PUNE: The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has taken up a joint programme called ‘Smart Nutrition City’ in association with the Birmingham City Council and some social organisations to work against urban malnutrition. A conference regarding the same was organised in the city on Thursday.
The programme is aimed at addressing issues like vitamin deficiency, anaemia in women and obesity. Mayor Mukta Tilak, speaking at the conference, said, “In recent surveys taken up in the city, it was found that many children, especially girls, suffer from malnutrition, weakness and vitamin deficiency, which is why it becomes necessary to act upon the issue by implementing a comprehensive food and nutrition programme, especially for children from disadvantaged families.”
“Today’s conference has seen the attendance of not just national experts but also experts from the world over. Their thoughts and ideas will help us formulate a better and more efficient programme in the near future,” Tilak said, adding that there is a need to run the Smart Nutrition City programme in a collaborative manner.
Deputy Mayor Siddharth Dhende said, “There is a need to use technology to efficiently deliver resources to the common citizen. More than 28 per cent children below the age of 6 are malnourished in the city. Considering that 1 per cent of India’s population holds more than 58 per cent of the nation’s wealth, it is important for everyone to accept the responsibility of providing for the poor.”
Pune was chosen out of many cities in India for the programme, which will see the administration of cities of Pune and Birmingham coming together along experts to formulate a nutrition policy and methodology. A platform would be created under which experts the world over will be able to lend their expertise and ideas in formulating such a framework.
Representatives of Tata Trust, Food Foundation Birmingham, Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics and others were present for the conference and presented their papers for implementation of Smart Nutrition City programme.
