Mumbai, Sept 30: Cutting across party lines, a group
of young parliamentarians is on a mission to "curb
malnutrition" in the country and as part of it they visited
neighbouring Thane district in Maharashtra.
The "Young Turks", including Sachin Pilot of Congress,
NCP's Supriya Sule, Shahnawaz Hussain of BJP and Jay Panda of
Biju Janata Dal toured the tribal belt of Palghar, Wada and
adjoining areas in the district yesterday "to get a feel of
the situation on ground".
"At a time when the country's growth rate is nearing
double-digits, it is a matter of concern that India still has
a significant number of malnourished children. As a result,
while we compete with china on the economy front, it is sad
to be compared with Ethiopia and Somalia on the issue of
malnutrition," the mps said.
Actors Rahul Bose and noted paediatrician Samir Dalwai
were also part of the visit, organised under the aegis of the
"citizens alliance against malnutrition".
The lawmakers have already visited malnutrition-affected
areas of Madhya Pradesh and are expected to undertake similar
tours in Orissa and Bihar soon, after which they will submit a
report to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The report would dwell on the factors hindering
implementation of the various government schemes to curb
malnutrition which affects women and children.
Effective implementation of the Centre's Integrated Child
Development Services (ICDS) scheme would go a long way in
curbing malnutrition, panda said.
"We were not here on a fault-finding mission but to
observe the best practices in each states, identify loopholes
and then make our recommendations to curb malnutrition to the
prime minister," pilot said.
Bureau Report
First Published: Sunday, September 30, 2007, 00:00