Lok Sabha Question No. 1966 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-12-06
Subject: Malnutrition  in Telangana
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Shri Arvind Dharmapuri

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1966

TO BE ANSWERED ON 06.12.2024

## MALNUTRITION IN TELANGANA

## 1966. SHRI ARVIND DHARMAPURI:

Will the Minister of Women and Child Development be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of child protection and welfare initiatives undertaken under Mission Vatsalya to enhance the nutrition level and safety of women and children with specific data for Telangana including Nizamabad;
- (b) the funds allocated and utilized for child welfare programmes under Mission Vatsalya  nutrition  programme  in  Telangana  including  Nizamabad  during the last three years;
- (c) the number of children benefiting from the initiatives in institutional care and non-institutional care settings in Telangana; and
- (d) the details of the outcome observed in term of malnutrition reduction and safety improvement in Telangana?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI SAVITRI THAKUR)

(a) to (d): Mission Vatsalya is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme which is implemented by States/ Union Territories (UTs) to deliver various services for Children in Need of Care and Protection (CNCP) as well as Children in Conflict with Law (CCL). These services  include  Institutional  Care  and  Non-Institutional  Care.  The  fund  sharing pattern between Centre and States is in the ratio of 60:40 for all States and UTs with legislature except the North-Eastern States and Hilly States - Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand and UT of Jammu & Kashmir, where the cost sharing is in the ratio of 90:10. In Union Territories without legislature, 100% cost is borne by the Central Government.

Government is committed to provide a security net of statutory and service delivery structures to the children in need of care and protection and children in conflict with law. Mission Vatsalya envisages setting up of Child Care Institutions (CCIs) which support, inter-alia, age-appropriate education, access to vocational training, recreation, health care, counselling and nutrition to children.

The scheme, through Child Helpline (1098) also provides for emergency outreach services (24x7) for children in difficult circumstances. It is further integrated with the Emergency Response Support System-112 (ERSS-112) Helpline of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The  Ministry  of  Women  and  Child  Development  is  also  implementing  Women 24x7x365 Helpline-181 (WHL-181) under Mission Shakti Scheme, which aims to provide emergency and non-emergency response, both in public and private spaces by linking the needy women with appropriate authorities such as Police, One Stop Centres, Hospitals, Legal Services Authorities etc. It also supports women in distress with  counseling  services  in  addition  to  providing  information  about  schemes  of women welfare across the country.

Ministry  of  Women  and  Child  Development  is  implementing  Mission  Poshan  2.0 which  provides  nutritional  support  through  Supplementary  Nutrition  Programme (SNP), to children (06 months to 6 years), Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers (PW&LM) and Adolescent Girls (14 to 18 years).

Funds under Mission Vatsalya Scheme are released to the States/UTs. Details of fund released and utilised for State of Telangana under Mission Vatsalya Scheme are as under :

## (Rs. in Crore)

| 2021-22         | 2021-22         | 2022-23         | 2022-23         | 2023-24         | 2023-24           |
|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|-------------------|
| Amount released | Amount utilised | Amount released | Amount utilised | Amount released | Amount utilised   |
| 38.51           | 9.74            | 28.25           | 27.84           | 39.98           | Not available yet |

The  information  regarding  release  of  funds  by  State  Government  to  the  districts under Mission Vatsalya Scheme is not maintained centrally.

In  FY  2023-24,  the  total  number  of  children  supported  for  Institutional  and  NonInstitutional care under Mission Vatsalya Scheme in Telangana is 2243 and 4858 respectively.

Under  Mission  Poshan  2.0, details  of  improvement  in  malnutrition  indicators  for children (0-5 years) in the State of Telangana, as per Poshan Tracker (October 2024) data in comparison to National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS-5) (2019-21) report, are as follows:

| NFHS-5 (2019-21)   | NFHS-5 (2019-21)   | NFHS-5 (2019-21)   | Poshan Tracker (Oct, 2024)   | Poshan Tracker (Oct, 2024)   | Poshan Tracker (Oct, 2024)   |
|--------------------|--------------------|--------------------|------------------------------|------------------------------|------------------------------|
| Stunted (%)        | Wasted (%)         | Underweight (%)    | Stunted (%)                  | Wasted (%)                   | Underweight (%)              |
| 33.1               | 21.7               | 31.8               | 32.6                         | 5.6                          | 16.2                         |

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