parag chhatrapur food security

8/12/2019 Parag Chhatrapur Food Security

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Food Security and Nutrition Tool – A Draft

Chhatrapur Block

Sandeep Kumar. Parag Pevekar

“The definition of poverty has changed. Now, poverty does not mean people dying of

hunger. But, people who do not have access to electronics and mobiles. People here look

at food as a means to survive, nothing more than that. ~ Sarpanch, Mahanandpur.”

Food Habits: The staple food of the people living here is Rice. The fishing communities in

the village consume fish on almost daily basis. Most villages in the Chhatrapur block are

either coastal villages involved mainly in fishing or into paddy cultivation. Other cultivation

includes vegetables like brinjals, tomatoes, potatoes, chillies, bottle gourd,etc. Mostly the

cultivation done is for sustenance as well as for commercial purposes where a portion is sold

in the market. Vegetables are sold in the village as well in Chhatrapur market. Also, kevda,

coconut,cashew and toddy plantations can be seen extensively in almost all areas. The

cyclone Phailin involved losses due to the devastation of the kevda cultivation, coconut and

paddy cultivation. Similarly those living around in the coastal areas with fishing as their

livelihood suffered losses as they mostly relied on traditional methods of fishing and their

boats (dongas) were destroyed due to Phailin. This further affected not only their livelihoods

but also, their intake of fish in their daily diet.

Key Observations:

1). On an average people have three meals in a day. Breakfast which is generally consumed

later in the morning before going for work so that they remain full till lunch time which is

around 1 or latest till 2 in the afternoon, which is followed by tea in the evening and dinner

by 8.

2). Potatoes, brinjals, drumsticks feature among the most consumed vegetables. The people

we spoke to mentioned „Dalma‟ which is Dal with vegetables (Drumsticks, potatoes Bottle

gourd, pumpkin) in it.

3)Mustard oil is mostly used for cooking purposes.

4).Fish eating communities have fish both fresh / dried in their daily diet. Telugu fishingcommunities mince a particular variety of small fishes on a stone grinder in the form of

chutney.

5). The sweet dishes include: Chenna Poda, Rabri, Ras Malai,Rosgulla (which the locals

claim is an invention of Orrisa) .

6). Inspite of having many sweets than use milk as a primary ingredient, milk is not

consumed directly in most households. Most of the children do not get milk. Even in

communities that own cattle, milk is sold in the village and in the market. Milk is 20-

24Rs/litre. Infants get their milk from breast feeding and rice porridge called„khimchi‟.Some families also give Lactogen as supplement.



7).Summers are considered as lean period, wherein rice and potatoes are consumed almost

every day.

8).Also during summers most coastal villages, eat something known as “Pokhal Bhaat”

which includes: Rice (fermented), Lime juice and water. When asked, why specifically

during summers, they said it helps in coping with the rising heat especially during April

and May.

9). There were families from army background who have lived earlier in places like Jammu,

Amritsar, Delhi, etc. who had developed the habit of including wheat rotis in their diet. But,

then rotis are just a once in a week affair.

10).The widows of the upper caste Hindu, some Brahmins and devotees (ISKCON sect) are

vegetarians by choice. Interestingly many people (even in coastal villages) especially senior

citizens have become followers of the sect and have become vegetarians by choice. These

devotees can be identified by the Tulsi beads around their neck.

11). In of the households, where we were invited for lunch, the lady wasn‟t eating even

when all other members in the house where eating. When asked, we were told, she was the

youngest daughter in law and she will eat only when her elder brother in law and husband

finish their meals.

Mid Day Meal Scheme: The scheme is carried out in all the schools . The food served comes

from Nandi Foundation based in Andhra Pradesh. The food is cooked in Behrampur at

around 2 am and reaches the schools by around 12 . It includes Dalma and eggs on certain

days. Soyabean curry is mainly part of the menu. However, we actually saw kids removingSoyabean nuggets from their curry .When asked, they said, they preferred eggs to soyabean.

The school principal in Mahanandpur, said that the food wasn‟t of great quality as very less

oil is used in the food, lot of water was used in the curry and that made the food inedible.

In P.Chhatrapur we got an opportunity to meet the driver and see the vehicle carrying Mid

Day Meal to different schools. We saw lot of spillage taking place from the steel containers.

The driver said the spillage was a regular feature due to the conditions of the roads .

The menu:

Egg : Once a week

Monday/Thursday: Rice, Dal , Vegetables

Tuesday/Friday: Rice,Soya.

Wednesday: Egg,Rice,Dal.

Saturday:Rice, Aaloo Mutter.

There haven‟t been any case of food poisoning in any of the schools.



In Mahanandpur , the kids had their lunch and after they had eaten they took out their tiffin

boxes and filled it with the remaining food. The teachers were aware of this practice.

In Baulgaun, the school teacher said that there were four Brahmin kids in the school and

they did not eat the Mid Deay Meal food and were allowed to go to their homes for their

lunch. We were told the kids were asked by their parents not to eat in school.

