Lok Sabha Question No. 5705 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2026-03-27
Subject: Nutritious Food for Women and Children
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Shri Dharmendra Yadav

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5705

TO BE ANSWERED ON 27.03.2026

## NUTRITIOUS FOOD FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN

## 5705. SHRI DHARMENDRA YADAV:

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

- (a)   whether  problems  of  malnutrition,  anaemia  and  stunting/wasting  among  children  in  the country continue to remain serious, despite the expenditure on schemes such as POSHAN Abhiyaan, Anganwadi Services, Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 during the last five years;
- (b)   if  so,  the  number  of  malnourished,  anaemia  and  Severely  Acute  Malnourished  (SAM) children during the last five years, State-wise;
- (c)   whether complaints regarding poor quality of nutritional food, irregular supply and severe lack of basic infrastructure at Anganwadi centres have been reported in many States;
- (d) if so, the details of the action taken against the officials responsible for the same; and
- (e)   whether  any  timeline  has  been  fixed  by  the  Government  to  ensure  that  quality  nutrition, Anganwadi  services  and  health  facilities  are  actually  made  available  to  all  children  and women in the country, if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

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

(a) to (e): Nutrition goes beyond mere eating of food; it requires proper digestion, absorption, and metabolism of nutrients. This process is influenced by factors like sanitation, education and access  to  safe  drinking  water.  As  malnutrition  requires  a  multi-sectoral  approach  involving dimensions of food, health, water, sanitation and education, it is crucial to effectively address the issue of malnutrition in a convergent manner. It is being addressed under the Mission Poshan 2.0 by establishing cross cutting convergence amongst more than 18 Ministries/Departments. Various rounds of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) conducted by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare have shown improvement in malnutrition indicators in children across India. The Poshan Tracker  data  also  shows  improvement  in  the  malnutrition  indicators.  The  State  wise  data  of malnutrition among children, and basic infrastructure at AWCs is available on the Poshan Tracker public dashboard at the given link: https://www.poshantracker.in/statistics.

Further, as per NFHS-5 (2019-21), percentage of children age 6-59 months classified as having anaemia is 67.1. The prevalence of anaemia in children under 5 years as per NFHS-5 is placed in the Annexure.

Mission  Poshan  2.0  is  a  Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme  under  Ministry  of  Women  and  Child Development where the responsibility for implementation of various activities lies with the States and UTs. The Ministry has issued guidelines to all States and UTs on 13.01.2021 to streamline 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 the delivery of Supplementary Nutrition. District Nutrition Committees under the chairpersonship of District Magistrate/Collector with certified nutrition experts as members have been constituted to review the progress every month.

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## Annexure

STATE AND UT WISE PREVALENCE OF ANAEMIA AMONG BENEFICIARIES ACROSS THE COUNTRY UNDER NFHS-5 (2019-21):

|   Sr. No. | States and UTs    |   Children (6 - 59 months) Anaemic (%) |
|-----------|-------------------|----------------------------------------|
|         1 | Andhra Pradesh    |                                   63.2 |
|         2 | A&N Islands       |                                   40   |
|         3 | Arunachal Pradesh |                                   56.6 |
|         4 | Assam             |                                   68.4 |
|         5 | Bihar             |                                   69.4 |
|         6 | Chandigarh        |                                   54.6 |
|         7 | Chhattisgarh      |                                   67.2 |
|         8 | DND&DD            |                                   75.8 |
|         9 | Goa               |                                   53.2 |
|        10 | Gujarat           |                                   79.7 |
|        11 | Haryana           |                                   70.4 |
|        12 | Himachal Pradesh  |                                   55.4 |
|        13 | Jammu &Kashmir    |                                   72.7 |
|        14 | Jharkhand         |                                   67.5 |
|        15 | Karnataka         |                                   65.5 |
|        16 | Kerala            |                                   39.4 |
|        17 | Ladakh            |                                   92.5 |
|        18 | Lakshadweep       |                                   43.1 |
|        19 | Madhya Pradesh    |                                   72.7 |
|        20 | Maharashtra       |                                   68.9 |
|        21 | Manipur           |                                   42.8 |
|        22 | Meghalaya         |                                   45.1 |
|        23 | Mizoram           |                                   46.4 |
|        24 | Nagaland          |                                   42.7 |
|        25 | NCT Delhi         |                                   69.2 |
|        26 | Odisha            |                                   64.2 |
|        27 | Puducherry        |                                   64   |
|        28 | Punjab            |                                   71.1 |
|        29 | Rajasthan         |                                   71.5 |
|        30 | Sikkim            |                                   56.4 |
|        31 | Tamil Nadu        |                                   57.4 |
|        32 | Telangana         |                                   70   |
|        33 | Tripura           |                                   64.3 |
|        34 | Uttar Pradesh     |                                   66.4 |
|        35 | Uttarakhand       |                                   58.8 |
|        36 | West Bengal       |                                   69   |

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