Odisha Govt Signs MoU With APPI To Reduce Malnutrition
21 December, New Delhi
The Odisha government today signed an MoU with Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiatives (APPI) with an objective to reduce malnutrition in the state.
Women and Child Development Departmet Secretary Vishal Dev and APPI CEO Anantha Padmanabhan signed the MoU in the presence of Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and APPI Chairman and founder WIPRO, Ajim Premji.
Women and Child Development Minister Usha Devi, Chief Secretary A P Padhi and other senior bureaucrats were also present.
As per the agreement both the state government and APPI would work together to improve the ICDS system, set up departmental convergence mechanisms and increase the technical knowledge resource and management capacity of various administrative systems.
Both APPI and Odisha government would also work collaboratively to address the challenges and systematic bottlenecks to improve coverage of nutrition services and practices across the state, institutionalizing multi sectoral approach to nutrition, set up institutional structures, community empowerment for increased accountability and better delivery of services and inter sectoral convergence at all levels.
The objective of the collaboration is to achieve reduction of 20 to 25 percentage point in malnutrition across the state over a period of eight to 10 years and measuring it against stunting, wasting and under-weight as indicators.
Premji said, there is considerable political will and bureaucratic intent in the state to reduce malnutrition and I feel happy to support the people of Odisha to achieve their dreams.
Patnaik said the state wanted to benefit from the expertise and core competence of WIPRO in technological innovation and consulting over and above the nutrition sensitive programmes covered under this partnership.
The Chief Minister requested Premji to extend his support in the field of education also and continue his collaboration with the state by widening the scope of engagement through APPI in the field of nutrition and governance.
He said the state wanted Bhubaneswar to occupy a prominent place in WIPRO’s growth plans and requested him to expedite the growth of WIPRO’s development centre at Bhubaneswar.