Aanganwadi: The aanganwadi from our observation came across as a very resourceful place

for both both children and expecting mothers. The aanganwadi under the ICDS scheme

comprises the Aanganwadi Didi and the Aanganwadi Sevika (helper) who looks after the

cooking of the meals served in aanganwadi. The Aanganwadi Didi is the overall incharge

who has the added responsibility of maintaining demographic and health related data of her

ward. She also has check to for malnutrition among the kids in her ward and if the kids

aren‟t suffering from any health concerns arising out of lack of nutrients. Also, expecting

mothers having proper diet and vaccinations. The health related activities are carried out

along with Asha didi affiliated to that particular aanganwadi. Checkups are carried

regarding the BMI status of the kids in the aanaganwadi.

Eggs are served twice a week. The nutritional status is categorized into : Severly

Underweight Kids and UnderWeight Kids. The SUWs and UWs are given,Raasi Ladoo and

Chhatua . Chhatau is like a nutrition supplement comprising: wheat, groundnut, Crushed

almonds,rice,wheat. This comes in packets of three colors: red, yellow and blue. Red is for

severely underweight kids, Yellow is for pregnant women and blue packet is for children

from 7 months to 3years.

1). The aanganwadi was generally carried out in the houses of Aanaganwadi Didis. In GN

Palam,it was a rented house and in P.chhatarapur it was in the primary school premises.

2). The aanganwadi chulha was made of a strategically cut earthen pot. The kitchen was

clean and as far as any discrimination regarding the caste of the helper is concerned, there

was no such evident observation. In GN Palam the helper who cooked belonged to SC

category.

3) .In Purna Chhatrapur village every aanganwadi had a water purifier provided by Tata

Relief . In Bada Arjipalli it was by CARE International.

4).One of the aanganwadis in K.Arjipalli mentioned that only 75% of the enrolled students

attend the aanganwadi.

5).The aanaganwadi quota of rice is generally on the basis of 80gm per child and Rs. 4.45 on

each child. Once a month a meeting is held and allotment of rice is done depending on the

number of children. The other expenses are incurred by the Aanaganwadi Didi for which

she is duly reimbursed.

6) In P.Chhatrapur ,Kalpana Behera is also a part of the Gaon Kalyan Samiti , comprising ten

other members, the major focus being water and sanitation .



7). In some aanganwadis we saw that some really old women from the village were also

having meals with the kids. When asked, we were told that they were very poor and at

times visit aanaganwadis looking for food. Kumari Devi from Chhatrapur also mentioned

that at times she gives a packet of Chhatua to the old lady who visits her aanaganwadi.

8). Also, the chhatua packets are given away immediately when they arrive so there‟s no

case of it getting spoiled.

9). The Aanganwadi in GN Palam had many cockroaches both in the kitchen and even in the

sitting area.

10).In P.Chhatrapur the aanganwadi lady said that boiled eggs do not go bad and at times

she uses it even the next day.

11).Overall people were happy with the aanganwadis in the villages.

A few aanganwadi didis did compare their salaries with those in bigger cities saying they

get paid lesser than their city counterparts inspite of doing more work than

Secondary data gathered: (gathered so far)

P.Chatrapur

Aanganwadi 3: Kumari devi. (didi). Annapoorna Behera (helper). Asha Didi : Manju Sethy

Ward no.3. Children : 18

Population: 659. Households:161. Male: 340. Female:339. Pregnant:05. Delivered(Nursing):04

General :334. Male: 174. Female: 159.

SC.:325 . Male:165. Female:160

Underweight :03. Severely underweight : NIL.

Aanganwadi2. Ward No.2. Pratima Behera (didi)

Total Households: 111. General :46 SC. 65

Aanganwadi 2: Kalpana Behera . Helper – T.Sitamma

SUW: 01

Pregnant women: 06. Lactating mothers: 12

Children 69.

Two cases of of SUW kids in Bandara village.

Bippilingi village: 7 SUW kids, 27 UW kids, 3 Over Weight kids.



PDS Scheme:

Kanamanna GramPanchayat:

BPL:639 beneficiaries 25 kg/month @Re.1/kg.

Antodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) : 164 Beneficiaries . 35kg/month @Re. 1

PLO beneficiaries: 122 Beneficiaries. 25kg/month @Re.1

Rural Disabled Person (RDP): More than 75% disability : Rs. 300+ 10kg

rice/month.

Less than 75% disability (71 beneficiaries )= 10kg/month @Re.1

Annapurna Scheme: Directed towards destitutres.( Old people) 10beneficiaries . 10kg Rice free.

Above poverty line : 600 Beneficiaries . Wheat 10kg/month @ Rs. 7el

Village Level Data:

Mathikhalo. BPL -229, antodaya : 22+12+14

Kanamanna: BPL- 195, antodaya: 19+10+16

P.Chhatrapur : BPL- 158. Antodaya: 28

Agastinuagaon (panchayat):

APL: 837. Wheat (10kg).

