Wipro Group chairman Azim Premji pledges support to eradicate malnutrition in Odisha

BHUBANESWAR:  Chairman of Wipro Group and renowned philanthropist Azim Premji on Tuesday said government and philanthropic collaboration can enhance community access to service delivery and set path for sustainable development. “Philanthropic organisations have to build up an environment of trust and exhibit their commitment through works. Philanthropic initiatives need to be mainstreamed through alignment with governmental efforts,” Premji said while delivering the 15th Odisha Knowledge Hub lecturer here. Premji said many NGOs working in the State have the capacity to bring rapid transformation in the lives of people.

The Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiative (APPI) has been working in the field of nutrition with around 120 NGOs in Odisha and their performance have been found to be satisfactory, he added. “We have started working with Odisha Government about two years back in the area of nutrition. We are very pleased with the progress we have made and the support extended by the State Government. Basically, it is to get more healthy children and more healthy mothers,” Premji said.

The APPI had signed a memorandum of understanding with the State Government pledging a support of about `300 crore towards eradication of malnutrition and reduction of infant and maternal mortality rare over a period of 8-10 years. Premji met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at the Secretariat and appreciated his Government’s efforts in reduction of infant mortality rate (IMR) from 65 per cent in 2005-06 to 40 per cent in 2015-16. He also appreciated the Government’s focus on health of adolescent girls. The Wipro Chairman and his team of officers held a meeting with Chief Secretary Aditya Padhi and Secretaries of 10 departments.

They discussed the progress achieved as per the draft common result framework (CRF) for reduction of malnutrition. The CRF has been designed to achieve a reduction of 20 percentage points in malnutrition in Odisha by 2025 to keep pace with the targets set under Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and World Health Assembly ( WHA). Padhi said a common multi-sectoral nutrition plan of action have been prepared and launched. Ten departments dealing with food and nutrition security activities have introduced CRF for implementation of the action plan with defined goals.