Bhubaneswar: In a bid to fortify nutritional knowledge in the hinterlands of the state, Odisha Livelihoods Mission (OLM), Department of Mission Shakti celebrated a week long ‘Odisha Pushti Mahotsav –across 2500 Gram Panchayats in the state. This Mahotsav celebrates promotion of nutrition garden leading to enhanced dietary diversity and nutritional knowledge of rural communities in Odisha.
The ‘Mahotsav’ was organized in a campaign mode from 06th to 12th December 2021 in partnership with the Azim Premji Foundation (APF), Department of Women and Child Development and Department of Health & Family Welfare.
As per the recent study conducted by Oxfam India, the MUB programme has successfully promoted 4,74,000 nutrition gardens. Approximately, 4,70,000 SHG women have been trained to adopt positive health and nutrition practices through PLA-LANN process. Nearly, 11704 community cadres have been capacitated to support rural households to adopt nutrition garden and practices. The programme has bagged many accolades including Outlook Poshan Award 2019 in the category of ‘Safe and Nutritious Food’. Mo Upakari Bagicha’ is one of best practice of Department of Mission Shakti and is now being implemented in other states like Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh.
Smt. Sujata R Karthikeyan (IAS), Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Department of Mission Shakti said, “Odisha Pushti Mahotsav is a community led celebration that signifies augmented nutritional outcomes in every village of Odisha. It is delightful to see how communities across Odisha have embraced ‘Mo Upakari Bagicha’ as their own initiative.”
Ms. Mansi Nimbhal (IAS), CEO, OLM said, ‘Odisha Pushti Mahotsav as India’s largest nutrition festival highlights how every rural household in the state is now nutritionally literate. With Mo Upakari Bagicha in every backyard, now every family will have four-square nutritionally balanced diet around the year.’
Ms. Sabita Bada, a member of Dharitri SHG group from Jujomara Block, Sambalpur district said, ‘Rural communities are welcoming this effort of Government of Odisha with great ardour. It enhances and strengthens nutritional knowledge at the grassroots. After learning about the importance of consuming10 food groups (pulses, grains, nuts, seeds, dairy, meat, eggs, fish, green leaf, vegetables, etc.), households in her village have diversified their everyday food platter.