BPL:664. (25kg rice)

Fishermen (RORC)= 399

Antodaya: 177

PLO: 35

Annapurna :12

Arjipalli :

BPL families:557

APL:573

Antodaya: 145

PLO:104

Annapurna :11



Bipllingi:

BPL cards : 720

Antodaya: 202

Annapurna:16

PLO: 23

The PDS system mostly sells rice and kerosene: 4 litres @Rs. 62 through a place the

villagers refer as “controller”. In P. Chhatrapur there were some malpractices regarding

the distribution of kerosene and the person„s license was revoked and another villager

was appointed as the controller till the BDO would appoint another controller.

Most people complained about that the BPL survey was conducted in 1997 and they still

didn‟t have access to BPL cards inspiteq of living in poverty. They did not seem satisfied

with the schemes stating reasons like size of family being large, the younger lot

complained, they were dependent on their parents‟ BPL cards.

There are days allotted to different villages, wherein they arrive to collect their

entitlements.

P.Chhatrapur‟s , Rushikulya Gramin Bank is a godown under the Gramin Bhandar

Yojana which was locked most of the times. However, when asked it was told that the

godown is used by Sathya Sai Cashews to store their inventory.

Phailin

There was no particular plan in terms of preparedness. The Sarpanch in most of

the villages had asked the people to store food.

Phailin had caused lot of destruction especially in terms of livelihoods seen

mostly among the fishing and kevda dependent communities were seriously

affected and most of them were migrating to cities like Surat, Pune, Chennai,

Mumbai.

In aanaganwadis esp in P.Chhatarapur , the didis had tried to protect the rice

sacks but in vain. Kumari Devi said that she lost almost 60 kgs of rice which was

fed to the pigs in the village.

All households mentioned that they got 50kg and 3 ltrs kerosene rice post

Phailin as relief material.



In the cyclone shelter, they were given rice, dal, chivda, biscuits. In one of the

cyclone shelters there were also fights over food. People were not happy with the

chivda served during all three times in a day.

In Mahanandpur and adjacent villages, cooked food came from Chhatrapur.

Some shopkeepers voluntarily helped villagers by giving away foodgrains.

The market was closed for approximately 3-4 days. The nearest market is

Chhatrapur.

In aanaganwadis Chivda and jaggery was given to kids. In P.chhatrapur, the

aanaganwadi didi said that in her aanganwadi she received this stock after two

months of Phailin.

Amarnath Mishra and Co. kannamanna deal in kevda essence said that the

destruction was so much that , even during if the existing plants bear flowers it

will be 30% to 40% of their earlier production. In P.chhatrapur, coconut

plantation was destroyed, the bent trees had to be completely chopped off and

the remains can still be seen in the village.

The vegetable prices had gone up.

Food logistics and distribution was severely affected.

A visit to the Thursday market:

The weekly market in Chhatrapur is where people from all adjacent villages come down.

Everything right from foodstuffs, clothes, utilities are sold in this market. People come in

groups from most villages. People mostly buy clothes, imitation jewellery, spices, food

grains, fruits, and plastic utility items. Mostly vegetables and fruits were bought in this

market. Mushrooms, bottle gourd, bananas, cauliflowers, fish were widely sold. Other than

that, grapes, oranges, watermelons, apples were also seen. The fruits other than bananas

seemed to be expensive; still there were many buyers for them. Fruits mostly came from

Madhya Pradesh.

Other observations:

Most buying decisions regarding are made by men.

The food and nutrition scenario seems to be stable.

However inspite of the frequent disasters people still do not believe in preparing fordisasters in terms of food stock. Most houses do not have refrigerators, so food is cooked on



daily basis. At times, the remaining food from the previous night is consumed in the

morning. No special arrangements were seen regarding storage of foodgrains. Plastic

barrels, aluminium drums, steel containers or even sacks were used to store food grains. The

overall food situation did seem quite stable.

The seeds for agriculture were brought from Chhatrapur or from the previous year‟s

produce. No hybrid variety of seeds was mentioned by any of the farmers.

The coast of Arjipalli had bowl –shaped concrete structures. They are used by fishermen to

store their catch of small fishes. Which are later dried by the women of the village or tended

for sale. But, this is mostly a temporary arrangement. The fish isn‟t stored in these structures

for more than a day or two.

We also, saw lot of dead fauna like turtles, jelly fishes along the sea coast. Defecation along

the coast was seen.The fishermen said that it was a common thing and even over the period

of time the fish catch had reduced.

Alcoholism seems to be a major problem in the area both amongst men and women

especially in the fishing communities.

After interacting with people, what is seen evidently is that, the attitude of people towards

“food” is just for sustenance. The nutrient value, health benefits associated with food still

remains secondary. People here; say that, “We work to fill our stomachs. Choosing food

items depending on their nutrient value remains luxury for us .”

parag chhatrapur food security

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