In today’s age of digitalization where we order our favourite food and it is made to reach at our doorsteps courtesy of the food delivery app which has made our lives easy. But a thought also arises that what about the children and pregnant women? What if they too sometimes feel like having their favourite nutritious food? Therefore,to combat malnutrition, especially for mothers and children who are in atrocious need of nutrition, the Government of India has launched the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) program under SND-The Supplementary Nutrition Program. Millions of needy beneficiaries are taking advantage of the Take Home Ration Scheme which provides nutritious meals at their doorsteps.
This program provides various nutrition and health services to pregnant women for the initial 1,000 days. This phase is important to prevent the long-term side effects associated with malnutrition, especially during pregnancy and when infants stop breastfeeding. The aim of Take Home Ration is to provide hot-cooked, nutritious and tasty food to the children of 3 to 6 years of age who come to school regularly and to provide nutritious food for breastfeeding mothers. This food is distributed once in a month for the mother’s to take home and use it and hence it is named “Take-Home Ration”.
Phase like pandemic situation often bring with them opportunities for innovative changes.Such initiative like Take Home Ration have the opportunity to look and think beyond the only motive of filling an empty stomach and come forward with something new. The time has come to shift this thought from food security to nutrition security. During such pandemic lakhs s of people suffer from malnutrition due to the unavailability of locally produced fresh food. Take Home Ration is becoming a bridge to address this nutritional gap. If we talk about the budget for the current year 2022-23 as compared to previous year under the leadership of Gujarat Chief Minister Shri Bhupendra Patel and under the continuous guidance of Minister for Women and Child Development Smt. Manisha Vakil for the schemes of Women and Child Development Department, a total of Rs. 4,976 crore which means an increase of 42%.
The government of Gujarat wants to ensure that pregnant mothers get nutritious food and quality protein for their newborns and that is the reason why such diet is planned out for pregnant mothers which has required nutritional value in it and which is helpful for the newborn as well.
In the current year’s budget of 2022-23 ,to distribute Sukhadi ( Indian sweet made from wheat flour and jaggery) at home to children of 3 to 6 years. Allocation of Rs. 1,059 crore has been made by GoG ( Government of Gujarat) to provide Take Home Ration to children, adolescents and pregnant- lactating mothers. Care for women’s health as well as to ensure that required nutrition is provided at every stage of life cycle is essential for a healthy future generation.
The period from a woman’s pregnancy till the period where child reaches the age of two years is considered to be a golden time for the health of pregnant- lactating mothers as well as for the health of the children. So the government has decided to implement various schemes to improve the health and nutrition of adolescents, pregnant and lactating mothers.
In order to add protein, fat as well as micro-nutrients in their diet for the next five years, ‘Suposhit Mata-Swastha Bal Yojana’, which will be implemented at a cost of Rs 4 thousand crore, will provide one kg of Toor dal, two kg of Chickpeas and one litre of Edible Oil to pregnant and lactating mothers free of cost for 1000 days.
Thus, adequate budget has been allocated for the Take Home Ration Scheme to reach the target that is set for the needy. Thus with such strategic changes, it is helping to achieve nutritional security across nation and most importantly to reach the impoverished.
