Department of Information and Public Relations

Press Release No. 392/19

SENSITIZATION PROGRAM ON FOOD FORTIFICATION HELD

A state level ‘Sensitization program on food fortification’ was conducted for the food safety officials on 26th August, 2019 at The Habitat Hotel -Asian Confluence. The program was jointly organized by The Commissionerate of Food Safety, Govt. of Meghalaya, KHPT and GAIN (Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition). The purpose of the program was to improve availability of fortified commodities in open market. Shri S. N. Sangma, Joint Commissioner of Food Safety Meghalaya, Shillong, inaugurated the program. The program was attended by the food safety officials from across the state and a team of 3 technical experts from KHPT and GAIN. During his inaugural address, Shri Sangma stated that Over 70 percent of Indian population still consumes less than 50 percent of Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) of Micronutrients. Macronutrient malnutrition continues to remain a serious health problem that demands coordinated and massive efforts. He also emphasised that the state of Meghalaya is committed to address the prevailing micro-nutrient deficiencies in the state and food fortification is a means to it. He said fortification provides nutritional benefits to the consumers without requiring them to change eating habits or purchase pattern. Meghalaya will follow the footsteps of Government of India through implementation of the Food Safety and Standards (Fortification of Food) Regulation, 2018.

Ms. Shakun Sharma, GAIN expert, during the training, shared that India is home to 1/3rd of the world’s 2 billion micronutrient deficient individuals. The country suffers a loss of INR 80,400 crore in its GDP every year. Therefore, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has defined standards for fortification of staple foods: wheat, oil, milk, double fortified salt and rice as mandated in the Regulations. Ms. Pooja Trivedi, Senior Manager, KHPT,Bangalore discussed about the policy landscape with regard to food fortification in India in detail. Food safety officials were capacitated on the Legal Framework for enforcement of food fortification act August 2018. Apart from the standards for fortification, the industries need to ensure certain packaging and labelling standards. Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has also designed “+F” logo to be mandatorily printed in the packets of fortified commodities, provided they are fortified as per the defined standards. They were also detailed on the endorsement of fortified brands which the fortifying units need to take up through the existing FSSAI licence.

This is the first sensitization programme on fortification of foods in the state of Meghalaya. The sensitization workshop will be followed by technical trainings to edible oil distributors, milk dairies and wheat (roller) flour mills on 27th, 28th and 29th August, 2019 respectively to build their capacities on fortification. Wheat flour fortification technology transfer will be done by Central Food Technology Research Institute (CFTRI). All the trainings will include practical demonstrations. KHPT and GAIN will also provide continuous support to these units for adoption of fortification as per policy guidelines. Directives by Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) and Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) mandate use of fortified edible oil, wheat flour and double fortified salt in MDM and ICDS programs respectively. However, non- availability of these commodities in market is perhaps affecting the implementation by concerned departments of the mandate in the state. With this initiative of the Commissionerate of Food Safety, Meghalaya, not just general public, but government programs too will be able to access fortified staples to successfully implement GOI directives.

Press Release No. 393/19

FOUNDATION STONE LAID FOR INTEGRATED TEXTILES TOURISM COMPLEX

Chief Minister, Shri Conrad K. Sangma together with Union Minister of Textiles, Smti Smriti Irani laid the foundation stone for the Integrated Textiles Tourism Complex at Nongpoh, Ribhoi District Meghalaya. Speaking at the function, the Chief Minister said that the project will not only benefit the farmers and artisans involved in the textile industry but also boost the tourism sector. ‘The complex will offer opportunity for tourists seeking unique experiences through leisure activities revolving around handloom and textile production. This innovative project will go a long way in ensuring that both the textile and the tourism sector develops’, he said. The Chief Minister also informed the gathering of the government’s various programs and interventions to streamline the textile industry. The Chief Minister also highlighted the immense opportunity for Meghalaya’s textile industry in the development and production of natural organic fibres.

During her address the Union Minister for Textiles, Smti Smriti Zubin Irani dedicated the complex to ‘the cause of culture, art, handloom and handicraft’ of Meghalaya and said that the Government of India was committed to supplement all the endeavours of the State Government in the development of the textile sector. The Union minister said that 30,000 people from the State will be eligible for skill development programs under the Samarth scheme of the Ministry of Textiles, Government of India. She added that 8 crores has already been sanctioned under the program for skill development of 7200 Meghalaya citizens, in the textile sector. She further added that under the handicraft sector the Government of India has created a identity card called ‘Pehchaan’ to help the artisan avail all benefits including free tool kits for people coming from economically challenged backgrounds. Meghalaya already has close to 3000 applicants for the particular program. As Meghalaya is one of the hubs of ‘ahimsa’ silk, the union Minister also urged the Government to utilise this capacity of the State and to promote the brand worldwide. ‘The sericulture sector stand to benefit immensely from the Meghalaya branding of the ahimsa silk’, she said. The Union Minister also informed that there are various initiatives from the GOI whereby artisans are encouraged to pursue their studies by funding of 75 percent of their education fees by the Government and urged the people to make full use of the Government’s programs such as these. Later the Union Minister also distributed free tool kits to beneficiaries.

Press Release No. 394/19

WORKSHOP ON MEGHALAYAS OUTCOME ORIENTED TRANSFORMATION OR MOTHERS PROGRAM HELD

In order to address the maternal and child health indicators as well as nutrition, education and rural development, the Workshop on “Meghalaya’s Outcome Oriented Transformation in Health, Nutrition, Education and Rural Development Program or the Mothers Program” was held today at DRDA Conference Hall, Tura for the entire Districts of Garo Hills region. The program was organised by the District Administration, West Garo Hills Tura in collaboration with the Team from Centre for Digital Financial Inclusion (CDFI), New Delhi.

In his address, Deputy Commissioner, West Garo Hills, Shri Ram Singh informed that this new initiative was announced by the Chief Minister of Meghalaya, Shri Conrad K Sangma during the celebration of Independence Day and therefore, the workshop was organised to discuss the modalities of the programme and sensitise the concerned officials and staff of the respective department about the implementation of the program. Further, he informed that nutrition, health and education indicators are low compared to other states of the country and that mothers of the region also have lot of issues which needs continuous monitoring and therefore, to monitor all these issues collection of data is necessary, he added. Further, stressing on the data driven governance which involves using data to enhance data collection system and framework for micro planning, he mentioned that it has been implemented successfully in South West Garo Hills district as a pilot project to monitor the functioning and progress of institutional delivery in the department of health and family welfare and would be applied for other related departments in the entire district.

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner, South West Garo Hills, Shri Ram Kumar highlighted the progress and achievement of the department of health after implementing the Android Based Mobile Application Sangrah App in the district. The App has been used for institutional delivery cases in which the pregnant mothers are identified with their expected date of delivery and coordinates with the Medical Officer, ANM and ASHA to ensure that the patient is brought to the hospital for institutional delivery, he said. He further informed that most of the sub-centres and PHCs in the SWGH district have increased from 50 to about 90 percent in terms of institutional delivery cases. Further, the team from the CDFI, New Delhi will be facilitating the officials about how to use and manage of the app once it is launched for the respective department in the district.

The Deputy Commissioner, East Garo Hills, Shri Swapnil Tembe, DC, South Garo Hills, Shri Hubert B Marak, Officials from Education, CDPO, Health department, Anup Bhati, Senior Program Manager, Lewin Sivamalai, Program Manager and Shri Nikhil Kumar from CDFI, New Delhi were among who attended the workshop.