The anganwadi centres in Rajasthan’s Bikaner district are getting complete facelift under ‘Sajag Anganwadi’ (Aware Anganwadi) initiative. Under the leadership of District Collector of Bikaner, Bhagwati Prasad Kalal, a 2011-batch IAS officer, the district administration is giving a complete makeover to the 1502 Anganwadis of the district. These centres have now emerged as attractive places of learning for children through play. And, interestingly, the centres celebrate the birth of girls like a festival, and in the ceremony of baby shower for expecting mothers, all information related to health of the child is given out.
Indian Masterminds interacted with the officer behind the initiative, the District Collector of Bikaner, Bhagwati Prasad Kalal, IAS, to get more details.
HAPPY ANGANWADIS
Along with the necessary amendments to the buildings of these centres, their walls were painted with flowers, leaves, colours, body parts, scales, stories and poems. Weighing machines, informative books, essential medicines, Aryan folic acid tablets and syrup have been provided at each Anganwadi centre, too. LED TVs have been installed at many centres with the help of Bhamashahs so that children can learn informative things. All necessary information related to the personnel working in these centres is recorded.
The administration plans to change the face of all 1502 anganwadi centres in the district. Mr. Kalal said that 500 Anganwadis have already seen the changes and the rest 1002 are going to be given complete facelift by Hindustan Zinc Company with their CSR funds.
MODERN AMENITIES
Speaking with Indian Masterminds, IAS officer Bhagwati Prasad Kalal said, “Now the children in the Anganwadis will get the same facilities as private schools, with all modern amenities like clean proper toilets, attractively painted walls, LED TVs, etc, and can also learn in the same way. We will also set up nutrition garden in these centres so that women and children can get nutrition in the natural way.”
IMPLEMENTATION
In the first phase of the two-phase campaign to give complete makeover to the anganwadis, 45 women supervisors of the district visited one centre each and assessed the needs with the help of resources available at the centres. Then they got all records verified and corrected and contacted Bhamashahs with government prospects for development. With the inspection by women supervisors, the picture of the requirements became more clear, and in the second phase of the campaign, the work for the rejuvenation started in the centres.
Earlier, two centres of nine Panchayat Samitis of the district were made Adarsh Anganwadi centres. Seeing the positive results, in the second phase, it was decided to develop more than 500 centres as Adarsh Anganwadis. Toy banks have also been set up in these centres to attract children. These toys have become a powerful medium to connect children with Anganwadis.
NUTRITION GARDEN
Under the ‘Aware Anganwadi’ campaign, nutrition gardens are also being set up in as many as 20 thousand places in the district, including the homes of the beneficiaries and honorarium workers. About fifty percent of these workers have also started setting up kitchen gardens in their homes. Vegetables like spinach, coriander, fenugreek, arbi, chilli, cowpea and drumstick plants are being planted in the kitchen garden. These efforts are being made to meet the nutritional needs of the women so that they get adequate iron and nutrients in a natural way through these plants.
An app named ‘Suposhit Bikaner’ has been created for monitoring this programme. On this app, a photo of planting a sapling or seed in the nutrition garden is uploaded and the next photo will be uploaded when the plant has grown up. This will allow monitoring of the entire campaign.
ABOUT BHAMASHAH
Bhamashah is any woman in a family, who is 21 years of age or above, and can lead the household. The administration has roped in a large number of Bhamashahs to help out with their projects. For their cooperation, the Bhamashahs are honored by the administration from time to time.
Mr. Kalal said that people are also coming forward to help with small financial contributions for the cause.
ON ANGANWADI CENTRES
Anganwadi is a type of rural child care centre in India. They were started by the Indian government in 1975 as part of the Integrated Child Development Services program to combat child hunger and malnutrition. Anganwadi is a Hindi word which means “courtyard shelter” in English. The basic aim of such centres is to combat hunger and malnutrition of children.
But, going beyond this, the Anganwadi centres of Bikaner have become an example for the whole country, where many other services are being provided in a time bound manner, to bring them on a par with private schools.
