Lok Sabha Question No. 1101 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-12-03
Subject: National Survey on Child Nutrition
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Gaurav Gogoi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1101

TO BE ANSWERED ON 03.12.2021

## NATIONAL SURVEY ON CHILD NUTRITION

## 1101   SHRI GAURAV GOGOI:

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

- (a) whether  the  Government  has  taken  steps  to  ensure  child  nutrition  during  the pandemic and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether the Government intends to conduct a national survey on child nutrition and improvements in malnutrition and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether  the  Government  has  any  data  on  rural  and  urban  consumption expenditure between 2019 and 2021 and if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether the Government has taken steps to resume ICDS in states, where these schemes were halted during the pandemic, if so, the details thereof;
- (e) whether the Government has taken steps to tackle aggravated cases of stunting and wasting among children during the pandemic; and
- (f) if so, the details thereof and if not, reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

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

(a)  to  (d) Government  has  been  receiving  regular  reports  from  the  States  on  the prevailing  scenario  and  activities  undertaken  during  Covid-19  pandemic.  During  the pandemic, all Anganwadi Centres across the country were closed to limit the impact of the  pandemic. However, to ensure continuous nutritional support to the beneficiaries, the  Anganwadi  Workers  and  Helpers  distributed Supplementary  Nutrition  at  the doorsteps  of  beneficiaries  once  in  15  days.  In  addition,  they  also  assisted  the  local administration  in  community  surveillance,  creating  awareness  as  well  as  other  work assigned to them from time to time.

The data on nutritional indicators is captured under the National Family Health Surveys (NFHS) conducted periodically by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare. In NFHS-5 survey conducted in 2019-21 nutrition indicators for children under 5 years have shown improvement. Stunting has reduced from 38.4% to 35.5%, Wasting has reduced from 21.0%  to  19.3%  and  Underweight  prevalence  has  reduced  from  35.8%  to  32.1%  as compared with NFHS-4  conducted in 2015-16

(e) & (f)     As per information received from States/UTs, Anganwadi services have been opened in most States/UTs. Government has 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  Poshan  Tracker  to  improve  governance.  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  there  under.  States/UTs  have  also  been  advised  to  promote  use  of  AYUSH systems  for  prevention  of  malnutrition  and  related  diseases.  A  program   to  support development  of  Poshan  Vatikas  at  Anganwadi  Centers  to  meet  dietary  diversity  gap leveraging  traditional  knowledge  in  nutritional  practices  has  also  been  taken  up. Guidelines were issued for transparency and accountability in delivery of supplementary nutrition and to track nutritional outcomes on 13.01.2021.

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