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STATE
TIMES NEWS
JAMMU:
The State Administrative Council (SAC) which met here on Friday under the
chairmanship of Governor, Satya Pal Malik approved the ‘Decentralized Policy
for Procurement of Supplementary Nutrition’ under the Integrated Child
Development Service (ICDS) Scheme to bring transparency, accountability and
greater involvement of community in the implementation of the nutrition scheme.
The policy shall be effective from the procurement year 2019-20.
Under the
Policy procurement of nutrition items will have to be strictly as per Recipe
menu displayed in the Anganwadi Centres and to be preferably procured from
Super Bazaar/Cooperative Stores/Fixed Price Shops/Registered Local Shop keepers
on the rates not exceeding the rates notified by FCS&CA.
The new
policy has been framed as per the delegation of powers of Panchayati Raj
Institutions under the amended Panchayati Raj Act. Under the revised policy,
supplementary nutrition shall be procured at Halqa Panchayat/Municipal Ward
level.
Based on
suggestions of all the stakeholders and analysis of procurement models followed
in different States particularly in the States of Kerala, Uttarakhand and
Odisha, procurement process under the scheme has been decentralized to the
Anganwadi level except for Rice and Wheat which will continue to be procured
from Food Corporation of India (FCI) through Department of Food, Civil Supplies
and Consumer Affairs.
The
procurement at Anganwadi level will be made under the supervision of respective
Panchayati Raj Institutions as per the delegation of powers to Panchayati Raj
Institutions under the amended Panchayati Raj Act.
The
Procurement process will be ensured through various Committees including
Procurement Committee-Rural, Procurement Committee-Urban and a Recipe
Committee, under the chairpersonship of Sarpanch, Municipal
Councillor/Corporator and District Programme Officer respectively.
A
District Level Monitoring Committee under the District Development Commissioner
(DDC) with representatives from line Departments will on monthly basis review
the progress of implementation of nutrition programme under ICDS and submission
of report to Mission Director, ICDS, for pointing out any deficiency, and give necessary
recommendations for improvement / strengthening
of the present policy; resolve inter-departmental issues, if any, at District
Level and ssupervise& monitor procurement, expenditure, quality control,
hygiene, and other related issues.
ICDS has
six main components viz Supplementary Nutrition, Immunisation, Health Check-up,
Referral Services, Non-formal Pre-school Education, and Nutrition and Health
Education. The first component, i.e Supplementary Nutrition Programme (SNP),
involves supply of food materials to Anganwadi Centres (AWCs) to ensure
adequate nutrition for children aged 0-6 years, pregnant and lactating mothers
and adolescent girls. However, the implementation of this programme suffered
due to various transparency, quality and delay in supply issues. Further, under
the centralised system, Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) did not have any control over
the quantity and quality of food supply. Therefore, a need was felt for an
alternate Model.
Moreover,
Supreme Court has issued orders with regard to ICDS directing “Universalization
with quality” and prescribed minimum nutrition standards that must be
guaranteed and further envisaged decentralization of procurement by eliminating
the involvement of contractors, encouraging engagement of local Self-Help
Groups and MahilaMandals in supply and distribution of nutrition.
It may be
reiterated that with the implementation of the new policy, the targeted groups
viz children aged 0-6 years, pregnant and lactating mothers and adolescent
girls will be effectively covered.
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