Odisha’s 71% anganwadis don't have access to safe drinking water, 81% lack toilet facility

Despite the Odisha government claimed efforts to transform the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) through anganwadis, their non-availability in tribal-dominated districts, lack of adequate infrastructure, and lack of its implementation pose a significant challenge to achieving holistic development among children, pregnant and lactating women in rural Odisha.
A survey report conducted by NGO Atmashakti Trust and its allies Odisha Shramajeebee Mancha and Mahila Shramajeebee Mancha, Odisha, conducted on 7,694 anganwadi centres, covering 9,856 villages under 866 gram panchayats of 89 blocks in 15 districts of Odisha, says that 81.04% anganwadis lack basic functional toilets and 71.47% (5,499) lack access to safe drinking water facilities.
Stating that these are “worrying trends”, the report says, out of the 9,856 villages surveyed, 19% (1,894) villages do not have any form of anganwadi centers, pointing out, as per the population norm for setting up new anganwadi centers, 11.1% (1,090) villages need to set them up.
Further, 12.74% (1,045) anganwadis do not have their building and are being run in a rented space, 26.97% (2148) of AWCs have no source of safe drinking water facilities in their premises and drinking water facilities in 57.62% (3,351 anganwadis are defunct. So, 71.47% (5499) AWCs lack access to safe drinking water facilities in the state.
Stating that a toilet in anganwadi is an add-on and creates a vital role in teaching hygienic behavior among children, the study says, “However, 41.39% (3,296) of them do not have toilet facilities. And, out of 4,668 anganwadis with a toilet, 67.65% (3,158) are not functional. So, a total of 81.04% anganwadis lack basic functional toilets in the state.”

Regarding the kitchen facilities in anganwadis, 31.19% (2484) of them do not have special kitchen facilities, the study says, adding, though irregularities in providing Take Home Ration (THR) are comparatively lower (9.73%) than other components, tribal-dominated districts such as Rayagada, Koraput, Malkangiri and Kandhamal have reported higher rates of irregularities.
“In Rayagada, 21.45% (201) of villages have reported irregularities in providing THR”, it adds.
“Given the way the ICDS scheme functions in the state and especially in rural areas, anganwadi centres are akin to the main battle tank in a war theatre and therefore need to be relooked from the lens of its immediate, underlying, and critical impact on malnutrition”, the study insists.

“The state government must establish new mini/main anganwadi centres as per existing norms immediately. For the balance of 10% left-outs, children must be enrolled in nearby anganwadis so that they do not miss the benefit of nutrition and early learning initiatives. Also, the government needs to improve the dilapidated anganwadi buildings by repairing and painting them on a priority basis,” it urges.

Comments

When Pakistanis whispered: ‘end military rule’ — A Moscow memoir

During the recent anti-terror operation inside Pakistan by the Government of India, called Operation Sindoor — a name some feminists consider patently patriarchal, even though it’s officially described as a tribute to the wives of the 26 husbands killed in the terrorist strike — I was reminded of my Moscow stint, which lasted for seven long years, from 1986 to 1993.

Ahmedabad's civic chaos: Drainage woes, waterlogging, and the illusion of Olympic dreams

In response to my blog on overflowing gutter lines at several spots in Ahmedabad's Vejalpur, a heavily populated area, a close acquaintance informed me that it's not just the middle-class housing societies that are affected by the nuisance. Preeti Das, who lives in a posh locality in what is fashionably called the SoBo area, tells me, "Things are worse in our society, Applewood."

Tracking a lost link: Soviet-era legacy of Gujarati translator Atul Sawani

The other day, I received a message from a well-known activist, Raju Dipti, who runs an NGO called Jeevan Teerth in Koba village, near Gujarat’s capital, Gandhinagar. He was seeking the contact information of Atul Sawani, a translator of Russian books—mainly political and economic—into Gujarati for Progress Publishers during the Soviet era. He wanted to collect and hand over scanned soft copies, or if possible, hard copies, of Soviet books translated into Gujarati to Arvind Gupta, who currently lives in Pune and is undertaking the herculean task of collecting and making public soft copies of Soviet books that are no longer available in the market, both in English and Indian languages.

RP Gupta a scapegoat to help Govt of India manage fallout of Adani case in US court?

RP Gupta, a retired 1987-batch IAS officer from the Gujarat cadre, has found himself at the center of a growing controversy. During my tenure as the Times of India correspondent in Gandhinagar (1997–2012), I often interacted with him. He struck me as a straightforward officer, though I never quite understood why he was never appointed to what are supposed to be top-tier departments like industries, energy and petrochemicals, finance, or revenue.

PharmEasy: The only online medical store which revises prices upwards after confirming the order

For senior citizens — especially those without a family support system — ordering medicines online can be a great relief. Shruti and I have been doing this for the last couple of years, and with considerable success. We upload a prescription, receive a verification call from a doctor, and within two or three days, the medicines are delivered to our doorstep.

Environmental report raises alarm: Sabarmati one of four rivers with nonylphenol contamination

A new report by Toxics Link , an Indian environmental research and advocacy organisation based in New Delhi, in collaboration with the Environmental Defense Fund , a global non-profit headquartered in New York, has raised the alarm that Sabarmati is one of five rivers across India found to contain unacceptable levels of nonylphenol (NP), a chemical linked to "exposure to carcinogenic outcomes, including prostate cancer in men and breast cancer in women."

Revisiting Gijubhai: Pioneer of child-centric education and the caste debate

It was Krishna Kumar, the well-known educationist, who I believe first introduced me to the name — Gijubhai Badheka (1885–1939). Hailing from Bhavnagar, known as the cultural capital of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat, Gijubhai, Kumar told me during my student days, made significant contributions to the field of pedagogy — something that hasn't received much attention from India's education mandarins. At that time, Kumar was my tutorial teacher at Kirorimal College, Delhi University.

A conman, a demolition man: How 'prominent' scribes are defending Pritish Nandy

How to defend Pritish Nandy? That’s the big question some of his so-called fans seem to ponder, especially amidst sharp criticism of his alleged insensitivity during his journalistic career. One such incident involved the theft and publication of the birth certificate of Masaba Gupta, daughter of actor Neena Gupta, in the Illustrated Weekly of India, which Nandy was editing at the time. He reportedly did this to uncover the identity of Masaba’s father.

Powering pollution, heating homes: Why are Delhi residents opposing incineration-based waste management

While going through the 50-odd-page report Burning Waste, Warming Cities? Waste-to-Energy (WTE) Incineration and Urban Heat in Delhi , authored by Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran of the well-known advocacy group Centre for Financial Accountability, I came across a reference to Sukhdev Vihar — a place where I lived for almost a decade before moving to Moscow in 1986 as the foreign correspondent of the daily Patriot and weekly Link .

Search This Blog