1) Title of Best Practice-1: Eradication of malnutrition among children in Mokhada tehsil of Palghar District

2) Objectives of the Practice:

• To tackle malnutrition of children in tribal and remote area of Mokhada tehsil of Palghar district.
• To make Soymilk available to tribal children of Primary Schools.
• To reduce number of child deaths due to malnutrition in tribal and remote areas of Palghar district.
• To enable children physically and mentally fit for education and service of nation, which was a dream of Padmabhushan Dr. Karmaveer Bhaurao Patil.

3) The Context:

            Palghar district has witnessed serious malnutrition problem in children since many years and increased more in number since the lockdown began on March 2020. As Mokhada is one of the tribal and remote places, tribal communities have very low earning source. So they cannot afford essential food and ultimately due to lack of meal it affects on their nutrition especially in their children which leads to low immunity and often to death. To overcome this difficult situation, college has undertaken malnutrition eradication initiative.

            College is playing very important role as a Nodal agency for distribution and training on Scitech Soymate machines by Science and Technology Park, Pune in association with finance partner Finolex Pipes Industries Limited, Pune and CSR partner Mukul Madhav Foundation, Pune.

          Soymilk is a good alternative to regular milk as it contains high quality Proteins, Vitamins, Carbohydrates, Sugars, Fibers, and trace elements which forms complete dietary supplement for children.

4)  The Practice:

            Scitech Soymate machines are distributed to 10 Government Pre and Primary schools in and around Mokhada tehsil by college and its collaborating partners. A hands on training is given to teachers along with other staffs by the Trainer Mr. Vaibhav Nimgire from Science and Technology Park, Pune. The machine needs only 250 grams of Soybean seeds and it produces 5 liters’ soymilk only in 40 minutes. A committee of two Assistant Professor and 10 students is formulated and appointed to focus on the project. The role of this committee is to keep the record of height, weight and health status of the selected children from each school, also to resolve problems in making availability of soymilk. All 10 schools provide soymilk to the children twice in a week. A primary survey of 568 students from Primary Government schools are benefited from this initiative.

5) Evidence of success:

• Gain in Weight of children.
• Increase in Height of children.
• Overall impact on body posture of children.
• Improvement in immunity among children.

It has been observed that the significant improvement in overall health status of children and also students feel healthy after the consumption of Soymilk.

6) Problems Encountered and Resources Required:

The college constantly striving for health of children in tribal and remote area of Mokhada. The problems are encountered i.e.  funds are not available for purchase of soybean and sugar as well as little interruption in this work due to the lack of electricity.