Anganwadi centres in TN to get monitoring devices; workers to get smartphones

To update the real-time data of children, Anganwadi centres will be provided with four types of monitoring devices
Anganwadi (Pic: Express)
Anganwadi (Pic: Express)

A slew of measures for the welfare of students was announced by Tamil Nadu's Social Welfare Minister Geetha Jeevan in the Assembly on April 17, Monday. In order to update the real-time data of children under the age of six, Anganwadi centres will be provided with four types of monitoring devices at the cost of Rs 14.85 crore. In addition, the workers at every centre would be provided with smartphones at the cost of Rs 17.53 crore.

Jeevan shared this information during a discussion on the demand for grants. Groceries and gas required for cooking in Anganwadi centres will now be supplied directly by the government and by cooperatives. And new equipment would be provided to the centres in charge of preparing nutritious noon meals for government schools at the cost of Rs 25.70 crore, as per a report by The New Indian Express.

The minister also said that sweet pongal would be served to students as part of the mid-day meal on the birth anniversary of DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi which falls on June 3. At present, the children get a serving of a sweet dish on birth anniversaries of former Chief Ministers K Kamaraj, CN Annadurai, MG Ramachandran and Jayalalithaa. 

Other updates
In addition to these announcements, the provision of smart boards for all children's homes run by the department was declared by the minister. A website and real-time mobile application for updating data of children in need of care and protection would be created as well, at the cost of Rs 1 crore.

The Social Welfare Department would also create a corpus fund of Rs 50 lakh for providing compensation to children who are affected by violence other than sexual offences. And the Chief Minister's girl child protection scheme, introduced 30 years ago, would be updated to increase the number of beneficiaries. And de-addiction centres for children are proposed to be constructed in Tiruchy, Coimbatore and Chennai, Jeevan said.

Lastly, the Widow and Destitute Women Welfare Board and internal complaints committees would be provided with Rs 50 lakh, in order to monitor and expedite their functioning. Even with these announcements., some MLAs asked for the introduction of a few more schemes, as per TNIE.

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