The Hindu : Other States / Orissa News : 34 couples selected for Prerna award

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34 couples selected for Prerna award

Staff Reporter

They have fulfilled the model parenthood criterion set up by NPSF

Couples belong to Nabarangpur, a remote district in the State
They will get Kissan Vikas Patras worth Rs. 15,000 to Rs. 19,000

BHUBANESWAR: As many as 34 couples from Nabarangpur, a remote district of Orissa, have been chosen for Prerna award, instituted by the National Population Stabilisation Fund (NPSF), for fulfilling model parenthood criteria.

These couples will get Kissan Vikas Patras worth Rs. 15,000 to Rs. 19,000.

According to Prerna guidelines, the girl must belong to BPL category and marry after 19 years of age. Moreover, she should have given birth to first child after attaining 21 years of age and second child keeping a gap of 36 months. Subsequently one parent must undergo sterilisation after the second child is born.

These couples were selected by communities with the help of the district administration.

“It is surveyed that 65 per cent of girls were married around the age of 16. Before the age of 19, they gave birth their first child.

As a result many children in India have stunted growth and underweight. We also witness high child mortality,” NPSF executive Shailaja Chandra said.

She said NPSF, which was instituted with a corpus fund of Rs. 100 crore and mandate to catalyse a movement in favour of population stabilisation and turn it into a people’s programme, was looking for model couple in 261 districts of the country.

“In the first stage we have taken up Nabarangpur and Malakanagiri district of the State. We noticed high rate of success from Nabarangpur district while there was no satisfactory development in the Malakanagiri,” Ms. Chandra said.

“We are going to look for similar role models in districts such as Angul, Khurda and Puri district,” she said.

In Orissa, although it was difficult to conduct one lakh sterilization operations annually, there were 1.25 lakh sterilization operations last year, largely due to implementation of the National Rural Health Mission.

Similarly, 52 accredited private nursing homes in the State will be encouraged to join hands to provide services for sterilization under another flagship programme, Santushi.

NPSF would offer Rs. 15,000 as start up advance and Rs. 500 per case extra if 30 or more operations are conducted in a day.

“It is important to change mindset. Government cannot do it alone. Civil societies and private organisations will have to be roped in,” Ms. Chandra said explaining the NPSF’s attempt to partner with the private sectors.

Earlier, the NPSF Executive Director met State Health Minister Sanatan Bisi and Secretary Anu Garg.

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