Lok Sabha Question No. 295 (STARRED), answered on 2022-08-05
Subject: Malnutrition among Women and Children
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Girish Chandra

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *295

TO BE ANSWERED ON 05.08.2022

## 'MALNUTRITION AMONG WOMEN AND CHILDREN'

- *295    SHRI GIRISH CHANDRA:

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

- (a) the  details  of  the  schemes/programmes  being  implemented  to  fight  malnutrition among women and children in the country at present;
- (b) the budget allocation made for such programmes during the last three years and current year, State/UT-wise including Uttar Pradesh;
- (c) the malnutrition rate in Uttar Pradesh during the said period; and
- (d) the other concrete measures being taken by the Government to tackle malnutrition in the country?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOMENT (SHRIMATI SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)

- (a) to (d)         A statement is laid on the Table of the House

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## Statement Referred To In Reply To Part (a) To (d) Of Reply To Lok Sabha Starred Question No.*295 For 05.08.2022 Regarding 'MALNUTRITION AMONG WOMEN AND CHILDREN'.

(a)        Government has accorded high priority to the issue of malnutrition among women and children in the country. To address the challenge of malnutrition in a holistic manner, POSHAN  Abhiyaan  was  launched  on  8 th March  2018  with an aim to achieve improvement in nutritional status of Children under 6 years, Adolescent Girls, Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers in a time bound manner by adopting a synergised and result oriented approach. POSHAN Abhiyaan addresses malnutrition issues across the nation through components like ICT Application, Convergence, Community Mobilization, Behavioural  Change  &  Jan  Andolan,  Capacity  Building,  Incentives  and  Awards,  and Innovations.  The  Abhiyaan  has  been  rolled  out  in  all  the  36  States/UTs  covering  all Districts across the country.

Further, the efforts under the Anganwadi Services Scheme, Scheme for Adolescent Girls and Poshan Abhiyaan have been re-aligned under 'Saksham Anganwadi and POSHAN 2.0' for maximizing nutritional outcomes. Poshan 2.0 seeks to address the challenge of malnutrition in children, adolescent girls, pregnant women and lactating mothers through a  strategic  shift  in  nutrition  content  and  delivery  and  by  creation  of  a  convergent  ecosystem to develop and promote practices that nurture health, wellness and immunity.

(b) The  State/UT wise statement of funds allocated under the schemes of POSHAN Abhiyaan and Anganwadi Services during the last three years is at Annexure I, which includes the state of Uttar Pradesh.

(c) The estimated number of stunted, wasted and underweight children under 5 years of  age  and malnutrition  among women (BMI below normal) is obtained under National Family  Health  Survey  (NFHS),  conducted  by  the  Ministry  of  Health  &  Family  Welfare. The  indicators  of  malnutrition  among  children  under  5  years  and  women  aged  15-49 years as per National Family Health Survey (NFHS) in the state of Uttar Pradesh are as under:

| Stunting (%)     | Stunting (%)     | Wasting (%)       | Wasting (%)       | Underweight (%)   | Underweight (%)   | Women aged 15- 49 years with Body Mass Index (BMI) below normal (BMI <18.5 kg/m2)   | Women aged 15- 49 years with Body Mass Index (BMI) below normal (BMI <18.5 kg/m2)   |
|------------------|------------------|-------------------|-------------------|-------------------|-------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| NHFS 4 (2015-16) | NHFS 5 (2019-21) | NHFS 4 (2015- 16) | NHFS 5 (2019- 21) | NHFS 4 (2015- 16) | NHFS 5 (2019- 21) | NHFS 4 (2015- 16)                                                                   | NHFS 5 (2019-21)                                                                    |
| 46.3             | 39.7             | 17.9              | 17.3              | 39.5              | 32.1              | 25.3                                                                                | 19                                                                                  |

(d)    Under  Mission  Saksham  Anganwadi  and  Poshan  2.0  (Mission  Poshan  2.0),  a strategic shift has been undertaken for the first time  for improving nutritional norms and standards, quality and testing of Take-Home Ration (not raw ration), promoting greater stakeholder participation, re-enforcing practices that nurture health, wellness  and immunity around traditional community food habits and by improving digital infrastructure support for last-mile tracking and monitoring of nutrition delivery.

