'Providing Ration to Children and Women'

Q: How many beneficiaries received Take Home Ration (THR) at your Anganwadi centre this month?

Anganwadi worker: We distributed THR to all the 35 beneficiaries on 1-2nd May 2020. One family member from each household was called to the Anganwadi centre for the distribution.

Q: What all have you been instructed to do during this time of lockdown?

Anganwadi worker: We are preparing the list of beneficiaries of various schemes like Pradhan Mantri Matritva Vandana Yojna (the maternity benefit programme to compensate for wage loss and promote health seeking behaviour), Janani Suraksha Yojna (a conditional cash transfer to incentivise institutional and safe delivery) and Mother Teresa Yojana.

We send the list to the Department via WhatsApp so that people can benefit from these schemes. Most of our work with the beneficiaries and the Department is happening through phone and WhatsApp.

Q: Are you facing any challenges currently?

Anganwadi worker: We are not able to go to the field or to the Anganwadi centre because of the lockdown. Our work - like Village Health Sanitation Nutrition Day (VHSND) or providing meals to the children - has completely stopped.

The interview was conducted with an Anganwadi worker in Solan, Himachal Pradesh in Hindi on 23 May 2020, and has been translated.

Credit: Indranil Mukherjee/AFP first published in the Scroll

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