Cachar district’s Mission Parvarish saw 704 out of 800 children recover from the severely acute malnourished stage
A mission to combat malnourishment among children aged six months to five years has earned the SKOCH Award for southern Assam’s Cachar district. Instituted in 2003, SKOCH Award recognises people, projects and institutions that go the extra mile to make India a better nation. The award-winning programme entailed a coordinated socio-economic approach for malnourished children of families below the poverty line. Government agencies, local civic bodies, NGOs and businessmen had come together to provide nutritional support to such children. District’s Deputy Commissioner Keerthi Jalli said the project named Mission Parvarish saw 704 out of a targeted 800 children recover from the severely acute malnourished stage. All the severely acute, malnourished children from two to five years were also adopted by the community, the lone MP and MLAs of the Assembly constituencies in the district. The programme was launched during the “nutrition month” in 2020. “The award should inspire other districts to emulate the efforts of the Cachar administration in the fight against malnutrition,” Assam’s Environment Minister Parimal Suklabaidya said. He represents the Dholai Assembly constituency in the Cachar district. Silchar Lok Sabha member Rajdeep Roy said the award made the government’s focus on healthcare and nutrition apparent.