A parliamentary panel today came down heavily on Women and Child Development Ministry for its 'casual' approach in handling the problem of infant mortality rate (IMR) and asked it to submit a response in the matter.
The Parliamentary Committee on Estimates in its report on Malnutrition in Infant and Mother (action taken by the government on the recommendations contained in the Twentysixth Report of the Committee on Estimates) took serious note of the high rate of stunting and wasting among children under five years in the 100 focus districts.
"The Committee had expressed apprehension regarding achievements of Millennium Development Goals to bring down IMR to 28 per 1000 live births by 2015. Unfortunately, there is no response of the government to the aforesaid observation of the Committee except that problem is complex and multiple causes are responsible for it," it said.
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"Deploring such a casual approach towards the serious problem of IMR and while reiterating their earlier recommendation, the Committee urges the ministry to furnish a concrete response to their observations along details of new initiatives and remedial measures taken or proposed to be taken for vigorous implementation of nutrition-related programmes with active cooperation and involvement of state governments," the report said.
The Committee has also recommended new and innovative steps such as providing of nutritious food packets using locally produced agricultural and horticultural products that are duly certified.
The panel has also sought explanation from the ministry for not conducting National Family Health Survey in 2014.
The Committee in their original report had expressed serious concerns over the occurrence of high rate of anaemia among children and women in the country, which increased significantly from 1998 to 2005.
"Surprisingly, in response to the Committee's recommendation to furnish information on achievements in the reduction of anaemia during last five years among women and children, the ministry has blandly stated that no such information is available with them and that the next round of NFHS is being conceptualized.
"The ministry needs to explain as to why the NFH survey was not conducted in 2014 as originally planned," the report said.
