NATIONAL NUTRITION MISSION SET UP UNDER PRIME MINISTER

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A National Nutrition Mission has been set up for policy direction and effective coordination of nutrition programmes being implemented by the Government.

The Mission will have two tier- supervisory structure. It will be headed by the Prime Minister and will include concerned union ministers, chief ministers by rotation, academicians, technical experts and NGOs.

The Mission will have an Executive Committee, which will be headed by the Minister of State in charge of women and child development. It will have two ministers in charge of nutrition / women and child development / health from nutritionally backward states, two ministers from states with good performance in nutrition related programmes, secretaries of union ministries concerned and experts. The states will be represented by rotation also in Executive Committee.

The Mission will put in place effective mechanism for coordinating the efforts of different ministries, after reviewing the goals set out in the National Nutrition Policy 1993, the National Plan of Action on Nutrition 1995 and the existing strategies being adopted by various ministries. The Executive Committee will be responsible for identifying nutritionally backward regions and groups, monitoring and evolving mechanisms for coordination and conduct of evaluation studies.

The Prime Minister had announced in his Independence Day address in 2001 that a National Nutrition Mission would be launched to provide free foodgrains to under-nourished, pregnant and lactating women and adolescent girls belonging to below-poverty-line. As the first intervention, the Government launched a pilot project last year, in 51 nutritionally deficient districts in the country with the release of special additional central assistance of Rs. 103.33 crore to the states.

Backgrounder

(Adopted from the notification for setting up of National Nutrition Mission)

Terms of reference of the National Nutrition Mission:

1. To review and revise the goals set out in the National Nutrition Policy, 1993 and the National Plan of Action on Nutrition, 1995 keeping in view the present nutrition profile of the country.
2. To review the existing strategies adopted by the various Ministries concerned with nutrition and revise them for achieving the goals set out by the Mission.
3. To put in place effective mechanism for coordinating the efforts of different Mi8nistries concerned with implementation of nutrition programmes to subserve the nutrition goals.
4. To review the systems of data collection and monitoring of the nutrition status across different regions, groups and particularly the vulnerable population of the country.
5. To review research & development and dissemination in the field of nutrition, specially regarding low-cost balanced diet, safe drinking water & sanitation, women & child development and health & family welfare.
6. To address special problems of nutrition during natural calamities.
7. Any other nutrition related issues arising from time to time.

Terms of reference of the Executive Committee

1. To identify nutritionally backward regions and groups in the country requiring special focus on implementation of nutrition programmes.
2. Close monitoring of implementation of the nutrition programmes with particular attention to resource constraints. Institutional bottlenecks or any other matter affecting service delivery.
3. Evolve mechanisms for coordination of all the nutrition related programmes both at the policy and implementation levels.
4. Conduct of evaluation and impact studies of the programmes and identify mid-course corrections in strategies and implementation issues.
5. Any other function vested on it by the Mission.

Composition of National Nutrition Mission

Prime Minister; Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission; Ministers for Human Resource Development; Finance; Health & Family Welfare; Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution; Science & Technology; Agriculture; Social Justice & Empowerment; Tribal Affairs; Minister of State for Human Resource Development ( in-charge of Department of Women & Child Development) and Secretary, Department of Women & Child Development.

Chief Ministers of nutritionally backward States by rotation for a period of two years: Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Chief Ministers of States which have good performance in nutrition related programmes by rotation for a period of two years: Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Kerala.

Experts: Dr. C. Gopalan, Dr. B.S. Narasinga Rao, Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, Prof. Tara Gopal Das, Dr. Shanti Ghosh, Dr. H.P. Sachdeva, Dr. K. Ramachandran, President, Indian Council for Child Welfare and National Coordinator, Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India.

Composition of the Executive Committee of the National Nutrition Mission

Minister of State for Human Resource Development(in-charge of Department of Women & Child Development); Secretary, Social Justice & Empowerment; Secretary, Tribal Affairs; Finance Secretary; Secretary Health; Secretary, Family Welfare; Secretary, Food & Public Distribution Advisor (Health, Family Welfare & Nutrition), Planning Commission and Secretary, Department of Women & Child Development.

Two Ministers in-charge of Nutrition / Women & Child Development / Health from these nutritionally backward States by rotation for a period of two years: Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Two Ministers in-charge of Nutrition / Women & Child Development / Health from these states which have good performance in nutrition related programmes by rotation for a period of two years: Tamil Nadu and Punjab.

Experts/people actively working in nutrition related sector: Dr. V. Raman Kutty, Dr. Mohan Ram Mamidi, Mr. Alok Mukhopadhyay, Ms. Sumita Ghose, Dr. H. Sudarshan and Dr. Prasanta Mahapatra.