Sundargarh: Fostering Women and Child Development

Sundargarh: Women are the backbone of the family, architects of the society and bedrock of the nation. No house, no society, no state and no country has ever progressed without the development of women.

So far women development is concerned, Odisha, under the leadership of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, has excelled in several parameters of development of women and has emerged as role model in women empowerment in the country.
In line with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s vision for development of women, the Sundargarh district administration has launched a series of development initiatives to foster women and child development under the flagship programme ‘Matrujyoti’.

“In Sundargarh, the maternal and infant mortality rate is lower than the state rate. We aim to further strengthen mother and child health programs under the ‘Matrujyoti’ initiative. In addition to the present services under ‘Mamata’ scheme for antenatal care, the district administration will take steps to ensure ultrasound tests four times during pregnancy for every mother”, said Nikhil Pavan Kalyan, Collector Sundargarh.

Along with eight government hospitals in the district, 41 private ultrasound clinics have been contracted to provide ultrasound services to pregnant women. The program will benefit more than 28,000 mothers in the district each year.

Steps are also being taken to make Anganwadi more accommodating for both mothers and children. The district has taken up modernization of more than 2,500 Anganwadi Centres and shall build over more than 700 Model Anganwadi Centres with modern infra and child friendly amenities.

Under the ‘Matrujyoti’ program, various measures have also been taken to improve the health of children with Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) condition.

The logo of ‘Matrujyoti’, which will be used as an umbrella program for various women and child development interventions, was unveiled on the occasion. Similarly, the quarterly newsletter ‘Ama Sundargarh’ was also released. The newsletter shall present various developmental projects and connect with the stakeholders and general public of the district.

In addition, initiatives were launched to provide life skills training for adolescent girls and women and job oriented courses for migrants and local youth of mining affected areas.

The District Administration also signed an MoU with Humara Bachpan Trust to implement a Life Skills Programme for Adolescent Girls and Women. The programme will help them augment their skills for a better livelihood.

Similarly, a job oriented residential training program on Hotel Management for migrants and local youth of mining affected areas has been initiated. The candidates will be offered diploma and degree courses on the subject at State Institute of Hotel Management, Balangir.