Arijit Pasayat, J. - (1.) GRIEVANCE is made by the petitioner about the non-implementation of the directions given by this Court to the Central Government and the State Governments relating to Integrating Child Development Scheme(in short the 'ICDS'). The scheme is meant for children of the age group of 0-6, Pregnant women, lacetating mothers and adolescent girls. Undisputedly, funds are released by the Central Government to the State Governments who are required to implement the scheme. State Governments, it is alleged, have failed to match the grants given by the Central Government. We shall deal with this aspect a little later in detail.
(2.) DR. N.C. Saxena, Commissioner, and Sh. Harsh Mander, the Special Commissioner were appointed pursuant to the orders passed by this. Court for giving their reports on the question whether the Scheme has been implemented in the manner desired by this Court by various orders. A bare reading of the reports shows the grim realities and apparent lethargy of some of the States in implementing the Scheme. By report dated 19th July, 2006 following recommendations are made by the Committee. (1) Reassert the figure of 14 lakhs AWCs as a benchmark estimate of the minimum number of AWCs required for universalization of ICDS, based on existing norms. (2) Direct the Government of India to raise the number of AWCs to 14 lakhs within three years. (3) Direct the Government of India to formulate improved norms for the creation and placement of AWCs, in the light of this report, and in consultation with the Commissioners. The improved norms should be consistent with universalization in the sense that implementation of these norms would ensure convenient access to an Anganwadi (or mini-Anganwadi, as the case may be) to all children and eligible women. (4) Clarify that universalization of ICDS involves extending all ICDS services (not just supplementary nutrition) to all children below the age of six, all pregnant or lacetating women and all adolescent girls. (5) Direct Chief Secretaries of all State Governments/UTs to submit affidavits to the Honorable Supreme Court with details of all habitations with a majority of SC/ST households, the availability of AWCs in these habitations, and the plan of action for ensuring that all these habitations have functioning AWCs within two years. (6) Direct Chief Secretaries of all State Governments/UTs to submit affidavits to the Honorable Supreme Court on the steps that have been taken with regard to the interim order of this Court of October 7th, 2004 directing that "contractors shall not be used for supply of nutrition in Anganwadis and preferably ICDS funds shall be spent by making use of village communities, self-help groups and Mahila Mandals for buying of grains and preparation of meals". Chief Secretaries of all State Governments/UTs- must also commit to a time-frame within which the decentralisation of the supply of SNP through local community efforts will be made. Under the Chapter 1.4 "Will India meet the Nutrition MDG?" The Report indicates as follows: The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are a set of internationally agreed goals that countries and institutions have committed to reach by 2015. The second MDG target, which we refer to as the nutrition MDC, is to halve between 1990 and 2015: (i) the prevalence of underweight children (under five years of age) (ii) the proportion of population below a minimum level of dietary energy consumption. A few studies, using different assumptions, have considered the likelihood that India will attain the second nutrition ' MDG. Although their projections differ, in sum it seems unlikely that the prevalence of malnutrition in India will fall from its level of 54% in 1990 to 27W by 201 568, NFHS data shows that., in 1998/99, even the wealthiest quintile had a prevalence of malnutrition (33%) that far exceeded the MDG goal. Our projections indicate that economic growth alone is unlikely to be sufficient to lower the prevalence of malnutrition. When combined with policy interventions, the projections are rosier, but a rapid scaling-up of health, nutrition, education and infrastructure interventions is needed if the MDG is to be met.
(3.) IN the earlier report, i.e. 6th report, dated 21st November, 2005 the following observations of the Commissioner are relevant: Compliance with the 28 November 2001 order and coverage of ICDS beneficiaries - Significant orders of this Court were passed regarding the implementation of the ICDS on 28.11.2001 stating that the services of the ICDS must be made available to every child up to 6 years of age, every adolescent girl, every pregnant woman and nursing mother, that every malnourished child must get an enhanced ration and that there must be an ICDS disbursement centre in every settlement The order was the first amongst many regarding the implementation of the ICDS. The State-wise coverage of beneficiaries under the ICDS as it currently stands as per the Department of Women and Child Development, Go!5 is given in Table 1.1. The number of children in the 0-6 year age group being provided supplementary nutrition services under the ICDS stands at 403 lakhs. IN comparison, as per the 2001 Census of INdia, the 0-6 year population in INdia stands at 1578 lakhs. Thus, as many as 1201 lakhs or 74% of children entitled to the TCDS are currently left out of its net. The coverage of adolescent girls in the 11-18 year age group is worse than that of children in the 0-6 year age group. The Kishori Shakti Yojana (KSY), under which adolescent girls are covered remains limited to 2000 TCDS Projects. The total coverage of adolescent girls stands at a mere 2.4 lakhs. IN comparison, as per the census of 2001, the total female population in the 11-18 year age group stands at approximately 844 lakhs. The coverage of adolescent girls has therefore virtually not taken off with a mere 0.3% of adolescent girls being covered under the scheme. It is important to note that of the 35 states and UTs only Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Meghalaya, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Andaman and Nicobar Islands have reported to the Commissioner that adolescent girls are being covered under the ICDS. Other States such as Bihar, Goa, Jharkhand and Orissa have pointedly stated that adolescent girls are not being covered under the ICDS, although Blocks were identified for the implementation of the project as far back as 1992-92. Thus an entire section of beneficiaries remain completely ignored in the implementation of the scheme. The number of pregnant women and nursing mothers is estimated to be 4% of the total population at any point in time as per ICDS Scheme guidelines. The current coverage of 81.05 lakh beneficiaries in this category therefore, is less than 20% of the estimated number of persons who should be covered by the scheme. The essence of the previous orders dated 28.11.2001, 29.4.2004 and 7.10.2004 of this Court can be summed up as follows: (1) Almost five years ago (on 28th November 2001), the Hon'ble Supreme Court issued an interim order calling for the universalization of ICDS, in the sense that (1) every habitation should have a functional ICDS centre (Anganwadi), and (2) ICDS services should be extended to all children upto the age of six years, all pregnant or nursing mothers and all adolescent girls. This order was reiterated and extended on 29th April, 2004 and 7th October, 2004, along with further directions on ICDS. (2) We are concerned that very little progress has been made towards the implementation of these orders. In the 2004-05 financial year, the Government of India sanctioned the opening of 1.88 lakh new Anganwadi Centres towards implementation of the above quoted orders. It is a matter of concern that these Anganwadi Centres have not so far been operationalised. The Hon'ble Court may seek an explanation from the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India, in this regard. (3) In fact, the Government of India has not only failed to implement aforementioned orders of the Hon'ble Court, but challenged the basic principles of universalization outlined in these orders. The aim of this note is to clarify some key issues and present recommendations for further orders. Anganwadi Centres are hereinafter referred to as AWCs. ;