Maharashtra emerges as top-performer in Suposhit Gram Panchayat Abhiyaan

Posted on by Vividh Bharathi

Mumbai, Feb 25 (IANS) Maharashtra Minister of Women and Child Welfare Aditi Tatkare on Wednesday said that 192 Gram Panchayats from the state have secured positions among the top 1,000 performing Gram Panchayats in the country — the highest representation by any state in the ‘Suposhit Gram Panchayat Abhiyaan’.

This milestone reflects the state’s strong commitment to strengthening nutrition outcomes at the grassroots level, she said.

The Suposhit Gram Panchayat Abhiyaan is a national initiative aimed at improving nutritional indicators by converging efforts of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), health departments, local self-governments and community stakeholders. The campaign focuses on reducing malnutrition, improving maternal and child health, strengthening Anganwadi services and ensuring last-mile delivery of nutrition interventions, said the minister.

“Maharashtra’s success is the result of coordinated action, robust monitoring mechanisms, community participation and dedicated efforts of ICDS officers, supervisors, Anganwadi workers and frontline functionaries across districts. Focused interventions under POSHAN Abhiyaan, strengthened growth monitoring, behavioural change communication and targeted outreach to vulnerable beneficiaries have played a pivotal role in achieving these outcomes,” said Minister Tatkare.

She congratulated all officers and field functionaries for their tireless efforts and reiterated the government’s commitment to building a ‘Suposhit Maharashtra’ through sustained policy support, innovation and accountability.

“This achievement not only sets a national benchmark but also serves as a strong motivation to further intensify nutrition-focused initiatives across the state,” she remarked.

According to the department, Suposhit Gram Panchayat Abhiyaan serves as a powerful catalyst for change, inspiring communities to embrace sustainable practices and innovative approaches in their fight against malnutrition. It focuses on improving nutritional outcomes through practices such as the use of millets in Hot Cooked Meals (HCM) & Take Home Ration (THR), the development of Poshan Vatikas/nutri-gardens in Anganwadi Centres (AWCs), using its produce for preparation of HCM for the beneficiaries and diet diversity and use of local food. In addition, best practices emerging from the Anganwadi Centres are regularly documented and disseminated for wider adoption.

–IANS

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Under the ‘Grants-in-aid’ component of the Pradhan Mantri Anusuchit Jaati Abhyuday Yojana, 9,549 projects have been approved and central assistance of Rs 1,219.80 crore has been released, benefiting 2,01,006 SC beneficiaries, Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, Ramdas Athawale, told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply.

PM-AJAY is a centrally-sponsored scheme being implemented since 2021-22. The scheme has three components — Adarsh Gram, Grants-in-aid for District/State-level Projects for Socio-Economic betterment of Scheduled Caste (SC) Communities, and Hostels.

So far, 866 hostels are sanctioned under the hostel component of PM-AJAY, covering 69,212 beneficiaries and an amount of Rs 936.27 crore has been released, thereby encouraging students belonging to scheduled castes to attain quality education.

Out of the total hostels sanctioned, 96 hostels are under construction.

Meanwhile, the government has introduced various schemes to promote entrepreneurship and innovation amongst scheduled castes.

The Venture Capital Fund for Scheduled Castes (VCF-SC), with a corpus of Rs 750 crore, provides concessional finance ranging from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 15 crore at a 4 per cent coupon rate. This fund is managed by IFCI Venture Capital Ltd.

Additionally, the Ambedkar Social Innovation and Incubation Mission (ASIIM), supports SC students, researchers, and entrepreneurs in Technology Business Incubators (TBIs) and Atal Incubation Centers (AICs).

Under ASIIM, Rs 30 lakh equity funding is provided over three years to help start-ups in sectors such as agriculture technology, IT, environment, waste management, and green energy.

As of now, 245 SC-owned companies have been sanctioned financial assistance of Rs 588.4 crore under the Venture Capital Fund for Scheduled Castes, including ASIIM, the government said.

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Differences in Bengal BJP after Dilip Ghosh attends CM’s Jagannath temple event

Kolkata, May 1 (IANS) Internal differences within the West Bengal unit of the BJP have aggravated further as senior party leader and former state president Dilip Ghosh on Thursday, vehemently criticised his colleagues for attacking him after he attended the inauguration ceremony of the Lord Jagannath temple at Digha in East Midnapore district.

He attended the event with his newly-wedded wife Rinku Ghosh on Wednesday.

Although Ghosh did not name anyone directly from his conversation, it was clear that his target was the Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, who was the principal organiser and coordinator of a religious rally of “Sanatani” Hindus at Contai, also in East Midnapore district on Wednesday. The timing of this rally coincided with the inauguration ceremony of the Lord Jagannath temple at Digha.

