Lok Sabha Question No. 837 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-07-23
Subject: Malnourished Children
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Guman Singh Damor

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.837

TO BE ANSWERED ON 23.07.2021

## MALNOURISHED CHILDREN

- 837     SHRI GUMAN SINGH DAMOR:

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

- (a)      the number of malnourished children in the country, State/UT and district-wise; and
- (b)      the  policy  framework  implemented  to  eradicate  the  prevailing  malnourishment and the  time  by  which  the  malnutrition  prevailing  in  the  country  is  likely  to  be eradicated?

## ANSWER

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

(a)         As  per  the  report  of  the  National  Family  Health  Survey  (NFHS)  -  4,  2015-16, 35.7% children under 5 years of age are underweight and 38.4% are stunted indicating a  reduction  from  the  previous  data  captured  in  NFHS  -  3,  2005-06,  which  reported 42.5% children under 5 years of age as underweight and 48% stunted. However, the recently released report of NFHS-5 (2019-20) is available only for 22 States/UTs. The State/UT  wise  details  of  stunting,  wasting  and  underweight  among  children  under  5 years as per NFHS-4 & NFHS-5 is annexed.

(b)        Government  of  India  implements  the  Anganwadi  Services  Scheme,  POSHAN Abhiyaan,  Pradhan  Mantri  Matru  Vandana  Yojana  and  Scheme  for  Adolescent  Girls under the Umbrella Integrated Child Development Services Scheme (ICDS) as targeted interventions  for  children  upto  the  age  of  6  years,  Pregnant  Women  and  Lactating Mothers  and  Adolescent  Girls,  throughout  the  country.  POSHAN  Abhiyaan  aims  to reduce malnutrition in a phased manner, through a lifecycle approach, by adopting a synergised  and  result  oriented  approach.  All  these  schemes  address  one  or  other aspects related to nutrition and have the potential to improve nutritional outcomes in the country.

Recently,  Government  has  also  taken  measures  to strengthen  nutritional  content, delivery, outreach and outcomes with focus on developing practices that nurture health, wellness  and  immunity  to  disease  and  malnutrition.  Steps  have  also  been  taken  to improve  nutritional  quality  and  testing,  strengthen  delivery  and  leverage  technology under the 'Poshan Tracker', a robust ICT enabled platform, to improve governance with regard  to  real  time  monitoring  of  provisioning  of  supplementary  nutrition for  prompt supervisions and management of services.

Also,  Guidelines  on  Quality  Assurance,  Roles  and  Responsibilities  of  Duty  Holders, procedure for procurement, for transparency, efficiency and accountability in delivery of Supplementary Nutrition have been streamlined. Government has advised States/UTs to ensure that the quality of supplementary nutrition conforms to prescribed standards laid  down  under  the  Food  Safety  and  Standards  Act,  2006  and  regulations  made thereunder.  States/UTs  have  also  been  advised  to  promote use  of  AYUSH  systems for prevention of malnutrition and related diseases. A programme to support development  of  Poshan  Vatikas  at  Anganwadi  Centres  to  meet  dietary  diversity  gap leveraging traditional knowledge in nutritional practices has also been taken up.

Mission Poshan 2.0, an integrated nutrition support programme, has been announced in Budget 2021-22.

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## Annexure

Statement referred to in reply to Part (a) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No.837 for 23.07.2021 by Shri Guman  Singh  Damor regarding   MALNOURISHED CHILDREN

