Over 35 per cent children under 5 years in India are stunted: Govt in RS

The information was provided in the Rajya Sabha by the Union Minister of Women and Child Development Smriti Irani on Wednesday. She was responding to questions raised by senior Congress MP Kapil Sibal.

New Delhi: More than 35 per cent of children in the country under the age of five years are stunted. The information was provided in the Rajya Sabha by the Union Minister of Women and Child Development Smriti Irani on Wednesday. She was responding to questions raised by senior Congress MP Kapil Sibal.

Citing data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS 5 and 4), Irani stated in a written reply "Among children under 5 years of age, stunting has reduced from 38.4% to 35.5%, while wasting has reduced from 21.0% to 19.3% and underweight has reduced from 35.8% to 32.1%." She also stated that the Union Government has taken up the issue of malnutrition as a "high priority" and is implementing several schemes to address various aspects of malnutrition.

"This Ministry is implementing POSHAN Abhiyaan, Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana, Anganwadi Services Scheme and Scheme for Adolescent Girls under the Umbrella Integrated Child Development Services Scheme (ICDS) as direct targeted interventions to address the problem of malnutrition in the country," stated Irani.

"POSHAN Abhiyaan launched on 8th March 2018, aims to reduce malnutrition in the country by adopting a synergised and result-oriented approach. The goals of POSHAN Abhiyaan are to achieve improvement in nutritional status of Children from 0-6 years, adolescent girls, pregnant women, and lactating mothers in a time-bound manner with fixed targets," she added.