: Bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh has resulted in ‘Balamrutam’, a child nourishment programme, being put on the backburner. The worst sufferers are children in the six months - six years age group in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
In 2013, then government of united Andhra Pradesh had launched the project, under which children enrolled with Anganwadis were given Balamrutam -- a mixture of rice, wheat, red gram, millets and milk powder.
The project was aimed at supplying quality diet to infants enrolled in Anganwadi centres. AP Foods located in the present Telangana State was supplying ‘Balamrutam’ to the infants across the State.
In June 2014, Andhra Pradesh was divided and AP Foods was renamed Telangana Foods and supply of ‘Balamrutam’ has been stopped to AP since then. A similar organisation has not been created by AP so far.
As many as 26.61 lakh children (figure may vary depending upon the enrolment) were registered in 55,607 Anganwadi centres in the State. The scheme was meant for children aged between six months and six years and the government used to supply 100 grams of ‘Balamrutam’ for each child per day.
Officials of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) and doctors said that poor quality of diet was one among the reasons for the increasing Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) in the country. IMR among infants below six months due to malnourishment was 129 in India, and 39 in Andhra Pradesh for every one lakh children, according to the records.
“Balamrutam is a protein food and infants used to like it very much. The government had supplied 2.5 kg packet for each child in all Anganwadi centres in the State,” recalled an ICDS supervisor of West Godavari district.
“We request the government to start AP Foods in Andhra Pradesh and revive the project immediately. Many mothers could not afford to buy nutritious food for their infants from private shops. ‘Balamrutam’ is a diet supplement in addition to mother’s milk,” says S. Nagalakshmi of Gudivada in Krishna district.
Meanwhile, government is organising ‘Surakshita’ programme aimed at creating awareness among women on ‘mother and child safety’ from November 16 to 30.
When there was no supply of nutritious diet in the government-run Anganwadi centres, how can the infants have good health, questioned the ICDS staff.
“Like immunisation, the government should give equal priority to supply of menu in Anganwadi centres for infants, children, pregnant and lactating women to prevent maternal deaths and infant mortality. Thousands of children, particularly in rural areas, are anaemic and prone to diseases due to lack of nutritious food,” says a government doctor preferring anonymity.
