‘My School, My Farm’: Mizoram #IAS #ShashankaAla Tackles Malnutrition | ipledgefor By March 2020, the ultimate objective is to make every school, Anganwadi and childcare institution in Lawngtlai self-sufficient in local varieties of fruits and vegetables,” says #IAS officer Shashanka Ala, the Deputy Commissioner of Mizoram’s remotest and most backward district. On her first visit to the remote hill slopes of Lawngtlai District, Mizoram, for her new posting, Shashanka Ala, a 2014-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, was struck by the sheer time and distance it took to get there. “It’s a 10-hour drive south from Aizawl (approximately 296 km) on a bad road, which during the monsoons is struck by landslides, resulting in delays that can take up to an entire day,” says the Deputy Commissioner. Most fruits and vegetables that come on trucks from Silchar in Assam, which is a further 180 km north of Aizawl, take two days to arrive. Once they reach Lawngtlai, these perishables are unfit to consume, and the quality ones are too expensive to purchase. The problem is not just limited to perishable goods; even essentials like sugar and salt are of substandard quality. Every time an IAS officer is posted to an area, they calculate the distance between the district center to the state capital, which in the plains are often self-sufficient administrative units. Say, you’re administering a rural district in Telangana which 150 km away from a city like Hyderabad. In this city, you can obtain all the essentials for the district instead of waiting for supplies from Haryana. Aizawl, however, isn’t self-sufficient, and most items come from Silchar. “Moreover, the market is driven by what’s pushed from Silchar, and not what’s bought from Lawngtlai district, which shares a border with Bangladesh and Myanmar. The children in this district belonging mostly to the Chakma and Lai ethnic minorities aren’t even fed a variety of quality vegetables because locals believe they won’t even get them. They eat this leafy vegetable stew and rice which comes from the public distribution system,” says Shashanka. Consequently, the district is home to the highest percentage of stunted (35.3%), severely wasted (5.9%) and underweight (21.3%) children under the age of five in #Mizoram. Meanwhile, the new Deputy Commissioner was slowly settling in. Having lived in cities all her life, this was also the time she got into gardening. Growing native varieties of local fruits and vegetables in her garden, she had an idea — why not extend the same to schools and anganwadis, instead of waiting for them to be transported from Aizawl or Silchar? My School, My FarmTo address malnutrition in her district, Shashanka and her team designed a unique solution — ‘Kan Sikul, Kan Huan’ (English translation: ‘My School, My Farm’). Blending with the Centre’s Poshan Abhiyan scheme launched last year to address malnutrition, this initiative seeks to fulfill the dietary and nutritional needs of children.“Every school and Anganwadi will have a small kitchen and nutrition garden in their own premises. Since there is no plain land available, all the gardens are made on terraces. These schools and anganwadis source their fruit/vegetable seeds and compost from the district administration. They can now cook their mid-day meals using the food they have grown themselves instead of waiting for a truck from Silchar or Aizawl,” informs Shashanka. Got an inspiring story? Email Now! [email protected] Coming soon — http://ipledgefor.org