Upload malnutrition data on websites by Feb: HC asks Maha govt

In a bid to help fight the menace of malnutrition in tribal areas, the Bombay High Court today asked the Maharashtra Government to upload data on this issue on Zilla Parishad websites in 11 sensitive pockets across the state by February 2014.
The 11 sensitive areas include Thane, Nashik, Yavatmal, Gadchiroli, Amravati and Nandurbar districts.
The order was passed by a bench headed by Justices S J Vajifdar, which ordered uploading of data on malnutrition cases on Zilla Parishad websites latest by February 28.
Such data on websites should be on the lines of the ones already uploaded on websites in two talukas, Dharni and Chikaldhara, in Melghat area of the state, the judges said.

The HC has ordered the state to upload malnutrition data on websites so that NGOs and the state government can take steps to fight the menace.
The bench was hearing a bunch of PILs, including that of Purnima Upadhyay, seeking effective implementation of the state and central schemes to fight malnourishment in Melghat.

Upadhyay is a member of the core committee set up by the government to implement schemes to fight malnourishment in tribal areas.
Government pleader Neha Bhide informed the court that the state had invited tenders for developing a software programme to facilitate the online filling of monthly progress report of Anganwadis (pre-primary schools in tribal areas).

The court ordered that the copy of the tender be given to the petitioners by December 24 and adjourned the matter for further hearing to February 14.
The pleader also informed the court that with regard to the 11 sensitive tribal areas, apart from Melghat, the local authorities had written down details about malnutrition cases of tribal children in registers maintained at Anganwadis.
Such details about malnutrition were already available for Melghat, while for the rest of the 11 sensitive areas it can be made available in the same format. However, it would take some time, following which the court gave the state time till February 28 to upload such data on the websites.

There are 98,000 Anganwadis in the state and 85 lakh children are looked after in these institutions, the pleader told the court.