Bengal bags three Skoch awards

KOLKATA: Bengal has received three Skoch awards from the Centre that includes prizes for Aikashree scholarship, for Operation Pushti meant for bringing down the number of SAM (Severe Acute Malnutrition) children and for good work by the state Forest department.

The Skoch (gold) award has been bagged by the state Minority Affairs and Madrasah Education department for excelling in the grant of scholarship under the Aikashree scheme. The Skoch (silver) award has gone to the Bankura district administration for bringing down the number of SAM children from 1700 to 400 in 8 months during the peak of Covid pandemic

A unique scheme named "Operation Pusti" was officially launched on November 24, 2020, in 23 blocks of the district.

The key features of the project include feeding every severely underweight child with one egg/day and 1kg NUTRIMIX packet per month through the AWCs, regular health check-up by the specialised doctors, provision of piped water through Jal Swapno scheme etc.

The Skoch (platinum) award has been bagged by the state Forest department for joint forest management.