a roadmap titled “From Farm to Fork” – convergent action by various departments – for ensuring nutrition security. It seems that we have deviated from this path and lost our way.
As per the NNP, the agriculture department was supposed to provide Minimum Support Price (MSP) for the more nutritious of the millets, pulses, fruits and vegetables. But we ignored the farmers’ demands for this.
The Food Department was supposed to supply these grains, oil, fruits and vegetables to the public distribution system (PDS), but this has not been achieved. More than 10 crore persons have been left out of the PDS because quota figures for eligibility are still dependent on the 2011 census figures. A Supreme Court directive to the government to provide ration cards to eight crore persons registered on the e-shram portal was not met, prompting the SC on October 3, 2024 to give the government an ultimatum to issue the ration cards within four more weeks, as the “hungry cannot wait”.
The Labour Department was supposed to fix minimum wages that ensured nutrition security and not mere food security. But minimum wages are still not high enough to achieve this. The FAO said in 2022 that 70.5% Indians are unable to afford $ 2.97 or Rs. 240 /person/day for a nutritious diet.
Budget for food subsidy allocation reduced
Despite the sloganeering about Vikasit Bharat, Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao, etc., Right to Food Campaign activists have pointed out that the budget for 2023-24 has reduced the food subsidy allocation by over Rs. 89,000 crores. The All-India Federation of Anganwadi Workers and Helpers (AIFAWH) has pointed out that drastic budget cuts of up to 40% have been made in the Union budget to the allocations to ICDS.
Others have pointed out that the subsidy to the Food Corporation of India under the National Food Security Act has been cut down from Rs.2,14,696 crore to Rs.1,37,207 crore, a deduction of Rs.77,489 crore or 36% cut. The budget was cut down by Rs. 40.15 crores for ‘Mission Shakti’ including the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana. The allocation for Mid-Day Meal Scheme (PM POSHAN) has been cut down by Rs.1,200 crore.
The Right to Food Campaign also points out that currently, the nutrition programmes for children and women, like the mid-day meals (MDM) and Anganwadi services, are not inflation indexed.
As per the Union budget for 2021-22, 2 lakh Anganwadis were to be modernised; but approval was given for upgradation of 35,758 only. In Karnataka, for instance, currently, there are more than 69,000 Anganwadis – at the rate of one Anganwadi per 800 population. This is, however, based on the population figure of 6.10 crore as per the 2011 Census.
Dismal status of Anganwadis
But the number of Anganwadis required in the state is 89,637 if one takes the projected population of 7.17 crore in 2023 as the basis. The Karnataka high court had in a suo motu PIL expressed shock at the status of infrastructure in Anganwadis in Karnataka. Of the 65,911 Anganwadis, 21,686 had no toilets while only 33,146 had electricity.
The fact that anganwadis provide only take-home-rations and do not provide day-care to children during the crucial first 1,000 days of the child’s life, i.e., to children between six months and three years, is a crucial factor in the high levels of malnutrition among these children.
Lack of day-care for children under three years, especially in construction sites, has resulted in toddlers being left unattended while their mothers have to inevitably work to keep the household running.
Though there was a separate Rajiv Gandhi Creche Scheme, no funds were released in 2021-22 for the scheme which was renamed as the National Creche Scheme. The budget for it had come down by 59% in the last three years. Around 11,582 creches out of 18,040 under the scheme were shut down by FY 20, shrinking the number to 6,458.
One needs to recall that the National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution (NCRWC) had said in 2002 that Article 24A should be added to the Constitution to say, “Every child shall have the right to care and assistance in basic needs…”, which would mean provision of day-care, health and nutrition to all children under six years.
The NCRWC had also said that the proposed Article 21A, giving a fundamental right to education of children from six to fourteen years, should be amended to include education of all children “up to the age of fourteen years”, which would cover children from three to six years as well.
The Law Commission Report No. 259 of 2015 on “Early Childhood Development and Legal Entitlements” endorsed the recommendations of the NCRWC. But none of these recommendations were implemented.
No law to make ECCE a right of all children
Despite these recommendations, the ICDS, designed to provide health, nutrition and Early Childhood Care & Education (ECCE) to children under six years, is still only a scheme. It does not place legal obligations on the executive or provide rights to young children.
It is only now that the All-India Federation of Anganwadi Workers and Helpers (AIFAWH) has spearheaded the demand for a national law to make ECCE a right of all children under six years. A campaign to make this a nationwide demand was launched during its 2nd October 2024 National Convention on “Anganwadi@50 – Challenges, Possibilities and Way Forward” in New Delhi.
The Karnataka State Anganwadi Workers’ Union in its state-level seminar on “ICDS – From Scheme to Law” on October 6-7 2024 in Bengaluru carried forward this demand.
The AIFAWH has drawn attention to the neo-liberal policy attacks on the ICDS which have not helped to improve nutrition levels of children.
“The corporate-communal nexus that came to power in 2014 has unleashed an open war on the ICDS”, AIFAWH points out.
The funding pattern of Centre-State shares was changed from 90:10 to 60:40. Efforts were made to make corporate food giants like Pepsico, Patanjali, etc. supply the take-home-rations to all and provide packaged food instead of the hot, cooked meals in ICDS.
