Tribals and forest dwelling communities, who receive nutrition supplement from the Centre under Tribal Sub Plan for six months in a year, have sought the extension of the same for one year due to the pandemic. This is necessary since they are not getting any employment during lockdown, argue NGOs.
The supplement is released through the Integrated Tribal Development Plan and was originally conceived to distribute nutritious food during the rainy season. This is because forest dwelling tribes tend to go without work during monsoon.
S. Sreekanth of Development through Education (DEED), an NGO working on tribal development issues, said that the Government had released the nutritional component in advance due to the lockdown induced by the pandemic. But whatever has been released is till May 31, 2021, after which the nutritional supplement for the year will cease. This could result in malnutrition for tribals due to lack of work in view of the lockdown, said Mr. Sreekanth.
DEED has urged the ITDP to seek Government clearance to extend the nutritional supplement till the end of the year. He said it will also be ideal in case the policy is tweaked to ensure that the food supplement is released throughout the year instead of restricting it to six months, in future as well.
In all, 11,000 adivasi families benefit from the scheme in Mysuru district alone and the scheme is applicable to tribals across the State.
The nutritional supplement provided by the Government includes 30 eggs, half a kg of ghee, 2 kg jaggery, 8 kg of rice, ragi or wheat, 2 kg of green gram, 1 kg of ground nut or horsegram apart from 2 liters of vegetable oil per family. This is in addition to monthly ration under Anna Bhagya and other schemes which is released to the tribals throughout the year, he added.
But out of 11,000 families in Mysuru district, about 3000 families do not have proper documents including BPL card or ration card and hence there are deprived of the ration.
Meanwhile, Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights has also raised the issue and said that in the absence of work and depleted income due to the lockdown, tribal communities could face severe malnutrition. M.L. Parushuram, m ember of the commission, said the Government should extend the nutritional supplement for the entire year.
