Government forms panel to examine UNICEF's child survey report

NEw Delhi: Under fire for holding back state- wise findings of UNICEF's Rapid Survey on Children, the Women and Child Development Ministry has constituted a committee to examine the report following differences of opinion over the survey methodology.

The committee, which is likely to submit its report within a week, includes officials from the ministries of Health and Family Welfare, and Statistics and Programme Implementation. It will work upon to reach a consensus on the contentious UNICEF report, which has indicated a reduction in the immunisation cover of children.

"We held a meeting with the ministries of Health and Statistics and decided to form a committee as there was difference of opinion on the state-level findings of the UNICEF survey. It is likely to submit its report within a week," a senior Women and Child Development Ministry official told PTI.

The Ministry had in 2014 released the national-level findings of the report and uploaded these on its website, while the state-level findings were put on hold.

The official said that the methodology followed by UNICEF in state surveys was not in accordance with the guidelines of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation and hence, was put on hold.

"The state-level results had certain variations in some respects. Within a week a consensus should be come at. The national-level findings were acceptable to all. So those were released and put on the website," the official said.

"The Ministry of Statistics has set certain guidelines regarding the methodology of a survey for example how to select the sample or the size of the sample. Whenever we do a survey we are required to follow these guidelines," he said, adding that the sample size differs from state to state.

"In state where there is more poverty you need more samples. So we want the survey to be more accurate as it will be used by us and by the state governments in building future programmes," the official said.

He, however, said there is an overall improvement of more than six per cent in the findings of the UNICEF report as compared to a similar survey conducted by National Family Health Survey six years ago.

"There are three indicators of a child's health or malnutrition which includes children -- height to age, weight and age, and weight for height. Going by these indicators, there is an improvement of 6-12 per cent," he said.

Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Ahmad Patel had written a letter to Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi last week, demanding release of the full report in the "larger public interest" and raised questions over the Centre choosing not to make public the entire survey report.