Journalism of Courage
Deepak Foundation,the corporate social responsibility arm of the Deepak Group of Companies,has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the School Board of the Pune Municipal Corporation(PMC) to upgrade services in the Balwadis of Pune. Subhash Ramrao Zanak,minister,Women and Child Welfare,Maharashtra,launched the programme in the city today. Chief Secretary JP Dange,Integrated Child Welfare Commissioner Rajesh Kumar,Pune Divisional Commissioner Dilip Band,Sailesh Sharma (IAS) ,Chairperson,School Board, Sangeeta Tiwari and CK Mehta,chairman,Deepak Foundation and Archana Joshi were also present.
Speaking on the ocassion,Zanak said,The government was committed to reduce the rate of malnourished children in the state,but the government alone cannot fight the issue. We need more industries like the Deepak Foundation to come forward and join the governments effort which will ensure that not a single child in our state goes without education,food,and proper health care.
The highlights of the MoU include: the Balwadi teachers will be trained by experts, officials from the foundation will check the quality of food and add nutritional value to the food,repairs to balwadis,setting up an administrative set-up.Rajesh Kumar,ICD Commissioner,pointed out that this was a very good beginning and the model could be replicated among one crore children through the 8,5000 Balwadis in the state.
Speaking on the occasion Chief Secretary of the state,J.P Dange,said that the Central Government had raised its norms for child health care and the central government will allot 20 per cent more budget for this purpose if the Public Private Partnership model works out.