Mission Poshan 2.0 shall focus on Maternal Nutrition, Infant and Young Child Feeding Norms, Treatment of MAM/SAM and Wellness through AYUSH. It will rest on the pillars of Convergence, Governance, and Capacity-building. Poshan Abhiyan will remain a key pillar for Outreach  and  will cover innovations related to nutritional support,  ICT interventions, Media Advocacy and Research, Community Outreach and Jan Andolan.

Corrective strategies under Mission Poshan 2.0 aim at quality and testing of supplementary nutrition, food fortification, diet diversity, leveraging traditional systems of knowledge and popularizing use of millets. Nutrition awareness strategies shall focus on developing  sustainable  health  and  well-being  through  regional  meal  plans  to  bridge dietary  gaps. Green  vegetables  and  fruits  grown  in  Poshan  Vatikas  shall  be  used  for consumption by beneficiaries, for preparing traditional recipes and for motivating the local community for diet diversity. Communication strategies shall focus on community-based events  to  address  the  challenges  of  malnutrition  and  build  local  participation  and accountability. Since the launch of Poshan Abhiyaan, more than 40 crore activities have been  conducted  under  Jan  Andolan  and  and  more  than  3.7  crore  Community  Based Events have been organized.

****

Annexure I State/UT  wise  statement  of  funds  released  under  POSHAN  Abhiyaan  and  Anganwadi

Services during last three years FY 2019-20 to FY 2022-23 (as on 03.08.2022)

## Amount in ₹ lakhs

| S.No.   | States/UTs              |   POSHAN Abhiyaan |   Anganwadi Services |
|---------|-------------------------|-------------------|----------------------|
| 1       | A &NISLANDS             |           926.6   |       4168.4         |
| 2       | ANDHRA PRADESH          |         14186.2   |     212842           |
| 3       | ARUNACHAL PRADESH       |          1106.22  |      37705.2         |
| 4       | ASSAM                   |         15158     |     361951           |
| 5       | BIHAR                   |         27300.5   |     412391           |
| 6       | CHANDIGARH              |           582.86  |       3983.04        |
| 7       | CHHATTISGARH            |           839.58  |     159288           |
| 8       | D &NHAVELIand DAMAN&DIU |           878.14  |       2676.32        |
| 9       | DELHI                   |           174.35  |      36671.3         |
| 10      | GOA                     |            20.19  |       4666.78        |
| 11      | GUJARAT                 |         14863     |     213622           |
| 12      | HARYANA                 |           415.39  |      53446.7         |
| 13      | HIMACHAL PRADESH        |          4960     |      75532.7         |
| 14      | JAMMU &KASHMIR          |          1730.53  |     101476           |
| 15      | JHARKHAND               |             0     |     124438           |
| 16      | KARNATAKA               |          9021.97  |     245979           |
| 17      | KERALA                  |          2679.61  |     102930           |
| 18      | LADAKH                  |           118.768 |       3766.51        |
| 19      | LAKSHADWEEP             |           226.75  |        547.17        |
| 20      | MADHYAPRADESH           |          1554.16  |     352076           |
| 21      | MAHARASHTRA             |         34829.2   |     423258           |
| 22      | MANIPUR                 |           184.16  |      56433           |
| 23      | MEGHALAYA               |          2897.14  |      53510.6         |
| 24      | MIZORAM                 |          2251.48  |      17413.9         |
| 25      | NAGALAND                |          4208.4   |      45757           |
| 26      | ODISHA                  |         12842.4   |     264305           |
| 27      | PUDUCHERRY              |           510.68  |       1191.62        |
| 28      | PUNJAB                  |             0     |      75525.1         |
| 29      | RAJASTHAN               |          8941     |     189844           |
| 30      | SIKKIM                  |           943.928 |       7026.44        |
| 31      | TAMIL NADU              |         11509     |     191478           |
| 32      | TELANGANA               |          7574.2   |     134005           |
| 33      | TRIPURA                 |           162.32  |      50525           |
| 34      | UTTAR PRADESH           |         18945.5   |     674944           |
| 35      | UTTARAKHAND             |          7407.07  |      98125.3         |
| 36      | WEST BENGAL             |          1911.7   |     287956           |
| Total   | Total                   |        211861     |          5.08146e+06 |