BHUBANESWAR: Stating that the fight against malnutrition begins at home, deputy chief minister Pravati Parida on Tuesday stressed the need to educate women at the grassroots level and empower them with the knowledge to ensure their children’s health.
Launching the ‘Suposhit Odisha Mission’ (SOM) and inaugurating ‘Panchatatwa Park’ at State Institute for Women and Children (SIWC) here, Parida called upon people to celebrate personal milestones like birthdays by distributing fruits to local anganwadi children. Highlighting the benefits of nutritious food, she urged the community to rely on locally available, nutrient-rich resources rather than processed alternatives.
She also laid the foundation stone for the ‘Subhadra Resource Centre’, which will operate for the welfare of women and children. The SOM initiative will focus on transforming anganwadi centres (AWCs) into malnutrition-free zones. The AWCs with no underweight or malnourished children will be declared ‘Suposhit’ and the workers will receive public recognition. A dedicated dashboard will monitor the real-time progress of each centre across the state.
The ‘Panchatatwa Park’, based on the five essential elements of nature (earth, water, fire, air and space) will serve as a centre to connect women and children with nature. An acupressure path (circular path in the shape of the number 8) has been set up with pebbles, stones and sand to help increase blood circulation and provide mental peace.
The ‘Subhadra Resource Centre’ with a 400-seater modern auditorium will come up on the SIWC premises at an estimated investment of `35.7 crore. This integrated facility, which includes a toy museum and cafeteria, will serve as a dynamic hub for capacity building, research and policy initiatives for women and children.
In order to ensure the comfort and dignity of preschool children (aged 3-6), the deputy CM also announced a major hike in the financial allocation under the Malati Devi Prak Vidyalaya Paridhan Yojana. As per the revised unit costs, effective from the 2026-27 financial year, the cost of boys’ uniform has been increased from `100 to `175 and girls’ uniform from `150 to `225. While `150 will be given instead of `100 for shoes and socks, the assistance for sweaters (winter wear) hiked from `150 to `200.
This revision will benefit over 14.76 lakh children across 74,224 centres, with the additional costs being fully funded by the state government.