The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : SHGs to take over food supply

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Sunday, Jun 29, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

SHGs to take over food supply

Bageshree S.

Bangalore: In a move that will have far-reaching implications for the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), the State Government has begun the process to decentralise the supply of foodgrains and pre-prepared “energy food” to anganwadi centres throughout the State by entrusting the responsibility to women’s self-help groups (SHGs).

According to a recent Government Order, this decision was in tune with the Supreme Court direction that the system should be decentralised and all the food requirements of the anganwadi kendras should be met through local initiatives and not through commercial institutions. Executive orders were issued in May to do away with the system of purchasing the grain in bulk from private companies and supplying it to all the districts.

Shalini Rajneesh, Secretary, Women and Child Development, told The Hindu that the process of training representatives of Stree Shakti Kendras to take on this responsibility was in progress throughout the State.

“Representatives from taluks are trained at Central Food Technological Research Institute in Mysore on issues related to nutrition,” she said.

The process would be “hopefully” completed by the end of the year and the new system would be fully functional.

Gulbarga District Planning Officer Vasant Kulkarni said that as per the directions of the State Government, guidelines had been finalised for the purchase of the grain and quotations invited from over 8,600 SHGs in the district.

Vimala, Deputy Director, Women and Child Welfare Department in Mysore, said they were in the process of inviting quotations.

World Bank-driven?

However, apprehensions had been expressed from some quarters that transferring the responsibility of food supply from Government to any other agency flowed from the World Bank recommendation and would eventually weaken ICDS. Karnataka State Anganwadi Workers’ Federation said that this would result in Government withdrawing from its responsibility.

S. Varalakshmi of the federation said similar experiments in places in Bihar had only muddled the system and proved burdensome on SHGs. The federation was suggesting that rather than break the system down into very small components, the responsibility of procurement should be given to at least taluk federations of SHGs.

(With additional inputs from T.V. Shivanandan in Gulbarga and Muralidhar Khajane in Mysore)

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