Shillong: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma has written to the Ministry of Women and Child Development, highlighting a significant discrepancy in beneficiary numbers for the Supplementary Nutrition Programme (SNP) and requesting a six-month extension to rectify the issue.
In the letter to Union Minister for Women and Child Development Annapurna Devi, the Chief Minister congratulated the Ministry on its efforts to ensure nutritional security for children and women, particularly through the SNP.
He also emphasized the Meghalaya government’s commitment to early childhood development through its own mission, aligning with the Ministry’s vision to combat malnutrition.
“Meghalaya with its landmark and pioneering Early Childhood Development Mission also aims at the holistic development of children starting from conception till the age of 8 years. Our goals and vision are aligned with the vision of the Ministry of Women and Child Development as we strive to battle malnutrition and eradicate stunting and wasting in our State,” he said.
The chief minister highlighted a significant gap between the number of beneficiaries recorded in the state’s Monthly Progress Report (MPR) and those registered on the POSHAN Tracker 2.0.
According to the MPR, Meghalaya has 585,254 beneficiaries, while the POSHAN Tracker lists only 400,572, leaving a substantial 1, 84,682, or 31.56% of eligible beneficiaries.
“This is a significant 31.56% of all our eligible and registered beneficiaries which are getting missed out due to a variety of reasons,” the Chief Minister stated in the letter.
To address this, the State Government has initiated several measures, including intensifying Aadhaar enrollment and seeding, finalizing the procurement of smartphones for Anganwadi Workers, and launching an intensive campaign for e-KYC and facial recognition.
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“I request for providing us a window of 6 (six) months to enable us to enroll and link all our beneficiaries through Aadhaar, eKYC and facial recognition system which shall be a big support extended to the State,” CM Sangma stated.
The chief minister further requested that the state be allowed to continue providing SNP coverage to all beneficiaries recorded in the MPR until the discrepancy is resolved.
