IMPORTANT POINT
All the State Governments and Union Territories are directed to fully implement the Integrating Child Development Scheme, a scheme meant for children of the age group of 0-6, Pregnant women, lacetating mothers and adolescent girls.

Headnote:Constitution of India—Article 32—Integrating Child Development Scheme (ICDS)—Non-implementation of the directions given by the Supreme Court to the Central Government and the State Governments—Scheme meant for children of the age group of 0-6, Pregnant women, lacetating mothers and adolescent girls—Funds are released by the Central Government to the State Governments who are required to implement the scheme—Allegations that State Governments have failed to match the grants given by the Central Government—Reports showing grim realities and apparent lethargy of some of the States in implementing the Scheme—Directions made by the Supreme Court.
       Held : Keeping in view the submissions made and considering the materials placed on record we direct as follows :
       (1)Government of India shall sanction and operationalize a minimum of 14 lakh AWCs in a phased and even manner starting forthwith and ending December 2008. In doing so, the Central Government shall identify SC and ST hamlets/habitations for AWCs on a priority basis.
       (2)Government of India shall ensure that population norms for opening of AWCS must not be revised upward under any circumstances. While maintaining the upper limit of one AWC per 1000 population, the minimum limit for opening of a new AWC is a population of 300 may be kept in view. Further, rural communities and slum dwellers should be entitled to an “Anganwadi on demand” (not later than three months) from the date of demand in cases where a settlement has at least 40 children under six but no Anganwadi.
       (3)The universalisation of the ICDS involves extending all ICDS services (Supplementary nutrition, growth monitoring, nutrition and health education, immunization, referral and pre-school education) to every child under the age of 6, all pregnant women and lactating mothers and all adolescent girls.
       (4)All the State Governments and Union Territories shall fully implement the ICDS scheme by, interalia,
       (i)allocating and spending at least Rs. 2 per child per day for supplementary nutrition out of which the Central Government shall contribute Rs. 1 per child per day.
       (ii)allocating and spending at least Rs. 2.70 for every severely malnourished child per day for supplementary nutrition out of which the Central Government shall contribute Rs. 1.35 per child per day.
       (iii)allocating and spending at least Rs. 3.20 for every pregnant women, nursing mother/adolescent girl per day for supplementary nutrition out of which the Central Government shall contribute Rs. 1.15.
       (5)The Chief Secretaries of the State of Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Punjab, West Bengal, Assam, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh shall appear personally to explain why the orders of this Court requiring the full implementation of the ICDS scheme were not obeyed.
       (6)Chief Secretaries of all State Governments/UTs are directed to submit affidavit with details of all habitations with a majority of SC/ST households, the availability of AWCs in these habitations, and the plan of action for ensuring that all these habitations have functioning AWCs within two years.
       (7)Chief Secretaries of all State Governments/UTs are directed to submit affidavits giving details of the steps that have been taken with regard to the order of this Court of October 7th, 2004 directing that “contractors shall not be used for supply of nutrition in Anganwadis and preferably ICDS funds shall be spent by making use of village communities, self-help groups and Mahila Mandals for buying of grains and preparation of meals”. Chief Secretaries of all State Governments/UTs must indicate a time-frame within which the decentralisation of the supply of SNP through local community shall be done.
       (8)It is a matter of concern that 15 States and Union Territories have not submitted any affidavit in compliance with the order dated 7.10.2004. They are the States of Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Goa, Punjab, Manipur, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Mizoram, Haryana, Bihar and the National Capital of Delhi and the Union Territory of Lakshadweep. Within four weeks reply shall be filed through the concerned Chief Secretary as to why action for contempt shall not be initiated for the lapse.(Para 8)

JUDGMENT

Dr. Arijit Pasayat, J.—Grievance is made by the petitioner about the non-implementation of the directions given by this Court to the Central Government and the State Governments relating to Integrating Child Development Scheme (in short the ‘ICDS’). The scheme is meant for children of the age group of 0-6, Pregnant women, lacetating mothers and adolescent girls. Undisputedly, funds are released by the Central Government to the State Governments who are required to implement the scheme. State Governments, it is alleged, have failed to match the grants given by the Central Government.

We shall deal with this aspect a little later in detail.

2. Dr. N.C. Saxena, Commissioner, and Sh. Harsh Mander, the Special Commissioner were appointed pursuant to the orders passed by this Court for giving their reports on the question whether the Scheme has been implemented in the manner desired by this Court by various orders.

3. A bare reading of the reports shows the grim realities and apparent lethargy of some of the States in implementing the Scheme.

By report dated 19th July, 2006 following recommendations are made by the Committee.

(1)Reassert the figure of 14 lakhs AWCs as a benchmark estimate of the minimum number of AWCs required for universalization of ICDS, based on existing norms.

(2)Direct the Government of India to raise the number of AWCs to 14 lakhs within three years.

(3)Direct the Government of India to formulate improved norms for the creation and placement of AWCs, in the light of this report, and in consultation with the Commissioners. The improved norms should be consistent with universalization in the sense that implementation of these norms would ensure convenient access to an Anganwadi (or mini-Anganwadi, as the case may be) to all children and eligible women.

(4)Clarify that universalization of ICDS involves extending all ICDS services (not just supplementary nutrition) to all children below the age of six, all pregnant or lacetating women and all adolescent girls.

(5)Direct Chief Secretaries of all State Governments/UTs to submit affidavits to the Honorable Supreme Court with details of all habitations with a majority of SC/ST households, the availability of AWCs in these habitations, and the plan of action for ensuring that all these habitations have functioning AWCs within two years.

(6)Direct Chief Secretaries of all State Governments/UTs to submit affidavits to the Honorable Supreme Court on the steps that have been taken with regard to the interim order of this Court of October 7th, 2004 directing that “contractors shall not be used for supply of nutrition in Anganwadis and preferably ICDS funds shall be spent by making use of village communities, self-help groups and Mahila Mandals for buying of grains and preparation of meals”. Chief Secretaries of all State Governments/UTs must also commit to a time-frame within which the decentralisation of the supply of SNP through local community efforts will be made.

4. Under the Chapter 1.4 “Will India meet the Nutrition MDG?” Report indicates as follows:

“The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are a set of internationally agreed goals that countries and institutions have committed to reach by 2015. The second MDG target, which we refer to as the nutrition MDC, is to halve between 1990 and 2015 :

(i)the prevalence of underweight children (under five years of age)

(ii)the proportion of population below a minimum level of dietary energy consumption.

A few studies, using different assumptions, have considered the likelihood that India will attain the second nutrition MDG. Although their projections differ, in sum it seems unlikely that the prevalence of malnutrition in India will fall from its level of 54% in 1990 to 27W by 201 568, NFHS data shows that., in 1998/99, even the wealthiest quintile had a prevalence of malnutrition (33%) that for exceeded the MDG goal. Our projections indicate that economic growth alone is unlikely to be sufficient to lower the prevalence of malnutrit

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2006 Supreme(SC) 1293

IMPORTANT POINTAll the State Governments and Union Territories are directed to fully implement the Integrating Child Development Scheme, a scheme meant for children of the age group of 0-6, Pregnant women, lacetating mothers and adolescent girls.

IMPORTANT POINT
All the State Governments and Union Territories are directed to fully implement the Integrating Child Development Scheme, a scheme meant for children of the age group of 0-6, Pregnant women, lacetating mothers and adolescent girls.