CHANDIGARH: The Union Secretary for Women and Child Development, Reva Nayyar, on Monday said that a National Child Commission was likely to be set up soon as a Bill to this effect had been passed by Parliament and was awaiting consent of the President.

Talking to media persons shortly after the first session of the two-day Regional Consultation Meet on Nutrition, which began here on Monday, she said that although it would be a Central Act, the States could also set up child commissions. The Commission would have eight members including the Chairman and the Member-Secretary. The members would be experts on various aspects concerning children and the Commission would cover all areas affecting children and deal with issues of violations of rights of children besides guiding the Government regarding the problems of children. She added that there were nearly 42 crore children in India.

Earlier, inaugurating the meet, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda announced that the State Government would eradicate malnutrition among children below six years of age in the next five years in a phased manner. It would also institute a State- level award for the district which had no case of grade III and IV malnutrition. Mr.Hooda thanked the Union Minister of State for Women and Child Development, Kanti Singh, for the decision of the Central Government to bear 50 per cent expenditure of the States for providing supplementary nutrition.

He suggested that iodised salt as well as salt doubly fortified with iron and iodine should be made available to the people at subsidized rate in the market. And to overcome the problem of micronutrient deficiencies, the Centre might think of fortification of flour with micronutrients in flour mills. He also called for strengthening the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) by upgrading the knowledge of functionaries and providing them necessary equipment.

Mr. Hooda said that the State Government would provide adequate funds for supplementary nutrition under ICDS and this programme would not suffer for want of funds. The year 2006 had already been declared as the `Girl Child Year' to focus on implementation of schemes for the welfare of girls. And to combat the problem of female foeticide and arrest the declining sex ratio, a new scheme "LADLI'' had been launched under which Rs. 5,000 per year per family was being given on the birth of second daughter up to five years. Speaking on the occasion, Union Minister Kanti Singh expressed concern over the problem of malnutrition in the country despite achieving self- sufficiency in foodgrain production. She sought the cooperation of non-government organisations to play a significant role in checking the problem of malnutrition.

Haryana Social Welfare and Health Minister Kartar Devi suggested that nutrition should be included as a subject in the syllabi of schools. The National Food and Nutrition Board should organise camps in rural areas to make the people aware of the significance of nutritious diet.

Haryana Chief Secretary Meenaxi Anand Chaudhry suggested that a multi-pronged strategy should be adopted to check the problem of malnutrition which should include creating awareness among people and implementation of nutrition based programme.

She said that there was no shortage of food, but there was a need to make the people aware of the ill effects of malnutrition.

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