Lok Sabha Question No. 2609 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-08-04
Subject: Malnourishment in Tribal Children
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Dibyendu Adhikari

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN & CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2609

TO BE ANSWERED ON 04.08.2023

## MALNOURISHMENT IN TRIBAL CHILDREN

2609. SHRI DIBYENDU ADHIKARI:

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

- (a) whether 4.7 million tribal children of India are suffering from chronic nutrition deprivation affecting their survival and growth; and
- (b) if  so,  the  details  of  projects  and  action  taken  for  designing  and  targeting preventive measures for malnourished tribal children therefor?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) The data on nutritional indicators is captured under the National Family Health Surveys conducted periodically by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. 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.
- (b) 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, under Mission Poshan 2.0 and Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) under Mission Shakti, as direct targeted interventions to address the problem of malnutrition throughout the country including in tribal areas.

POSHAN Abhiyaan launched on 8th 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 included tribal areas.

POSHAN  Abhiyaan  is  a  mission  mode  approach  to  malnutrition  through interventions of technology, multi-ministerial convergence and focus 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  Poshan  Maah  2022  and  Poshan  Pakhwada  2023  , Jan  andolan around promoting nutritious local food for healthy mother and child in tribal areas was a key theme. In the recently held Poshan Pakhwada 2023, more than 13 lakh activities were focused  around  Tribal  populations.  These  included  Anaemia  camps  for  Children, Adolescent  girls  and  Women  in  tribal  districts,  Anaemia  camp  in  Eklavya  Model Residential Schools (EMRS), Awareness camps on the role of Millets, Millet-based Tribal food fairs, Recipe contest/Mothers kitchen contest aimed at healthy traditional recipes for mother & child especially in tribal areas, Tribal food fairs with involvement of SHGs, Growth measurement camps etc

Further,  the  efforts  under  the  Supplementary  Nutrition  Programme  under Anganwadi Services and POSHAN Abhiyaan have been rejuvenated and converged as 'Saksham Anganwadi and POSHAN 2.0' (Mission Poshan 2.0). It seeks to address the  challenges  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 eco-system to develop and promote practices that nurture health, wellness and immunity. Poshan 2.0 focuses on Maternal Nutrition, Infant and Young Child Feeding Norms, Treatment of MAM/SAM and Wellness through AYUSH. Technology  is  being  leveraged  under  the  'Poshan  Tracker',  a  robust  ICT  enabled platform  to  improve  governance  with  regard  to  monitoring  of  provisioning  of supplementary nutrition for prompt supervision and management of services.

Under Poshan 2.0, focus is on diet diversity, leveraging traditional systems of knowledge  and  popularizing  use  of  millets.  Nutrition  awareness  strategies  under Poshan 2.0 aim to develop sustainable health and well-being through regional meal plans to bridge dietary gaps. Further, greater emphasis is being given on the use of millets (coarse grains) for preparation of Hot Cooked Meal and Take Home rations (not raw ration) at Anganwadi centres for Pregnant Women, Lactating Mothers and Children below 6 years of age, as millets have high nutrient content which includes protein, essential fatty acid, dietary fibre, B-Vitamins, minerals such as calcium, iron, zinc, folic acid and other micro-nutrients thus helping to tackle anemia and other micronutrient deficiencies in women  and  children. Under Supplementary Nutrition Programme of Mission Poshan 2.0, only fortified rice is being allocated to States/UTs

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