Lok Sabha Question No. 3258 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-03-13
Subject: Budgetary Allocations for Food Safety
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Komati Reddy Venkat Reddy

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN & CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3258

TO BE ANSWERED ON 13.03.2020

## BUDGETARY ALLOCATIONS FOR FOOD SAFETY

## 3258. SHRI KOMATI REDDY VENKAT REDDY:

Will the Minister of WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  has  reduced  funds  allocated  for  Food  Safety  in  the Budget 2020-21;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether the said reduction in allocated budget has impacted the malnourishment prevailing among women and children;
- (d) if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) the steps taken/being taken to overcome the problem of malnutrition?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)

(a)  to  (d)  Food  Safety  and  Standards  Authority  of  India  (FSSAI)  is  a  statutory  body established under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, for laying down science based  standards  for  articles  of  food  and  to  regulate  their  manufacture,  storage, distribution,  sale  and  import,  to  ensure  availability  of  safe  and  wholesome  food  for human consumption and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. FSSAI receives  grant  from  the  Government  for  carrying  out  its  activities.  Revised  Estimate (RE) for FSSAI for the year 2019-20 was 301.59 crores, against which Rs. 301.22 were released as grant by the Government, out of which an amount of Rs. 215.05 crores has been utilised under  various  heads.   For  the  year  2020-21,  the  grant  approved  by  the Government  (Budget  Estimate)  is  283.71  crore  which  is  only  a  marginal  drop  from previous year's Revised Estimate (RE) and may not adversely affect the various food safety activities  planned for the year.  If  required, additional funds would be sought at RE stage.

As per the report of Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (CNNS) (2016-18), the  prevalence  of  underweight  and  stunting  among  children  is  33.4%  and  34.7% respectively,  which  indicates  a  reduction  when  compared  to  the  previous  National Family  Health  Survey-4  (NFHS-4)  (2015-16),  which  reported  35.7%  children  under  5 years of  age as  underweight  and  38.4% as  stunted.  Further,  as per  NFHS-4,  22.9% women  (15-49  years)  are  underweight  (Body  Mass  Index  <18.5  kg/m 2 )  which  is  a reduction  from  the  previous  NFHS-3  which  reported  35.5%  women  (15-49  years)  as underweight. This data shows that there is a reduction in the levels of malnutrition in the country.

(e) The Government has accorded high priority to the issue of malnutrition and is making serious efforts to eradicate malnutrition. Several schemes with direct as well as indirect interventions are being implemented  across  the country. Schemes  like Anganwadi Services, Scheme for Adolescent Girls and Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojna  (PMMVY)  under  the  Umbrella  Integrated  Child  Development  Services  (ICDS) Scheme  as  direct  targeted  interventions  are  being  implemented  by  this  Ministry  to address the problem of malnutrition among women and children in the country.

Further, the Government is implementing POSHAN Abhiyaan (earlier known as National  Nutrition  Mission)  since  18 th December  2017 to  address  the  problem  of malnutrition in the country with a goal of achieving improvement in nutritional status of Children from 0-6 years, Adolescent Girls, Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers in a time bound manner with fixed targets as under:

|   S.No | Objective                                                                                         | Target   |
|--------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------|
|      1 | Prevent and reduce Stunting in children (0- 6 years)                                              | @2%p.a.  |
|      2 | Prevent and reduce under-nutrition (underweight prevalence) in children (0-6 years)               | @2%p.a.  |
|      3 | Reduce the prevalence of anemia among young Children(6-59 months)                                 | @3%p.a.  |
|      4 | Reduce the prevalence of anemia among Women and Adolescent Girls in the age group of 15-49 years. | @3%p.a.  |
|      5 | Reduce Low Birth Weight (LBW).                                                                    | @2%p.a.  |

The Abhiyaan aims to reduce malnutrition in the Country in a phased manner, through a life cycle approach, by adopting a synergised and result oriented approach. The Abhiyaan ensures mechanisms for timely service delivery and a robust monitoring as well as intervention infrastructure.

Also,  under  the National  Health  Mission  (NHM), a  flagship  programme  of Ministry  of  Health  and  Family Welfare,  programmes  to  address  malnutrition inter  alia include  promotion  of  appropriate  Infant  and  Young  Child  Feeding  (IYCF)  practices, Anaemia  Mukt  Bharat,  Iron  and Folic Acid (IFA)  supplementation,  de-worming, promotion of iodized salt, Vitamin-A supplementation, Mission Indradhanush to ensure high  coverage  of  vaccination  in  children,  conducting  intensified  diarrhoea  control fortnights  to  control  childhood  diarrhoea,  management  of  sick  severely  malnourished children at Nutrition Rehabilitation Centres, monthly Village Health and Nutrition Days, Home Based  New  Born  Care  (HBNC)  and  Home  Based  Young  Child  Care  (HBYC) programmes, Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram, etc.

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