Tirath launches Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Programme on National Girl Child Day

Women and Child Development Minister Krishna Tirath launched a Multi Sectoral Nutrition Programme (MSNP) and National Resource Platform (NRP) on the occasion of National Girl Child Day.

National Girl Child Day commemorates the day when Indira Gandhi was sworn in as the first woman prime minister of the country on January 24, 1966.

Speaking on the occasion, Tirath said the Multi -Sectoral Nutrition Programme (MSNP) aims to bring inter-sectoral convergence and coherence in policy, planning and action with a core focus on both direct interventions and indirect interventions for maternal and child under nutrition, thus providing a continuum of care and follow a life cycle approach.

The programme will be implemented as a special intervention in 200 high burden districts spread over 19 states, beginning with 100 districts in the current financial year, she added.

Tirath also launched the Nutrition Resource Platform (NRP) that aims to collect, collate and make available resources and materials on nutrition and child development to various stakeholders.

Tirath said that child sex ratio in the 0-6 year age group has declined steeply from 927 in 2001 to 919 in 2011 implying that millions of girls went missing in just a decade.

She stated that her ministry's efforts are directed at ensuring the survival of the girl child and her right to be nurtured to grow up and be an informed, secure and productive participating member of the community and society.