The government proposes to set up a taskforce to synergies different sectors in the survival and development of children while an early childhood care code will be introduced to strengthen the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programme throughout the country.
Announcing this on Thursday at the conclusion of the international conference on early childhood care for survival, growth and development, Mr B K Chaturvedi, secretary, department of women and child development, human resource development ministry said the focus now is on the 0-3 age group.
''We are working out a strategy to create an early childhood care component to further strengthen the ICDS'', he told press persons in New Delhi. State-level plans for training Anganwadi workers and development of innovative models that address the specific needs of children are among the important recommendations made at the conference,” he said.
Mr Alan Court, UNICEF country representative in India, said an important outcome of deliberations was the total consensus on the need to target the 0-3 age group, which he described as a radical shift from the ICDS' earlier focus on the under six age group.
The role of the father in the holistic development of the child and ways to reduce digital divides which were ''making the rich richer and poor poorer'' were other crucial issues which emerged, Mr Court added.
The three-day conference which commenced on October 3 was organised by the department of women and child development in collaboration with the National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development (NIPCCD) and UNICEF. Bureau Report