The Bihar government, UNICEF and the Rajendra Agriculture University, Pusa today entered into an agreement to reduce malnourishment among women and children in the state.
As per the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between the three, an Agriculture Nutrition Cell would be set up in the Rajendra Agriculture University, Pusa.
UNICEF head of Bihar Yamin Mazumdar, Vice Chancellor of Rajendra Agriculture University R C Shrivastava and Director of Mid-Day Meal Harihar Prasad were present on the occasion.
Addressing the function, VC R C Shrivastava said the Nutrition cell would assess the nutritional value of foodgrains available at local level in different areas of Bihar.
MDM Director said that the nutritional quality assessment of food would help help quality of food served to students in 7,000 schools of Bihar.
He stressed on establishing Food Laboratory to measure quality of food and urged Rajendra Agriculture University to take initiative in this direction.
UNICEF head of Bihar Yamin Mazumdar said malnourishment was not only an health problem but also concerned with social, economic and cultural affairs.
He emphasised on coordination among different departments like health, agriculture, social welfare and education among others to improve standard of nutrition among women and children in Bihar.
Nutritional expert of UNICEF Ravi Narayan Padhi emphasised on improving nutritional value in food among children to overcome problem of short height in proportion to their age.
The UN body said that there are approximately 10.2
million children working in India and there has been an overall decline in the number of boys and girls working, although child labour has increased in urban areas.
"This increase is mainly due to children migrating or being trafficked to work in hazardous small scale industries or construction sites.
"Family or home-based work for children in India is often hazardous and includes working in cotton fields, making bangles and bidis, rolling tobacco, carpet weaving and metal work," it said.
To strengthen the Bill and provide a protective legal framework for children, UNICEF India recommended the removal of 'children helping in family enterprises'.
"This will protect children from being exploited in invisible forms of work, from trafficking and from boys and girls dropping out of school due to long hours of work," the body said.
It said that a robust monitoring mechanism ensuring accountability of all stakeholders is essential, particularly because there is no reference to trafficking of children for work in the current Bill.
UNICEF India also recommended an exhaustive list of hazardous occupations to be included and a system be developed to periodically review the same and include more occupations as they emerge.
