On August 25,2019 the Prime Minister(PM) of India Shri Narendra Modi announced in his “Mann Ki Baat”programme(PM addressing the nation programme) to celebrate September month, as a month of nutrition as part of ‘POSHAN Abhiyaan’(National Nutrition Mission).
Key points:
Address by Modi:
- Emphasis on creating awareness to fight malnutrition among children, particularly the girl child were the key topics covered in his Mann Ki baat programme via radio.
- Citizens were asked to celebrate Gandhi Jayanti on October 2, by starting a movement to make India plastic-free.
About Poshan Abhiyan:
POSHAN Abhiyaan (National Nutrition Mission) is a flagship programme of the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD), Government of India.
Aim: To achieve improvement in nutritional status of Children from 0-6 years, Adolescent Girls, Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers in a time bound manner during the next three years beginning 2017-18.
Target year: It is a multi-ministerial convergence mission with the aim to make india free from malnutrition by 2022.
objective: To reduce stunting in identified Districts of India with the highest malnutrition burden by improving utilization of key Anganwadi Services and improving the quality of Anganwadi Services delivery.
Previous state projects:
Chief Minister Vijay Rupani(Gujarat) also launched ‘Purna’ project to eliminate malnutrition among the girls. The project aims to eliminate malnutrition among girls especially in the age group of 14 to 18 in which the government had also allocated Rs. 270 crores for this pilot project.
About PURNA project:
PURNA project is the abbreviation of ‘Prevention of under Nutrition and Reduction of Nutritional Anaemia among Adolescent Girls’ launched under the aegis of the State Women and Child Development Department in 2018. The PURNA project is launched to provide nutritional food to infants for the first 1,000 days from birth. The awareness campaign during the September will further boost the Poshan Abhiyan in the state.