The Covid-19 pandemic has affected the rich and poor disproportionately. So did the Covid-induced lockdowns. But unfortunately, even re-opening phase hasn't been completely egalitarian.
Cinema halls, gyms, schools, flights, you name it, literally everything has reopened, but not the Anganwadi Centres. It's instances like these which depict some institutions are an after-thought and rural child care centres in India being one.
Twitter user Prashansa Srivastava highlighted the mismatch in logic, in her post, "Why are Anganwadi Centres still shut when cinema halls, malls, flights, literally everything else is open now? And why aren't more people talking about this? Kids are losing out on pre-school, meals, pregnant women on info on nutrition+schemes, why is all of this okay?"
No amount of post mortem research on malnourished children and underdeveloped human resource will make up for the need to act at the right time. "Please don't write a paper on the long term effects on hunger and malnutrition of a 2-year shutdown of AWCs if you aren't organising or speaking up about their meaningless shutdown right now," says the thread further.
Anganwadi centres, an integral part of child welfare
Anganwadis are rural child care centres in India and is a welfare initiative started by the government in 1975. They were started to combat child hunger, nutritional and other development needs of a child at a pre-school age. They also provide basic health care facilities in villages like contraceptive counselling, immunization, ORS salts, OTC medicines, nutrition education and thus, are a very integral and significant tool in child and woman welfare and development.
The state of Anganwadi Centres in India
Recently, a survey to identify malnutrition children in Maharashtra had found as many as 18,914 children under severe acute malnutrition (SAM) category. Over 59 lakh children below six years of age were surveyed in the second quarter of this year as part of the State Women and Child Development campaign, called Nandurbar Pattern. As per several ground reports, the situation is no better in other states of India.
Why are they last thing to open?
One user tried explaining why the centres were an after-thought. On one side there are cinema halls, gyms and hospitality ventures wherein the government makes money for every day they are operational, then there are places like Anganwadi centres where the government needs to spend money for every single day they are functional.
Anganwadi Centres in Karnataka
The Karnataka Government has announced reopening of Anganwadi Centres (AWCs) in the state from November 8. However, initially in the first stage of reopening, they will be operational only from 10 a.m to 12 pm. The take-home ration scheme will continue.
The workers and parents will have to be fully vaccinated to avail the physical facilities of Anganwadi centres. This decision was based on recommendations put forth by Covid-19 Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) earlier last month.
