 | PRESS RELEASE
NHRC issues notices to the Centre, States and UTs on reports of siphoning off funds allocated for Integrated Child Development Services
New Delhi, July 28th, 2011
The National Human Rights Commission has taken suo motu cognizance of the media reports saying that only 40 percent of the expenditure on the supplementary nutrition of the children under the Integrated Child Development Services, ICDS could actually be accounted for the national level, and the rest 60 percent of the expenditure could not be justified by the States. The media reports are based on the Planning Commission of India's review of the ICDS health programme which was launched to reduce severe to moderate malnutrition among the children of 6 to 72 months old.
The reports also say that during the review, it has been noticed that there is a nexus among the officials responsible for implementing the programme, contractors and Panchayat and Anganwari workers to siphon off the cash. The Anganwari workers working in most of the States are either being paid nothing or very nominal amount as their wages. They have not even been provided a weighing scale to take weight of the infants.
The Commission today on the 28th July, 2011 observed that the contents of the media reports, if true, raise a serious issue of violation of human rights to life and dignity of the children in the country and issued notices to the Principal Secretary, Ministry of Women & Child Development, Government of India and the Chief Secretaries of all the State Governments and Union Territories to submit their reports in the matter within six weeks.
The media reports state that in the financial year 2008-2009, nearly a sum of Rs. 3,000/- crore, from the total amount Rs. 5,383/- crore allocated by the Govt. of India for the Supplementary Nutrition Programme (SNP), were siphoned off.
According to the reports only 41 percent of the children in the eligible group, 38 percent of the eligible pregnant and lactating women and 10 percent of the eligible adolescent girls were registered under the programme. Among these registrations, only 64 percent of the children were receiving supplementary nutrition on an average for 192 days in a year as against 300 days of supplementary nutrition mandated by the Supreme Court under the ICDS programme.
It has also been found that the massive unspent funds meant for child nutrition is the highest for Assam at 95 percent, Bihar and Rajasthan at 71 percent each, Uttarakhand at 72 percent, Madhya Pradesh at 64 and Punjab at 56 percent.
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Information & Public Relations Officer,
National Human Rights Commission,
New Delhi, India. |
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