ICDS programme not being properly implemented due to inadequate number of Anganwadi workers in J&K: AP
Post by on Sunday, June 12, 2022
Srinagar, June 11: Former Cabinet Minister and Apni Party’s senior vice-president Gulam Hassan Mir Saturday said that the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme run by the Social Welfare department is failing to get its desired results due to an inadequate number of workers at the Anganwadi centres in Jammu and Kashmir.
In a statement, Gulam Hassan Mir said, “The ICDS scheme is an extraordinary programme that has the potential to take care of under-nutritioned children. This scheme is fully financed by the Government of India. But in our part of the country, the scheme seems to be failing to achieve its objective just because we do not have the required number of Anganwadi workers here, who could implement the scheme on the ground.”
Mir further said, “Just because we do not have Anganwadi workers available at every centre, the entitled children (up to the age of six) are deprived of the Supplementary Nutrition in these centers. And, eventually, we fail to improve the nutritional and health status of our children, especially of those who are living in the far-flung villages.”
“The irony is that despite huge vacancies of Anganwadi workers, the posts are not filled because the government has put a ban on filling up these posts,” he added.
AP senior vice-president said that by not filling the Anganwadi vacancies we, on one hand, are making these important social work centers virtually defunct, and on the other hand, we spoil the Central Government funds that are coming under the ICDS scheme.
Mir urged the Lieutenant Governor administration to lift the ban on filling up the vacant Anganwadi posts so that the ICDS scheme is properly implemented in terms of providing nutrition to the children in each and every corner of Jammu and Kashmir.
He hoped that the administration would not waste further time in filling up the vacancies of the Anganwadi workers, wherever they needed to be filled.
