Form teams to monitor child care centres: Maneka
New Delhi, July 30 : In the wake of the recent rape incident at the government-run shelter home in Bihar's Muzaffarpur, Union Minister of Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi on Monday ordered constitution of teams at the state and district level for regular monitoring of the Specialised Adoption Agencies (SAA) and Child-Care Institutions (CCIs).
"Deeply anguished over the incident of sexual assault on minor girls at a Muzaffarpur Shelter Home, I have directed WCD ministry officers to put in place a mechanism so that the women and children at all such institutions are able to reach out to us for help", the minister tweeted.
Gandhi further added that Child Welfare Committees (CWC) need to be constituted in each district with immediate effect. She also insisted on registration of the CCIs under the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act and linking it to the Specialised Adoption Agency (SAA).
"To facilitate an expeditious and smooth adoption process, Child-Care Institutions must feed in the details of children on the Child Adoption Resource Information & Guidance System (CARINGS), the web-based platform," she said.
The minister said the District Magistrates and District Collectors should take the responsibility of monitoring the adoption programmes which are implemented at the district level and also directed the officials to streamline the adoption process and ensure its completion within the stipulated time.
According to Muzzafarpur police, the shelter home was sealed after the sexual abuse of girl inmates came to light during a social audit by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. The report was submitted to the state Social Welfare Department, which directed officials to lodge a complaint.
A medical examination of 44 girls of the home revealed that 21 of them were raped. The district police has arrested some officials of the home.
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Two women died, 6 taken ill after ‘consuming’ mango kernel gruel in Odisha
Bhubaneswar/Berhampur/Phulbani, Nov 1: At least two tribal women died and six others fell ill after allegedly consuming mango kernel gruel in Odisha's Kandhamal district, police said on Friday.
Consumption of mango kernel, prepared by boiling the seeds in water, was reported from Mandipanka village in the district's Daringbadi block, an officer said.
While one of the two women (Rasmita Pattamajhi aged 22) died on Thursday night at Mohana community health centre in Gajapati district where she was undergoing treatment after "consuming the gruel", another woman (Runu Majhi aged 29) breathed her last while being taken to MKCG Medical College Hospital in Berhampur, Gadapur sarpanch Kumari Mallick said.
Six others, who fell ill after allegedly consuming the gruel, were admitted to a hospital and their condition was critical, said Dr Subrat Das, a medical officer of the health facility.
"All the six have been admitted to the hospital in a serious condition. We suspected that they fell sick due to food poisoning. The exact cause of the illness will be ascertained after completion of the investigation," he added.
The six were identified as Pravati Patmajhi, Dranglu Patmajhi, Tuni Majhi, Susama Patmajhi, Jita Majhi and Jibanti Majhi, Daringbadi BDO Pritiranjan Ratha said.
Meanwhile, the Odisha government has rejected allegations that tribal people have been consuming mango kernel gruel due to a lack of access to rice under the Public Distribution System (PDS).
Rasmita's husband Anil Pattamajhi alleged that they were denied rice under PDS for the last three months because of which his wife consumed mango kernel.
However, Kandhamal district magistrate-cum-collector Amrit Ruturaj dismissed the allegations, saying the family received rice according to PDS norms. "We are awaiting the postmortem report to determine the facts," the collector added.
Deputy chief minister Pravati Parida, who is also in-charge of the women and child development department said, "It is not a case of malnutrition. Mango kernel is part of their (tribal) regular diet. Sometime, the mango kernels get contaminated and lead to such unfortunate incidents. We have been actively spreading awareness about the risks of food contamination."
Health and family welfare minister Mukesh Mahaling, who ordered a departmental inquiry into the death of two tribal women, said a team from the district headquarters hospital and another local team are at the spot to assess the situation and conduct a detailed probe into the incident.
Mahaling said that the government was waiting for the postmortem report for a confirmation on the cause of the deaths. "People in Kandhamal consume mango kernel. It is common in that region and there also have been reports of health complications linked to it in the past," he said.
The Kandhmal incident reminds a similar tragedy involving mango kernel deaths in Kashipur block of Rayagada district, where at least 20 people died in 2001, and two more succumbed to mango kernel consumption in 2016. Additionally, mango kernel has claimed lives in Laxmipur in Koraput district in 2012 and 2013, as well as in Jharigaon in Nabarangpur district in 2018.
