Lok Sabha Question No. 1435 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-07-28
Subject: Status of Malnutrition among Children
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Rajveer Diler

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED  QUESTION NO. 1435

TO BE ANSWERED ON 28.07.2023

## STATUS OF MALNUTRITION AMONG CHILDREN

## 1435   SHRI RAJVEER DILER:

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

- (a) the details of existing programmes to deal with malnutrition amongst children in the age group of 0-5 years in the country;
- (b) the  details  of  the  problems  faced  in  availing  the  benefits  of  schemes  being implemented to deal with malnutrition;
- (c) whether the Government proposes to make serious efforts to ensure benefits of the said schemes reaches the affected people so that the problem of malnutrition amongst children can be eradicated; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

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

(a) Government  has  accorded  high  priority  to  the  issue  of  malnutrition  and  is implementing several schemes as direct targeted interventions to address the problem of malnutrition in the country. Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 (henceforth 'Mission Poshan 2.0') is an Integrated Nutrition Support Programme that was launched in 2021 to address the challenging situation of malnutrition in children, adolescent girls, pregnant women, and lactating mothers. The mission aims at developing India's human capital and integrates three existing schemes (Anganwadi Services, Poshan Abhiyaan and  Scheme  for  Adolescent  Girls),  adopting  a  lifecycle  approach  to  malnutrition reduction. It shifts focus from calorific sufficiency alone to practices that nurture health, wellness and immunity. In order to achieve holistic nutrition among the target groups, the mission focuses on the following: Infant and young child feeding practices (including breastfeeding and  complementary  nutrition), Maternal  and adolescent  nutrition, Treatment  of  malnourished  children  or  children  with  Severe Acute  Malnutrition (SAM)/Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM), and Promotion of AYUSH practices

(b) to (d) Anganwadi Services is a self- selecting scheme. Government has placed a great deal of importance on generating behaviour change and people's movement for good  health  and  nutrition.  Under  Poshan  Abhiyaan,  large  scale  and  continuous behaviour change communication has been carried out through Jan Andolans (or mass movements for behaviour change) with annual Poshan Maah and Poshan Pakhwada celebrations which have been institutionalised with over 60 crore activities carried out from September 2018 onwards. Further, over 3.7 crore Community Based Events have been carried out for behaviour change in women, husbands and families.

The  Mission  raises  communities'  awareness  on  good  nutrition  behaviours  for themselves and their children. It promotes access to nutritious, affordable and locally available diets through the plantation of Poshan Vatikas or nutri-gardens at Anganwadi Centres  and  other  interventions  such  as  the  promotion  of  kitchen  gardens  in  AWCs and  homes. To encourage diet-diversity and consumption of wholesome local produce, around 6.42 lakh Poshan Vatikas have been developed at AWCs. It helps meet gaps between  average  diets  and  required  diets  by  providing  Supplementary  Nutrition  to pregnant women, lactating mothers and children from 6 months to 6 years of age.

Steps have been taken to improve nutritional quality and testing in accredited labs, strengthen  delivery  and  leverage  technology  under  Poshan  Tracker  to  improve governance.  Technology  under  Poshan  Tracker  is  being  leveraged  for  dynamic identification of stunting, wasting, under-weight prevalence among children across the country.

Migration  facility  for  pregnant  women  and  lactating  mothers  from  one  AWC  to another  within  and  outside  a  State,  and  from  one  category  to  another  category  of beneficiary  is  also  available  on  the  Poshan  Tracker  to  ensure  continuity  in  service delivery. Further, Beneficiary Redressal Mechanism is an integral part of Poshan 2.0. Poshan Tracker has a web based and an application based facility to raise a concern. Further,  Poshan Helpline operationalised in November 2022 has been made available for a beneficiary to raise a concern or a query about the services offered under Mission Poshan 2.0. The helpline facilitates  monitoring  gaps  in  services  (if  any)  for  identified malnourished  children.  Further,  to  ensure  last  mile  tracking  of  service  delivery,  SMS alerts to registered beneficiaries has been introduced, on delivery of Take Home Ration (not raw ration).

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