Reduce malnutrition by supporting 'Rashtriya Poshan Maah': Maneka
New Delhi, Sep 4 : Minister of Women and Child Development Maneka Sanjay Gandhi on Tuesday urged various ministries to offer full support to the ongoing 'Rashtriya Poshan Maah' with outreach activities.
Under Poshan Abhiyan, this September is being celebrated as the National Nutrition Month across the country to address the nutritional challenges, the Ministry said, adding that 100 community radio stations were also participating in the campaign.
"I request you to undertake outreach activities in your constituencies. Your participation in this mission will enable common citizens to associate with the objective of eliminating malnutrition," Gandhi said in a statement.
She said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched this programme on March 2018 to bring convergence amongst various ministries to reduce malnutrition.
The Minister said the programme was aimed at making people aware of the importance of nutrition and giving individual families easy access to government services to supplement nutrition for their children and pregnant/lactating mothers.
According to the Ministry, the 'National Nutrition Month' has eight key themes including antenatal care, optimal breastfeeding, complementary feeding, anaemia, growth monitoring, education, diet and right age of marriage for girls, hygiene and sanitation and food fortification.
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SC asks states to treat rising child trafficking cases as grave; seeks coordinated action
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court has voiced grave concern over rising cases of child trafficking, saying gangs are operating across the country and if States and Union territories do not take immediate action, thing will go beyond control.
The court said only the state government and its home department can act vigilantly in this regard.
“As a court we can monitor, but ultimately the action has to be on the part of the state government, the police, and other agencies. Therefore, this is our humble request”, a bench comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and K V Viswanathan said during the hearing of a plea on Wednesday.
The bench was irked over the "lackadaisical" approach of several states and UTs in implementing a 2025 judgment aimed at dismantling organised trafficking networks.
Justice Viswanathan said the retrieval of children in some cases proves the problem can be tackled, but it requires a level of political and administrative will which is lacking at present.
The verdict, delivered on April 15, 2025, had mandated several institutional reforms, including completion of trials in trafficking cases within six months on a day-to-day basis.
It had also directed strengthening of Anti-Human Trafficking Units (AHTUs) and improving investigation standards.
Besides asking for setting up of state-level committees to monitor vulnerable trafficking hotspots, it had asked the authorities to treat missing children cases as trafficking unless proven otherwise.
Earlier, the bench had termed the compliance reports filed by a few states as "nothing but an eye wash."
On Wednesday, the bench noted that Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Haryana, Lakshadweep, Mizoram, Odisha, and Punjab had still failed to file reports in the prescribed format.
When the home secretary of Madhya Pradesh offered an apology for the lapse, the bench granted a "final opportunity" but warned that continued failure would lead to states being officially branded as "defaulting".
The bench noted that at least 15 states are yet to constitute review committees mandated to identify and monitor trafficking-prone areas.
The matter will now be heard on April 29.
