Emulate Borasingi Panchayat As A Case Study For Child Friendliness: Panchayati Raj Ministry

Berhampur: Borasingi Panchayat of Ganjam district in Odisha has received wide accolades from various quarters for its initiatives that aim at making the area child friendly and provide all basic amenities such as clean toilets. Its child friendly strategies have caught he attention of the Union Ministry recently when the Panchayat was adjudged as the best Child Friendly Gram Panchayat at the National Panchayat Awards 2021. What is more important is the fact that the Ministry has asked other Panchayats of the country to emulate Borasingi for its child friendly strategy as a case study for child development.

The Borasingi Panchayat has taken steps to ensure that children of the locality get all the support for their development. The Ministry in its report has said that Borasingi has two Anganwadi Kendras for children which are well maintained and neat and clean and well equipped with all essential pedagogical equipment for children. It also says that the Anganwadi Kendras have functional toilets separately for boys and girls. The children are made aware about handwash and the correct procedure is painted on the wall near the water tap. The report also commended the Asha Karmi and Anganwadi workers for their coordinated efforts in taking care of the children. The Anganwadis are properly maintained and health monitoring charts and registers are maintained in a proper way that have all information such as height, weight and immunization details of the children of the Panchayat. The Asha workers are also engaged in providing free sanitary napkins to the adolescent girls of the villages. Other services such as distribution of iron and vitamin tablets is also carried out by the Asha Karmis of the area. The villages in the Borasingi Panchayat have well responsive child protection committees.