| S.No.   | State/UT                           | Stunting   | Stunting   | Wasting   | Wasting   | Underweight   | Underweight   |
|---------|------------------------------------|------------|------------|-----------|-----------|---------------|---------------|
| S.No.   | State/UT                           | NFHS-4     | NFHS-5     | NFHS-4    | NFHS-5    | NFHS-4        | NFHS-5        |
| 1       | Andaman & Nicobar Islands          | 23.3       | 22.5       | 18.9      | 16        | 21.6          | 23.7          |
| 2       | Andhra Pradesh                     | 31.4       | 31.2       | 17.2      | 16.1      | 31.9          | 29.6          |
| 3       | Arunachal Pradesh                  | 29.4       | -          | 17.3      | -         | 19.4          | -             |
| 4       | Assam                              | 36.4       | 35.3       | 17        | 21.7      | 29.8          | 32.8          |
| 5       | Bihar                              | 48.3       | 42.9       | 20.8      | 22.9      | 43.9          | 41            |
| 6       | Chandigarh                         | 28.7       | -          | 10.9      | -         | 24.5          | -             |
| 7       | Chhattisgarh                       | 37.6       | -          | 23.1      | -         | 37.7          | -             |
| 8       | Dadra & Nagar Haveli & Daman & Diu | 37.2       | 39.4       | 26.7      | 21.6      | 35.8          | 38.7          |
| 9       | Delhi                              | 31.9       | -          | 15.9      | -         | 27            | -             |
| 10      | Goa                                | 20.1       | 25.8       | 21.9      | 19.1      | 23.8          | 24            |
| 11      | Gujarat                            | 38.5       | 39         | 26.4      | 25.1      | 39.3          | 39.7          |
| 12      | Haryana                            | 34         | -          | 21.2      | -         | 29.4          | -             |
| 13      | Himachal Pradesh                   | 26.3       | 30.8       | 13.7      | 17.4      | 21.2          | 25.5          |
| 14      | Jammu & Kashmir                    | 27.4       | 26.9       | 12.2      | 19        | 16.6          | 21            |
| 15      | Jharkhand                          | 45.3       | -          | 29        | -         | 47.8          | -             |
| 16      | Karnataka                          | 36.2       | 35.4       | 26.1      | 19.5      | 35.2          | 32.9          |
| 17      | Kerala                             | 19.7       | 23.4       | 15.7      | 15.8      | 16.1          | 19.7          |
| 18      | Ladakh                             | 26.8       | 32         | 13.7      | 17.4      | 23.6          | 25.8          |
| 19      | Lakshadweep                        | 30.9       | 30.5       | 9.3       | 17.5      | 18.7          | 20.4          |
| 20      | Madhya Pradesh                     | 42         | -          | 25.8      | -         | 42.8          | -             |
| 21      | Maharashtra                        | 34.4       | 35.2       | 25.6      | 25.6      | 36            | 36.1          |
| 22      | Manipur                            | 43.8       | 46.5       | 15.3      | 12.1      | 28.9          | 26.6          |
| 23      | Meghalaya                          | 28.9       | 23.4       | 6.8       | 9.9       | 13.8          | 13.3          |
| 24      | Mizoram                            | 28.1       | 28.9       | 6.1       | 9.8       | 12            | 12.7          |
| 25      | Nagaland                           | 28.6       | 32.7       | 11.3      | 19.1      | 16.7          | 26.9          |
| 26      | Orissa                             | 34.1       | -          | 20.4      | -         | 34.4          | -             |
| 27      | Puducherry                         | 24         | -          | 23.8      | -         | 22.7          | -             |
| 28      | Punjab                             | 25.7       | -          | 15.6      | -         | 21.6          | -             |
| 29      | Rajasthan                          | 39.1       | -          | 23        | -         | 36.7          | -             |
| 30      | Sikkim                             | 29.6       | 22.3       | 14.2      | 13.7      | 14.2          | 13.1          |
| 31      | Tamil Nadu                         | 27.1       | -          | 19.7      | -         | 23.8          | -             |
| 32      | Telangana                          | 28         | 33.1       | 18.1      | 21.7      | 28.4          | 31.8          |
| 33      | Tripura                            | 24.3       | 32.3       | 16.8      | 18.2      | 24.1          | 25.6          |
| 34      | Uttar Pradesh                      | 46.3       | -          | 17.9      | -         | 39.5          | -             |
| 35      | Uttarakhand                        | 33.5       | -          | 19.5      | -         | 26.6          | -             |
| 36      | West Bengal                        | 32.5       | 33.8       | 20.3      | 20.3      | 31.6          | 32.2          |

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