Lok Sabha Question No. 1531 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-02-10
Subject: Malnutrition in Tribal Dominated Areas
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Kanakmal Katara

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN & CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1531

TO BE ANSWERED ON 10.02.2023

## MALNUTRITION IN TRIBAL DOMINATED AREAS

## 1531. SHRI KANAKMAL KATARA:

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

- (a) the details of the steps taken to address the problem of malnutrition among children in tribal dominated areas of the country including Rajasthan;
- (b) whether the improvement in the situation has been upto the desired/anticipated level of the implementation of the schemes to improve the nutritional level amongst tribal children;
- (c) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;
- (d) whether the Government would consider to set up any monitoring mechanism or any Committee for creating awareness in this regard; and
- (e) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

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

(a)   The  Government has accorded high priority to the issue of malnutrition and is implementing  several  schemes  like  POSHAN  Abhiyaan,  Anganwadi  Services, Scheme for Adolescent Girls and Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) as direct targeted interventions to address the problem of malnutrition in the country covering rural, urban and tribal regions of the country.

POSHAN Abhiyaan launched on 8 th  March 2018,  aims  to  achieve  improvement  in nutritional status of Adolescent Girls, Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers in a time  bound  manner  by  adopting  a  synergised  and  result  oriented  approach.  The Abhiyaan has been rolled out across 36 States/UTs which also includes all districts including tribal dominated areas of Rajasthan.

POSHAN Abhiyaan being a multi-ministerial  convergence mission  also focuses on converting  the  agenda  of  improving  nutrition  into Jan  Andolan through Community Mobilization/  Sensitisation  and  thus  bringing  nutrition-linked  Behavioral  Change across  India.  Under  Jan  Andolans,  Poshan  Maah  and  Poshan  Pakhwada  are celebrated annually in the month of September and March respectively.   In the most recently held Jan Andolan viz. Poshan Maah, celebrated in September 2022, a total of 17.57 crore sensitisation activities on nutrition were reported from entire India. Out of the 182 Tribal Districts (as reported by MoTA), 88% of the Tribal Districts of India (161 nos.) have actively participated in Poshan Maah 2022 and have contributed to 18% of the total reported activities (3.17 crore). During Poshan Pakhwada 2022, total reported activities were 2.96 crore, in which 85% of Tribal Districts of India (155 nos.) have participated while contributing to 12% of the total reported activities (35.84 lakh). In Rajasthan, approx 14,23,711 and 45,211 Jan Andolan based activities were carried out  in  all  the  33  districts  during  Poshan  Maah  2022  and  Poshan  Pakhwada  2022 respectively.

Further,  Mission  Poshan 2.0,  an  integrated  nutrition  support  programme  has  been announced in budget 2021-2022 for all States/UTs including the state of Rajasthan. It seeks 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  been  taken  to  improve  nutritional  quality  and  testing  in accredited labs, strengthen delivery and leverage technology under Poshan Tracker to improve governance.

(b) & (c) The data on nutritional indicators is captured under the National Family Health Surveys  conducted  periodically  by  the  Ministry  of  Health  and  Family  Welfare. However, the NFHS reports do not provide separate estimations for tribal dominated areas but State-UT wise data on nutritional indicators of tribal communities is provided under the survey. As per the recent report of NFHS-5, the prevalence of malnutrition among tribal children in the country has shown a declining trend, viz., the prevalence of  stunting,  wasting  and  underweight  has  reduced  from  43.8%,  27.4%  and  45.3% respectively  in  NFHS-4  to  40.9%,  23.2%  and  39.5%  respectively  under  NFHS-5. Malnutrition is a complex and multi-dimensional issue, affected mainly by a number of generic factors including inadequate food consumption due to economic and social factors, inequity and gender imbalances, poor sanitary and environmental conditions, etc.  The  data  on  nutrition  indicators  is  covered  under  the  National  family  Health Surveys conducted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

(d) & (e) Under the POSHAN Abhiyaan, IT systems have been leveraged to strengthen and  bring  about  transparency  in  nutrition  delivery  support  systems.  The  'Poshan Tracker' application was rolled out by this Ministry on 1 st  March 2021 as an important governance tool. Technology under Poshan Tracker is being leveraged for dynamic identification of stunting, wasting, under-weight prevalence among children; and last mile tracking of nutrition service delivery. Further, under Poshan Abhiyan, for the first time, a digital revolution was ushered in when the Anganwadi Centres were equipped with  mobile  devices.  The  mobile  application  has  also  facilitated  digitization  and automation of physical registers used by AWWs that helps in improving their quality of work. Further, Streamlined guidelines were issued on 13.01.2021, covering several aspects  such  as  quality  assurance,  roles  and  responsibilities  of  duty  holders, procedure for procurement, integrating AYUSH concepts and Data management and monitoring through 'Poshan Tracker' for transparency, efficiency and accountability in delivery of Supplementary Nutrition has been issued. Under these guidelines, the DM has been designated as the Nodal Point in the district for monitoring nutritional status and quality standards.

One  of  the  major  activities  undertaken  under  POSHAN  Abhiyaan  is  Community Mobilization and Awareness Advocacy leading to Jan Andolan to educate the people on nutritional aspects. Under the Abhiyaan, well-researched and designed communication plan & IEC materials have been developed and intensive Mass Media Campaigns are  conducted through various mass media channels like radio, television and  social  media.  An  important  focus  has  therefore  been  on  'Behaviour  Change

Communication' or BCC to address inadequate and inappropriate infant and young child feeding practices, nutrition and care during pregnancy and adolescence.

Community Based Events or CBEs have served as a significant strategy in changing nutrition  practices.  CBEs  help  to  celebrate  critical  milestones  in  the  life  of  children below two years of age. The gatherings serve as a platform for disseminating essential messages on appropriate nutrition and health behaviour. The events are organised every month at the Anganwadi centres (AWC) and primarily focus on promotion of maternal  nutrition  (Godh  bharai)  and/  or  initiation  of  appropriate  complementary feeding  (Annaprasan).  Around  3.70  crore  Community  Based  Events  (CBEs)  have been organized since the launch of the Abhiyaan in Anganwadi Centres

Also,  through  the  use  of  Poshan  Tracker,  videos  are  disseminated,  wherein  the beneficiaries are counselled on nutrition related issues like breastfeeding, complementary feeding, infant and young child care. Poshan Tracker has embedded videos  related  to  Infant  and  Young  Child  care  and  nutrition  for  educating  the beneficiaries residing in rural, urban and tribal regions of the country.

At  a  national  level,  the Rashtriya  Poshan  Maah is  celebrated  in  the  month  of September across the country while Poshan Pakhwada is celebrated in the month of March.  Themes  have  included  overall  nutrition,  hygiene,  water  and  sanitation, anaemia prevention, importance of breast-feeding, growth monitoring, role of Poshan Panchayats, AYUSH for Well-being, 'Back to Basics - Yoga for Health', importance of Poshan Vatikas for cultivation of local vegetables, medicinal plants/herbs and fruits at the  community  level,  Poshan  ke  Paanch  Sutra,  cycle  rallies,  defeat  diarrhoea campaigns,  Nukkad  Natak/Folk  Shows,  SHG  meetings,  etc.  More  than  50+  crore activities have been carried out under Poshan Maah and Poshan Pakhwada across the country.

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