Three months after commissioners of the Supreme Court cautioned the state government against making fully-automated plants using extrusion technology compulsory for preparing Take-Home Ration (THR) for supplementary child nutrition, the state government has now indicated that a push for the use of the technology came from the Central government. The Indian Express is in possession of documents which show that Maharashtra Women and Child Development Minister Pankaja Munde, who is under fire over the controversy, had approached Union WCD Minister Maneka Gandhi for advice on the issue — on July 9, 2015 — in the light of objections raised by the SC commissioners. On September 3, 2015, Gandhi wrote back to Munde, saying, “Dear Minister, my attention has been brought down to the letter wherein the Maharashtra government has sought advice of the Central government for the use of extrusion technology for preparation of THR under the ICDS scheme. [related-post] Watch Video: What's making news I have also been informed that a decision on providing the supplementary nutrition through THR is held up in the state for the want of this advice.” While contending that “it is a matter of deep concern that the state government is unable to take a decision on the issue and needs the advice from the Centre”, Gandhi has directed the state to refer to instructions that the ministry had issued vide circulars dated September 26, 2014 (Gandhi’s communication refers to the year as 2015 by mistake), and June 23, 2015. Sources in the state government further claimed that a tender notice issued by the Gujarat government for the THR production in 2015-16 — where bids had been invited from “eligible original manufacturers and producers using extrusion technology” for the ration suppIies — was appended to Gandhi’s communication. On March 8, the state had floated a five-year-long tender calling for extrusion-based automatic technology for the THR’s production. On Monday, Munde said the decision to insist on the technology had been made following Gandhi’s communication. When The Indian Express contacted Gandhi for her response, she got a senior official from her office to speak on her behalf. “The Union minister’s letter had simply made it clear that nutrition and hygiene standards laid down in the orders of the Supreme Court and the Centre’s operational guidelines must be followed. It is incorrect to say it advocated use of one particular technology. It is absolutely upto the state to decide the best-possible technology option that would meet the nutritional and hygiene requirements,” this official said. Gandhi’s office has also denied appending the Gujarat tender notice. Incidentally, it was after the Centre’s 2014 circular that the state government had sought the “guidance” of the SC commissioner, since it felt that some of the provisions in the circular gave “manufacturers an easy entry into the business violating the spirit of an SC order dated October 7, 2004 which had ruled that the contractors be kept out of the supply of nutrition in Anganwadis and the supply be done in a decentralised manner by making use of village communities, women self-help groups and mahila mandals”. In December 2014, then principal secretary Ujjwal Uke wrote to SC commissioner Dr N C Saxena in this regard. “Our (Maharashtra’s) understanding is that the supply of nutrition in anganwadis should be made by small units which are local in nature. Decentralisation is an essential part of the 2004 SC order,” his letter said. Referring to the Centre’s 2014 circular, Uke mentioned, “One of the paragraphs appears to be contradictory to the October 2004 SC ruling, which had banned contractors. It says it is advisable that states and Union Territories get nutritious food prepared and manufactured by only competent and capable entities, who comply with the stipulations as laid down under the revised norms, irrespective of whether these are self-help groups, mahila mandals, village communities or a manufacturer. The states have been asked to comply with the GoI order. We (Maharashtra) pray for your guidance since there is a need for more clarity on the issue as a manufacturer could be a large-scale operator and then the spirit of the 2004 SC order would be violated.” He further mentioned that the same circular had also insisted on the quality of the THR being certified by an officer of Secretary rank and above. “It states that the ministry would release the funds subject to the release of such certificates. While local SHGs are producing good-quality THR, they would never be able to match the quality of large-scale manufacturers. As such, the circular in question is likely to defeat the decentralisation process.” On May 25, 2015, Saxena and Special Commissioner Harsh Mander, in response to this communication, wrote a letter to state Chief Secretary Swadheen Kshatriya where they cautioned the state against mandating use of fully automated plants, as suggested in the Centre’s guidelines, arguing that “this would go against the spirit of the SC orders regarding encouraging a decentralised system of production and distribution of supply under the ICDS-involved local mahila mandals, SHGs, and village communities. While the Centre’s circular relied on parts of a 2011 SC order that had ruled that it was desired to have fully automated plants, the SC report insisted that the circular was based on a “partial reading” of the SC judgment. However, Gandhi’s office denied this contention. “As far as we are concerned, the Women and Child Development Ministry has already complied with all the directives of the apex court. The matter is being unnecessarily politicised,” Gandhi’s representative said. After the Centre issued another circular on June 23, 2015, stressing that the guidelines be implemented in a timebound manner, Munde approached Gandhi for advice. “It is suggested that a suitable decision may be taken by the state government to ensure that the Centre’s guidelines as well as SC’s directions are observed strictly,” Gandhi had said, at the end of her letter. On July 13, the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court set aside Maharashtra’s tender ruling that it was not in consonance with the SC’s decentralisation process. The state has sought legal opinion over the court ruling. Last week, Gandhi had disclosed a plan to revamp the supplementary nutrition scheme on a national level to address challenges of hygiene, quality, and tackle the high malnutrition rate. Besides increasing the cost norms, the plan is to standardise production and monitoring procedures, while digitising the Anganwadi network.
