Alleging that the food items, which are presently distributed through the anganwadis among the pregnant women and lactating women to help them gain all kinds of nutrients necessary for the growth and development of their children, are less in the nutritious value and so are unworthy to meet the purpose for which the program is developed, Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi has disagreed with the ministry’s proposal to continue the old process of sourcing the food items to be distributed through the anganwadis from locally available sources and proposed the plan to replace the locally sourced food items with the factory-made food items, which have high nutritious value.
As a result of the disagreement generated between the ministry and minister, two separate guidelines related to the distribution of nutritious food items through the anganwadis have been prepared: one by the minister and another by the ministry.
Those people who oppose the plan of the minister have alleged that the proposed move of the minister to introduce the factory-made food items may benefit the food production conglomerates, more than the poor beneficiaries.
Actually, in the minister’s proposal, there is no clarity in the term factory-made food; there is still confusion whether the concerned public authorities should set up factories to produce the nutrient rich food items or should the conglomerates are approached for such products.
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