India steps up efforts to create awareness about importance of nutrition

The Tribal Affairs Ministry on Wednesday asked the states to organize gram sabhas to create awareness about the importance of nutrition at the grassroots level.

The government is celebrating the National Nutrition Month in September under its Poshan Abhiyan programme.

Secretary, Tribal Affairs, Deepak Khandekar Wednesday reviewed activities organized by the states to create awareness about the importance of nutrition among tribal people.

The ministry asked participants to organize gram sabhas "to focus on the issue of nutrition at the grassroots level".

Khandekar asked the states to organize special activities for tribal people and publicise them to make it a "Jan Andolan (people's movement) in the real sense".

During a video conference, representatives of the states told him that various activities are being organized in Eklavya Model Residential schools and government schools for "sensitization of ground-level functionaries, growth monitoring and anemia mapping among tribal children".

They said the states are also organizing essay and painting competitions, health check-up camps, seminars for parents of children, cooking competitions and providing nutrition training to cooks of tribal schools among others.

The National Nutrition Month is being steered by the Ministry of Women and Child Development in a convergence mode, and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs is a partner catering to the requirements of tribal populations.