The Department of Women and Child Development has proposed to withdraw three of it’s five services under Sakaala which guarantees services to citizens within a stipulated time
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The department’s move to drop three services under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) – enrolment of children between 0 and 3 years, 3 and 6 years and pregnant and lactating mothers to anganwadis, comes as a shock at a time when more services are being included in the Sakaala scheme.
The other two services offered by the department are - issuance of disability certificates and identity cards for differently abled persons and senior citizen cards.
Moreover, the High Court had taken the department to task for its failure to tackle rising malnutrition cases among children below six years leading to deaths in the State.
Though the State has 68 lakh children below six years, the department has enrolled only 35 lakh children under the ICDS programme.
Despite these facts, Ramesh Zalki, principal secretary to the Department of Women and Child Development, said there was no demand for the services.
He noted that they received only a handful of applications seeking services under Sakaala. The truth is that the department has so far received 2,891 applications under Sakaala.
Justifying the withdrawal of services, Director of Department of Women and Child Development, P Hemalatha, told Deccan Herald that because it was bound to admit children and mothers to anganwadis, it did not qualify as a service.
“Since the court’s directive, the department has been proactive and hence the need to keep the services under Sakaala does not arise,” she said.
The issue has also been discussed with the Chief Secretary at several meetings, she added.
Despite various arguments put forth by the department, Shalini Rajneesh, Director of Sakaala Mission, said as the three services were critical, there was no need to remove the services from under the Mission.
Clifton Rosario, an advocate and member of the High Court-appointed committee to inquire into malnutrition deaths in Raichur, expressed dismay over the department’s proposal and said Sakaala was necessary to ensure universalisation of ICDS.
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