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Survey reveals truth of Gujarat's 'Modi model': Congress
New Delhi, July 16
The Congress on Thursday
alleged that the Modi government has deliberately suppressed the the
results of a survey which revealed that child immunisation levels in
Gujarat are shockingly lower than the national average, and that child
malnutrition had come down during the previous UPA government's tenure.
"The
results of the survey, jointly conducted by the ministry of women and
child development and Unicef, have been deliberately suppressed because
they reveal that child malnutrition as measured by body weight and
height has come down during the ten years of the UPA government from
42.5 percent to 30 percent," former union minister and senior Congress
leader Jairam Ramesh said here at a press conference.
"Child
immunisation levels in Gujarat are shockingly low, proportion of hungry
children and of stunting worse than national average," he added.
According to Ramesh, the survey was carried out in 29 states and Gujarat ranks 21 among them.
"That
is why the government is hiding this survey. In Bihar, 60 percent
children are immunised, better than 'Modi model' of Gujarat. Fourteen
months have passed but the government has not made public the Unicef
survey on child health," Ramesh said.
Ramesh claimed that child
malnutrition is still unacceptably high in India but it has come down
significantly because of social sector programmes like ICDS (Integrated
Child Development Scheme), mid-day meal scheme and Janani Suraksha
Yojana that were given the highest priority by the Congress-led United
Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.
He alleged that these are
the programmes for which the allocations have been drastically reduced
in the 2015-16 budget by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)
government.
"The allocation for ICDS, for instance, has been
slashed from over Rs.18,000 crore to just about Rs.8,000 crore and for
the mid-day meal scheme from over Rs.3,000 crore to under Rs.1,200
crore," he said.
Ramesh stated: "The deliberate suppression of
the survey goes against our long-established traditions of democracy and
openness."
"It is, however, perfectly understandable that the
prime minister has kept the survey under wraps because it shows his
predecessor in good light and raises several question marks on his own
much-touted record as chief minister of Gujarat," he added.