Activists seek pulses, salt & oil under PDS
Bhubaneswar: A group of civil society organisations here have jointly launched a campaign to press the state government into providing dal, edible oil and iodized salt in Odisha’s food security scheme.
The state-level campaign — ‘Kuposhan jadi kariba dura, dali, tela, luna nischita kara’ (if you want to eradicate malnutrition, ensure supply of dal, oil and salt) — has been launched jointly by Atmashakti Trust, Odisha Shramajeebee Mancha and Mahila Shramajeebee Mancha. The aim of the campaign is to ensure nutritional food security under the state’s food security scheme.
The campaign was born after an online survey, undertaken with 10,769 families in 16 districts, showed that families needed dal and edible oil in the PDS to ensure nutritional food security.
As part of Covid distress alleviation measures, 1 kg of chana dal is being provided to BPL families or PDS beneficiaries every month. Nearly all the families surveyed said this had benefited them to a great extent. The state government, however, is planning to stop the allocation of dal from November, prompting the civil society organisations to launch their campaign.
The survey results revealed that 63% of the families said the 1kg chana dal lasted them between one and five days, while 27% of the families consumed it in six to 10 days. Nearly 76.45% of the families reported that they were consuming the dal in one meal.