Fadnavis Flags Malnutrition In Mumbai Slums, Calls For Targeted CSR Interventions

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday flagged persistent malnutrition among children in slums of Mumbai, which has a high per capita income, and called for targeted interventions through corporate social responsibility (CSR) partnerships.

Speaking at an event in BMC headquarters here, Fadnavis highlighted stunting and wasting among children belonging to economically weaker sections.

He said that the city's relatively high per capita income should be reflected in better nutrition indicators.

"Even if people are not going hungry, there are many who are malnourished," the chief minister said, stressing the need to improve nutritional outcomes in poorer communities.

He said CSR partnerships could bring new technology, monitoring systems, flexibility and focused interventions to civic programmes.

He was speaking at the launch of the "Participate Mumbai" platform and BMC's initiative to strengthen service delivery and institutional effectiveness in coordination with Samagra, a non-profit organisation.

Fadnavis said 'Participate Mumbai' will provide an interface between the BMC and corporate and social organisations willing to participate in development projects.

'Participate Mumbai' was not merely a CSR funding mechanism but a "participation platform" through which the civic body and its partners could jointly identify and implement projects in areas such as education, health, nutrition, water, employment and poverty alleviation.

"CSR should not be measured by how much money is spent, but by the outcome and impact," he said.

Fadnavis said government processes designed decades ago needed to be revisited, as citizens now expect faster service delivery and prompt responses to their grievances.

Referring to the state government's work with Samagra, he said an analysis of 1,100 online government services had found that nearly 200 services were rarely or never sought by citizens.

He said only around 45 to 47 services and schemes accounted for about 90 per cent of citizens' interaction with the government.

"If we undertake business process re-engineering of these 45 to 47 services and improve their delivery systems, 90 per cent of the people can be made much happier and their perception of the government can change," Fadnavis said.

He said the business process re-engineering exercise was in its final stage and the government would soon introduce the reworked services.

Fadnavis also cited the BMC's use of artificial intelligence to process building plans and said the ultimate objective should be to achieve "zero human intervention" in approving building plans.

Such measures would strengthen Mumbai's ease of doing business, he said.

Fadnavis urged government officials to overcome resistance to change and adopt new technologies and practices.

"Time does not stop for anyone. Adapting to change is what is important," he said.

Maharashtra Minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha, mayor Ritu Tawde, deputy mayor Sanjay Ghadi and other dignitaries were present for the function.