Odisha Cabinet approves ₹3,354 crore nutrition improvement programme 

Odisha Cabinet gave its consent to MSPY, which seeks to transform nutrition outcomes in adolescent girls, pregnant women, and lactating mothers; and SAM, MAM and severely underweight children of under 6 years of age across the State over a period of five years, commencing from current financial year, 2023-24.

Following the Orissa High Court’s direction to the Naveen Patnaik government to ensure the complete absence of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) in children and the reduction of Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM) in children by half in the State by end of 2023, the State Cabinet on June 21 approved the Mukhyamantri Sampoorna Pushti Yojana (MSPY), aimed at transforming nutrition outcomes at a projected cost of ₹3,354.40 crore.

The State Cabinet, chaired by Mr. Patnaik, gave its consent to MSPY, which seeks to transform nutrition outcomes in adolescent girls (15-19 years), pregnant women, and lactating mothers; and SAM, MAM and severely underweight children of under six years of age across the State over a period of five years, commencing from current financial year, 2023-24.

Under the MSPY, nutritional support such as eggs, laddoos and nutrition supplements will be provisioned for all adolescent girls in the age group of 15-19 years across the State, while Kishori Melas (‘adolescent fairs’) will be organised at the Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS) project level for the screening of nutritionally at-risk adolescent girls from the perspective of body mass index (BMI) and mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC).

Similarly, additional Take Home Ration (THR) in the form of nutrient rich food products, including millets and additional eggs, will be provided to pregnant women and lactating mothers across the State. Provisioning of augmented THR and additional eggs for SAM, MAM and severely underweight children will be carried out for nutrition improvement of children aged below six years.

In May, a Division Bench of the Orissa HC, comprising Chief Justice S. Muralidhar and Justice G. Satapathy, had expressed concern over the presence of so many SAM and MAM children in the State.

SAM children are those who are in the red zone and at higher risk of contracting secondary infection and they may have severe illnesses, while MAM children show signs of malnourishment but they are in yellow zone, which means their lives are not under theat.

One Mantu Das had filed the public interest litigation (PIL) with the Orissa High Court that young children, many of them belonging to the Scheduled Tribes, from the villages of Ghatisahi, Kiajhar, Salinjagha, Nadiabhanga, Dhuligarh, Chania and Anagundi in the Danagadi Block of Jajpur district, were suffering from chronic malnutrition, living under conditions of semi-starvation and prolonged hunger. They were vulnerable to diseases and many had lost their lives, the petition said.