Government plans to set up 4 lakh aganwadi centres in the next 3-4 years as part of efforts to eliminate malnutrition and meet Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Lok Sabha was informed today.
"Restructuring of ICDS is the key focus of this government ... With the restructured ICDS, we are trying to eliminate malnutrition. We are planning to construct 4 lakh aganwadi centres across the country over the next 3-4 years," Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi said during her intervention in the debate on SDGs.
Elimination of malnutrition is one of the 17 goals of SDGs and its 169 targets.
The Minister acknowleged that there was an acute shortage of anganwadi buildings even outside high-burden districts. Therefore, there is a need to include other areas as well for construction of anganwadi buildings under the convergence of MGNREGA, she said.
With regard to women's safety, Gandhi said, panic button would be mandated in mobile phones from next year and self- regulatory code for the matrimonial websites were also being developed.
To sensitise about the women issue, she said, 33 per cent reservation in police force would go a long way in achieving this objective.
The government has issued draft National Policy for Women and the final draft is expected to be released next month, which shifts focus from entitlement to rights.
Besides, a legislation on trafficking of women and children should be ready by the end of next year, she said, adding that a large number of initiatives taken by Women and Child Development ministry will help in achieving the SDGs.
There has been significant improvement in the sex ratio in the last one year due to efforts and initiatives of this government, Gandhi claimed.
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Participating in the debate on SDG, Veerappa Moily (Cong) said India has its own set of problems and there are increasing conflicts with regard to dalits, gender equality, minorities, women and North eastern regions.
In the year 2000, 189 nations set eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which were to be achieved by 2015. In September 2010, the UNGA adopted a new set of goals called Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) to be achieved by 2030, which replaced the MDG, he noted.
Kunwar Bhartendra Singh (BJP) said the SDG has 17 goals amd 169 targets and to achieve it by 2030, 17 ministries are cordinating among themselves.
He said the government is pushing for upgradation of living condition so that every citizen gets access to clean drinking water, electricity, healthcare and basic education.
In 1990, there were 10 mega cities with 10 million population, which increased to 28 mega cities with 453 million population, Singh said.
Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar (TMC) said "to leave this world for our posterity, we have to protect this world...Budget allocation should be made towards meeting the 17 goals."
Agriculture is very important part of SDGs and depletion of land should be taken care of by scientists, she said, adding, "we need to protect and preserve our one world."
Tathagata Satpathy (BJD) disagreed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's stand of 'less government and more governance' and said there is rather a need for more government and less governance.
"We need more doctors, we need more teachers, we need more officials, more tehsildars, more BDOs to attend to the needs and capacity building," he said.
He also said that there is need to include agriculture in the education system so that importance of food and production is known to one and all, he added.
