Delhi government to boost nutritious food supply at Anganwadis

NEW DELHI: The Delhi government has invited Expression of Interest (EOI) for supplying supplementary nutrition to Anganwadi centres across 11 revenue districts of the national capital.
Delhi Women and Child Development (WCD) Minister Kailash Gahlot approved the proposal to invite EOI, a government statement said.

Self-help groups (SHGs), their consortium, and organisations having resources to set up and operate large kitchen and food processing units with the involvement of local women collectives may participate subject to fulfillment of eligibility criteria laid down in the EOI guidelines, it said.

The existing system is 15 years old and predominantly operated by non-profit organisations. In most of the cases, the women engaged by them remained in the workforce rather than developing as self-sustainable self-help groups, it said.

The minister recently visited some of the Anganwadi centres and kitchens in Delhi and after a series of meetings directed the WCD department to develop guidelines to ensure effective and efficient involvement of SHGs or women collectives at the local level. The guidelines prepared are based on the studies of different models operating in the country for supply of the supplementary nutrition.