'Glorified' Gujarat a deception: Gurudas Dasgupta

Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Gurudas Dasgupta on Saturday lauded Comptroller and Auditor General's (CAG) effort to expose malnutrition in the 'glorified' state of Gujarat, and said that the portrayal of a glittering and a developed state is an absolute deception.

He further questioned the credibility of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi who is BJP's Prime Ministerial aspirant, saying that if he is unable to take care of malnutrition in his own state, he cannot solve poverty issues in case he became the Prime Minister.

"CAG has all along exposed many hidden truths, this Gujarat malnutrition report is one of them. CAG has done this to tell the country that it is not all heaven in Gujarat. All that is being campaigned that Gujarat is glittering; Gujarat is glory is total falsehood. If Modi cannot take care of malnutrition in his state then how will he solve poverty issues in the country if he becomes the Prime Minister?" he questioned.

Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Naresh Agarwal, echoing similar sentiments, said that Modi should first handle problems in his own state, and then talk about tackling the issues in the country.

"Narendra Modi is not interested in taking care of flood situation in the state. He is just interested is criticizing other political parties, but he should look into his own state's affairs. He should first try to handle the problems of Gujarat, then talk of tackling the problems of the country," he said.

The CAG on Friday released its report of the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) in Gujarat, which is aimed at fighting malnutrition among children, and concluded that every third child in the state is underweight.

"Though there were 223.16 lakh eligible beneficiaries under Supplementary Nutrition (SN) programme under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), 63.37 lakh beneficiaries were left out," the CAG said in its report, which was tabled in the state Assembly on October 4.

"As against the target of 300 nutrition days annually, shortfall in providing SN was up to 96 days. Every third child in the state was reported as underweight. Shortfall of 27 per cent to 48 per cent was noticed in the implementation of nutrition programme for adolescent girls," the report added.

The CAG report also concluded that the Gujarat population of 1.87 crore was deprived of the benefits of ICDS.

In November 2008, the Centre had directed the Gujarat government to submit a proposal for additional projects based on the revised population criteria, however, the state failed to do so.

ICDS was launched in 1975 by the Central Government to endorse the all-round development of children, -upto the age of six-expectant and lactating mothers and adolescent girls through package services comprising of nutrition, immunisation, health check-ups, health education and informal education of young children.

ICDS, which was funded entirely by the Centre till 2009, is now sponsored 10 percent by the state and 90 percent by the Centre.