Malnourished children to get special diet

60 districts selected in country; Anganwadi workers to be sensitized New Delhi (PTI): The government on Thursday announced that a special diet would be provided to malnourished children in all the 60 priority districts under the Sneha Shivir scheme at a cost of Rs 150 crore during the 12th Plan period. The Sneha Shivir scheme, introduced recently, is a community based approach for the prevention and management of severe malnourished children and women. At present, children between the age of 0-6 years, pregnant and lactating mothers and severely malnourished children are provided supplementary nutrition under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS). The initiative, which is a part of the entire process of strengthening and reconstructing of the ICDS, were declared by WCD Minister Krishna Tirath at the first meeting of the National Mission Steering Group (NMSG) here. She further announced an increase in the honorarium of anganwadi workers working in mini-anganwadi centres from the existing Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,250 per month. Currently, there are 1.16 lakh mini-anganwadi centres in the country. Tirath said angwanwadi workers and supervisors would now be trained and sensitised on Japanese encephalitis/acute encephalitis at an estimated cost of Rs 27.85 crore. The minister further discussed other issues related to the implementation of the strengthened and restructured ICDS scheme. The meeting was attended ministers-in-charge of WCD from Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. Chief Secretaries of Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar, Rajasthan and Assam were also present.