Lok Sabha Question No. 121 (STARRED), answered on 2017-03-09
Subject: Nutrition Capacity Building Initiative—“Sangam’’
Ministry: RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: PONGULETI SRINIVASA REDDY

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA

## STARRED QUESTION NO. 121 TO BE ANSWERED ON 09.03.2017

Nutrition Capacity Building Initiative -'Sangam''

## *121. SHRI PONGULETI SRINIVASA REDDY:

Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

(a) whether various studies have revealed that Poverty and Malnutrition are the main cau stunted  children  in  the  country  and  a  collective  effort  by  involving  various  stakeho requir ed to combat malnutrition and stunted growth among children and if so, the details th

(b) whether the Union Government/ National Institute of Rural Development, Panchayati (NIRD&PR)  has  initiated  some  steps  towards  'Multi  Sector  Nutrition  Capaci ty  Building Initiative -Sangam', if so, the details thereof;

- (c) the salient features of the project; and
- (d) the details of the goals set under the project and achievements made so far?

ANSWER MINISTER OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT ( SHRI NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR )

- ( a) to(d)A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## Statement referred to in reply to Lok S abha Starred Question No. 121 due for answer on 09.0 3.201 7

( a) to (d) Ministry  of  Health  and  Family  Welfare  has  recently  published National Family Health Survey -4 for 2015 - 16.  The results show that incidence of stunted growth among the children under 5 years of age has reduced by nearly 10 percent age point s form 48% in 2005 - 06 to 38.4%in 2015 - 16. Th e studyhas indicated that poverty and malnutrition are the important causes for child stunting, among others. To foster collective effort involving various sectors t combat malnutrition and stunted growth ,Government has taken multi - dimensional approach to address  issues  related  to housing,sanitation,  drinking  water,  health, education, economic empowerment , awareness generation to reduce poverty. Initiatives such asconstruction of toilets under  Swachh  Bharat  Mission,  nutrition  supplement  under  Integrated  Child  Developmen Scheme,  improvemen t  in  health  infrastructure  under  National  Health  Mission,  access  to drinking water under National Rural Drinking Water Programme have thepotential to address the problem of stunted growth effectively . In addition to this ,the Ministry of Rural Develo pment isimplementingMahatma  Gandhi National  Rural  Employment  Guarantee Scheme, National Rural Livelihoods Mission, Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana -Gramin for economic empowerment and poverty reduction.

National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj ( NIRD&PR )has initiated a project called "Multi Sector Nutrition Capacity Building Initiative - Sangam" in January, 2016 with the  support  of United Nations  International Children's Emergency  Fund ( UNICEF ) .  The duration of the project is for 3 years.

The  project  aims  to  prepare  a  training  module  with  mapping  of  domain  expert brainstorming workshop and develop capacities of development functionaries for sensitiz towards nutrition aspects and malnutrition.

The mandate of 'Sangam' scheme i s to

- i.Develop a  multi - modular  learning  kit  in  select  sectors  for  Nutrition  Capacity  build among  the  officials  of  rural  development,  Panchayati  Raj  and  allied  departme representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions and civil society organizations.
- ii. Roll - out, disseminate and institutionalize these multi - s ctoral nutrition capacity building initiatives.

During the initial phase, work related to landscape mapping of sectors and struct training module has been developed.