Bareilly (UP), Apr 21 (PTI) A two-year effort by district magistrate Ravindra Kumar Mander to end malnutrition in Rampur got recognition on Friday.
The 2013 batch IAS officer was one of the recipients of the Prime Minister’s Awards for Excellence in Public Administration, given for extraordinary and innovative work done by bureaucrats.
His award was handed over to him under the Innovative initiative of the ‘Samvardhan’ (vocal for local) category at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the occasion of Civil Services Day.
After receiving the award, Mandar said it is a historical achievement for his district, adding that it has even set a record at the state and national level in various fields for the last two years, thereby, establishing an indelible identity.
He had launched a campaign in Rampur after taking inspiration from the PM’s well-fed India vision.
The award was given for the ‘Samvardhana’ initiative to help malnourished children with nutritional kits made from local food products to eradicate malnutrition in the district, he said.
“It is a moment of great pride for Rampur district. Promotion (vocal for local) operated in the direction of eradication of malnutrition in the district has been acknowledged in the country,” he said.
The district program officer Rajesh Kumar, who played an important role in implementing this scheme, gave a detailed account of how the district was selected out of more than 700 online applications from across the country.
The selection committee obtained the details of nutrition kits by interacting with the beneficiaries from the list of 5,300 recipients provided by the district administration, he said, adding that these kits were prepared in coordination with the local Farmers Producers Organisation (FPO) and distributed to children and women.
Under this campaign, more than 5,000 children, anaemic, pregnant and lactating women and malnourished adolescent girls were handed over the nutrition kit, Kumar said.
The chief secretary has also appreciated the positive effect seen in children after the continuous use of the kit for three months, which was monitored by a team of experts.
This initiative will now be implemented in 11 districts of the state along with that in Maharashtra and Telangana. PTI COR SAB RDT
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