India News | NHRC to Discuss Right to Food, Nutrition of Pregnant Women

New Delhi, Aug 9 (PTI) The NHRC will hold a meeting on Tuesday to discuss the right to food, status of nutrition of children, pregnant women and lactating mothers and implementation of the 'One Nation One Ration Card' scheme in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, officials said.

The rights panel in a statement on Monday said, reportedly, according to the Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (CNNS) Report 2016-18 of the Union Health Ministry, 34.7 per cent of children under five years are categorised as stunted in India, 33.4 per cent of children under five years are underweight, 28.4 per cent adolescents aged 10-19 years are anaemic.

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The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) is organising a meeting on right to food and nutrition August 10. NHRC Member Rajiv Jain will chair it, the statement said.

The aim of the meeting is to discuss the status of nutrition of pregnant women, lactating mothers and children, 'One Nation One Ration Card' scheme implementation, challenges and the way forward in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, it said.

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National Family Health Survey-5 of the 22 states and union territories, out in December 2020, showed a rise in stunting, including some of the populous states like Maharashtra, West Bengal, Gujarat, and Kerala, to name a few, the statement said.

Stunting was highest in Meghalaya (46.5 per cent), and Bihar (42.9 per cent); higher than as reported in the Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey 2016-2018, as per the survey, it said.

Sikkim was the lowest at 22.3 per cent, a significant decline (7.3 percentage point drop) since 2015-16. Wasting has either risen or remained stagnant in most of the states and UTs. The increase was in a range of 0.1 to 8.2 percentage point for 13 states and UTs, it added.

The prevalence of anaemia among women in the age group of 15-49 years also has a similar trend. Out of the 22 states and UTs covered in phase 1 of NFHS-5, 16 show an increase in anaemia among women, the NHRC said.

The core group members of the commission on the subject, related stakeholders and senior officers of the NHRC will participate, the officials said.

The right to food can be seen as an implication of fundamental right to life enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution. However, Article 39 (a) and Article 47 reflect on the obligation of the state to ensure effective realisation of this right and to raise the level of nutrition and the standard of living of its people, respectively, the statement said.

The government of India enacted the National Food Security Act, 2013 to ensure food and nutritional security to the targeted needy people.

It combines and expands the scope of some existing food-based welfare schemes like Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), Supplementary Nutrition Programme (SNP) of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) and Mid-day Meal (MDM) schemes and a conditional cash transfer scheme called the Maternity Benefit Programme, the NHRC added.

According to NFHS-4, 2015- 16, almost half of the pregnant women aged between 15 and 49 years are anaemic, the statement said.

Further, the second wave of the pandemic, reportedly, hit hard the sections, already lying on the verge of food insecurity. Migrant workers, informal workers became more dependent on PDS rations, it added.

One Nation One Ration Card or ONORC scheme was announced as part of technology reforms in TPDS in the country. With growing inter-state migration from villages and rural towns to big cities, the effort was to ensure that migrant workers and their families got assured access to nutrition via national portability of ration cards under the Food Security Act, the rights panel said.

However, there have been media reports in some sections that biometric authentication, using electronic point of sale (ePoS) machines, results in exclusion of some of the most marginalised because of multiple reasons, including network issues, authentication failure and so on, the NHRC said.

The benefits of PMGKAY may not have reached to several migrant workers who do not possess a ration card in their destination states, it said.

According to Integrated Management of Public Distribution Portal, which gives real time data on transactions under ONORC, there were 9,441 transactions and 87,569 beneficiaries in the month of May, 2021.

Portability of PDS across states is important as it ensures food security for migrants, the statement said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)