RAMBAN, March 6: Mission Director POSHAN, Sajad Hussain Ganai, reviewed the implementation of nutrition and early childhood care initiatives in District Ramban during a meeting with officials of the ICDS Department.
District Programme Officer Jahangir Hashmi and other officials attended the meeting, where CDPO Ramsoo Rhythm Jandyal presented a PowerPoint highlighting the district’s progress and key initiatives.
The Mission Director appreciated the district’s efforts to strengthen last-mile service delivery and congratulated the DPO for an intervention in Aspirational Block Khari, which led to a 450 percent increase in registration of pregnant women under ICDS through a door-to-door survey. The initiative was later recognised by NITI Aayog, making Ramban the only district in J&K to receive recognition in the nutrition category.
Ganai also lauded the district’s innovative nutrition initiatives, including replacing refined sugar with dates and brown sugar, introducing whole wheat biscuits and local dishes like Saswagra, and upgrading tribal Anganwadi Centres with improved infrastructure and play equipment.
He directed officials to ensure regular Village Health, Sanitation and Nutrition Days (VHSNDs) on the second Thursday of every month, achieve Aadhaar saturation for APAAR ID generation, and develop strategies to ensure uninterrupted services for migrating tribal populations. He also encouraged the team to create a YouTube channel to document POSHAN activities and best practices.
The meeting was also attended by CDPO Banihal Sidharth Dubey, CDPO Gool Bashir Ahmed, supervisors and other ICDS officials.