Janjivan Bureau
New Delhi: After Vyapam and Lalit Modi scam now the Congress attacked on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the low level of immunizations and Child malnutrition in Gujrat.Congress senior leader Jairam Ramesh alleged that every time BJP is giving the example of Gujrat model for the developments, but the claim of BJP is far from the truth. Now the Modi Sarkar has deliberately suppressed the results of a survey conducted on the health and well-being of children below the age of 6 years across the country. The survey was conducted by the Ministry of Women and Child Development-UNICEF between the November 2013 and May 2014.
Congress alleged that the results of the survey have been deliberately suppressed because they reveal that child malnutrition as measured by body weight and height has come down during the ten years of the UPA government from 42.5% to 30%; and child immunisation levels in Gujarat are shockingly low, proportion of hungry children and of stunting worse than national average.
“The proportion of children aged 12-23 months who are fully immunised in Gujarat is 56.2% while in Bihar it is 60% and the national average is around 65%. The proportion of children below the age of 5 years who are stunted is 42% in Gujarat which is higher than the national average of around 40%”, Jairam said. The proportion of children below the age of 5 years who are underweight is 33.5% in Gujarat as compared to the national average of 29%. 60% of households in rural Gujarat continue to defecate in the open as compared to the national average of 61.5%. Yet, the allocation for drinking water and sanitation in the 2015/16 Budget has been slashed from about Rs 15,000 crore to around Rs 6000 crore.
Child malnutrition is still unacceptably high in India but it has come down significantly because of social sector programmes like ICDS, mid-day meal scheme and Janani Suraksha Yojana that were given the highest priority by the UPA government. Tragically, these are the very programmes for which the allocations have been drastically reduced in the 2015/16 Budget. The allocation for ICDS, for instance, has been slashed from over Rs 18,000 crore to just about Rs 8000 crore and for the mid-day scheme from over Rs 3000 crore to under Rs 1200 crore.
As far as Gujarat is concerned, its performance does not do full justice to its level of economic development and rate of economic growth. In terms of per capita income, Gujarat has always been amongst the very top amongst states long before Mr. Modi became chief minister and it has continued to occupy that position. But in health and in social sectors in general it has been well-known for some time that Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka have performed far better than Gujarat. The Ministry of Women and Child Development- UNICEF survey now reveals that even poorer states like Bihar have done better in some areas than Gujarat.
The deliberate suppression of the survey conducted jointly with the Ministry of Women and Child Development & UNICEF goes against our long-established traditions of democracy and openness. It brings no credit whatsoever to us as a society where this is frank debate and discussion. It is however perfectly understandable that the Prime Minister has kept the survey under wraps because it shows his predecessor in good light and raises several question marks on his own much-touted record as Chief Minister of Gujarat.