Ghosh bypassed the religious rally at Contai and preferred to attend the temple inauguration despite the distance between the two venues being barely 35 kilometres. Besides attending the inauguration ceremony of the temple, reportedly modelled after the iconic Shree Jagannath Temple at Puri in Odisha, and offering Puja there, Ghosh and his wife were also seen interacting cordially with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee within the temple premises. Photographs of that interaction have already flooded social media.

On Thursday morning, while speaking to the media persons, Ghosh indirectly attacked Adhikari without naming him over the latter’s previous stints with Trinamool Congress before he joined the BJP.

“Those who are resorting to tall talk now once nurtured their political career under the patronage of Mamata Banerjee. Those who are now surviving on the leftovers of the BJP once survived on the leftovers of Trinamool Congress. Those surviving on leftovers are now trying to certify me,” Ghosh said on Thursday morning.

A two-time Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha member and also the former West Bengal Transport Minister, Adhikari, joined the Trinamool Congress before the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections. In those polls, Adhikari was elected from the Nandigram Assembly constituency in East Midnapore, defeating the erstwhile Trinamool Congress candidate and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

While attacking Adhikari indirectly, Ghosh also recollected the good relationship between Mamata Banerjee and the former Indian Prime Minister Late Atal Bihari Vajpayee when Trinamool Congress was part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

“Vajpayee-ji, as the prime minister, once went to the residence of Mamata Banerjee and touched the feet of her mother. Mamata Banerjee was with us then. There is no reason to consider her as our enemy now,” Ghosh said.

Ghosh’s attack comes despite Adhikari, on Wednesday, refraining from commenting on the situation despite being repeatedly asked by media persons.

“I will not give any reaction to this issue. Today I will speak only about the Hindu religion. As the Leader of Opposition, I will not comment or give any reaction to any action by or statement from anybody else other than the Chief Minister,” Adhikari said on Wednesday.

–IANS

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Rugby player Priya Bansal appreciates govt support, PM Modi’s resolve for Viksit Bharat on Women’s Day

New Delhi, March 6 (IANS) On the occasion of International Women’s Day, rugby player Priya Bansal reminisced about the numerous hurdles she had to surmount to excel in a sport considered by many as a male bastion.

When she started, not only did Priya not get any support, but there was also the threat of being married off at a very young age. She surmounted all those challenges and has represented the country for over a decade. She is currently working as a teacher in Rewari in Haryana.

Priya comes from a family background where there was no support for women taking up sport and despite there being no appreciation for her efforts, she has represented India for 10 years, playing at the Asian level.

“The biggest challenge I had to face was that rugby is not very developed in India. I started playing in 2011, but I did not get any appreciation. I am from a family background where the girls were told not to wear shorts, not to make friends, and not to go out. In 2012, I got selected for the national team. But I was told that I would have to get married.

“I had two options, either marriage or selection in the Indian team. I worked hard, I held my ground, and I went on to represent the Indian team. It was a life-changing moment,” Priya told IANS.

Priya says she wants to continue representing the Indian national team. Marriage is definitely on the horizon but only after achieving her goals. “I broke the tradition of childhood marriage,” says Priya proudly.

She says the government and society are now supporting women in all fields. “My family, government, and society have been very supportive. Because of my family’s support, I could reach this stage. We come from a section of society where we are told not to wear shorts, not to go out, and not to be friends with boys. But my father supported me a lot. ‘You go ahead, I am with you’, he would say. “The government has also played a big role, No one knew rugby when we started.”

Regarding the Prime Minister’s mission of developing India, Priya said that it is a very good mission.

“Nowadays, women are everywhere, take any field, in any work, you will find them at the forefront. The vision that the Prime Minister has to develop India is to help the country achieve all-around development in all fields. For example, there are tournaments all through the year, nowadays, so many games are being played, and this is taking us towards development. Earlier, we used to get two medals in the Olympics; now, we have gone to seven to nine,” said Priya. She said many schemes and programmes have been launched to support development in all fields.

Regarding Viksit Bharat, she said that though a lot of development has taken place, India is not yet a developed country. “But we have reached a very good level,” she added.

On the Prime Minister’s resolve for Viksit Bharat, Priya said women can play a very important role in this. “The way women were invited to Delhi, shown respect, it encourages and motivates us. We can also motivate others, we can motivate the girls from the rural areas. This is a huge contribution to development. We are role models for someone. Can we contribute towards the development of society? So, this will have a huge impact (on young minds),” she said.

–IANS

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