The name-changing spree of the government has not left the ICDS untouched. Though its name has been changed to ‘Saksham Anganwadi’ and ‘Poshan 2’, the smart classrooms, improved infrastructure and basic facilities which are required are nowhere in the picture.
Rather than improving the actual services of better nutrition, health and education at the ICDS centres, the focus has been shifted to education and awareness generation of the community. In the name of community participation, donations by the community to ‘Poshan Matka’ and other adoption schemes, are being fostered.
Anganwadi workers deployed for ‘religious’ activities
Worse, the ruling powers are trying to utilise Anganwadi workers (AWWs) for their communal and fundamentalist agenda, says the AIFAWH. Orders are given to AWWs and helpers to join religious ceremonies like ‘Shiv katha’ of religious gurus in Madhya Pradesh. In Uttarakhand, performing Jal Abhishek to Lord Shiva in the name of decreasing malnutrition and under the ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ slogan are shocking examples, says AIFAWH.
Hindu religious customs such as ‘godhbarai’ and ‘ann prashan’ are being performed at Anganwadi centres.
But what would really improve nutrition levels of children, such as giving eggs, are barred in several states.
There are a few other aspects that are keeping children malnourished. Girls who drop out of school are mostly victims of child marriage. They are mostly the ones who give birth to under-weight babies. These are the very girls denied maternity benefits and Janani Suraksha Yojana benefits. How will this help them to care for their children?
Child Marriage Prohibition Officers (CMPOs), along with the police, mostly take curative action, i.e., they spring into dramatic action to stop a marriage at the last minute while it is being performed. Curiously, the onus of preventing child marriages has been placed on citizens and punishments are prescribed if they fail: on the wedding invitation printer, the kalyan mandap manager, the priest, the caterer, the photographer, and even the guests, who are supposed to make sure that the couple are above the legal age for marriage.
How can these persons verify the genuineness of the age certificates the couple may produce? Strangely, a state responsibility to enforce a law has been imposed on ordinary citizens.
No doubt, the Supreme Court has issued several guidelines on the prevention of child marriage recently. But compulsory registration of marriage after it has been conducted will not prevent child marriage, as a couple who have undergone child marriage will not register their marriage.
Compulsory ‘licensing’, or pre-registration of a proposed marriage, by the CMPOs or Child Development Project Officers (CDPOs), who ensure the genuineness of the age certificates, or ask for the age to be certified by the district surgeon, is the solution to prevent child marriage. This way, the onus to ensure the couple are of marriageable age, will be on a government official and not on citizens. If an organisation wishes to conduct ‘mass marriages’ in Karnataka, Tehsildars are required to verify the age-proofs of the couples and only then accord permission for conducting mass marriages.
Why should this procedure not be extended to cover all marriages? This will be the best ‘preventive’ measure for child marriage. Only if a couple present the marriage ‘licence’, or pre-marriage registration certificate, to the priest, the wedding invitation printer or other service providers such as caterers, should they perform their duties in the marriage.
Data reveals that an educated mother’s child is better nourished. But the Right to Education (RTE) Act makes education compulsory only up to 14 years. Girls who stop their education at 14 years are likely to undergo child marriage as parents worry about their safety. Raising the compulsory schooling age to 18 years is the answer. Karnataka has introduced a ‘preventive protocol’ for retaining children in school until they complete compulsory education. This needs to be upscaled to the entire country.
The proposed law making ECCE a right would need to prescribe that day-care for children under six years should be made a right and universalised. All Anganwadis would have to be converted into full day-care centres (creches) open for at least 10 hours for children aged between six months to three years to help all working women and their children.
Pre-primary education for the three to six-year-olds would have to be free and compulsory and a fundamental right. The Anganwadis for the three to six-year-olds could be located separately in the primary school under an additional worker, as recommended by the Law Commission, but under the management of the Women & Child Development Department
Immediate need for a law that fixes responsibilities of all stakeholders
Norms for the infrastructure of Anganwadis, separately for the zero to three-year-olds and the three to six-year-olds, would be required in the law. Mandatory provision of land, especially in urban areas, to construct Anganwadis or improve their infrastructure will need to be made a requirement.
Provision of drinking water, toilets, separate areas for sleeping and playing, and separate kitchen and store room, as recommended by the Justice N.K. Patil Committee in Karnataka in April 2012, would have to be mandated. The required budget for fulfilling the goals of the law would have to be mandatorily provided as a first charge on the resources and fixed within the law.
The responsibilities of the local authorities – gram panchayats and municipalities – in ensuring the infrastructure, and proper functioning of every Anganwadi would have to be written into the law. The composition and functioning of monitoring bodies for ECCE, such as the Bal Vikas Samitis, at every Anganwadi, block, taluk and district levels, would have to be prescribed. A system of licensing and regulating private day-care service providers would also have to be introduced.
Considering the importance of their work in meeting SDG goals, and the additional working hours that will be required for providing day-care, Anganwadi workers would have to be regularised as government employees. Their wages, working and service conditions, social security, etc., would have to be prescribed within the law. The curriculum to be followed for pre-primary education, the number of teachers and helpers required, their qualifications and their periodic training would have to be specified.
The Centre passing such a law at the earliest for the proper development of our future citizens, should not require a divinely ordained leader and should be possible even for a biologically born leadership!
Kathyayini Chamaraj is the Executive Trustee of CIVIC Bangalore.
