Parliament Question: Current Status of Malnutrition

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION. 4664 TO BE ANSWERED ON 20.03.2026 CURRENT STATUS OF MALNUTRITION

4664. SHRI HANUMAN BENIWAL:

ADV. CHANDRA SHEKHAR:

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

(a) the current rate of malnutrition among children in the country as per the latest surveys, State-wise;

(b) whether the actual expenditure has been lower than the sanctioned budget under Poshan Abhiyaan and other related schemes, if so, the details of the sanctioned budget and the actual expenditure incurred during the last three years, State-wise;

(c) whether the Government proposes to develop any concrete mechanism to monitor the implementation of the said schemes and the expenditure incurred thereon to prevent misuse of budget for tackling malnutrition in the country, particularly in tribal areas;

and

(d) if so, the details along with the timeline thereof and if not, the reasons therefor? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI SAVITRI THAKUR)

(a) to (d) The Ministry of Women and Child Development (MoWCD) has launched ‘Poshan Tracker’ digital application, an ICT based tool, for monitoring and tracking of all activities related to Anganwadi Centres (AWCs), Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) and beneficiaries on defined indicators under Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 (Mission Poshan 2.0).

Technology under Poshan Tracker is being leveraged for dynamic identification of stunting, wasting, under-weight prevalence among children from 0-6 years of age group. The State wise information on malnutrition among children in the country is available on the Poshan Tracker

public dashboard at the given link: https://www.poshantracker.in/statistics.

Further, various rounds of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), conducted by Ministry of Health & Family Welfare since 1992-93, also collect data on malnutrition indicators in children across the country. State wise details of these indicators as per NFHS-5 are given at the Annexure I.Mission Poshan 2.0 is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme where the Central Government is responsible for the overall planning and policy making and its day-to-day implementation falls under the ambit of State Government and UT administration. The details of financial allocation

and expenditure under the scheme for last three years is mentioned below:

S. Year Budget Estimates Revised Estimates Expenditure / Funds Released No. (₹ crores) (₹ crores) (₹ crores) 1 2022-23 20,263.07 20,263.07 19,876.11 2 2023-24 20,554.31 21,523.13 21,809.64 3 2024-25 21,200.00 21,035.12 21,014.01 The Ministry has created a dedicated portal for submission of Utilization Certificates (UCs) and Statement of Expenditure (SOE), to ensure effective monitoring of fund utilization.

Further, to improve transparency and accountability, Mission Poshan 2.0 has been onboarded on SNA SPARSH which works on the ´just in time´ method. The details of funds released for the States and UTs under Mission Poshan 2.0 during last three years is placed at Annexure II.

For last mile tracking of Service Delivery, the MoWCD has developed Facial Recognition System (FRS) in Poshan Tracker Application for distribution of Take-Home Ration and to ensure that benefit is given only to the intended beneficiary registered in the application.

Further, Nominee Module has been introduced in application to ensure uninterrupted delivery of Take-Home Ration (THR) to the beneficiaries; Pregnant Women, Lactating Mothers, and Adolescent Girls. If due to any reason, the registered beneficiary is unable to visit the Anganwadi Centre to receive their THR through FRS, she can nominate a person on her behalf to receive her THR. Further, Aadhaar based tracking has enabled proper identification of beneficiaries, prevention of leakages and eliminating ghost entries. As per the data available on the Poshan Tracker dashboard, 99.88% registered beneficiaries are Aadhaar verified.

*****Annexure I STATE AND UT WISE PREVALENCE OF STUNTING, WASTING AND UNDERWEIGHT AMONG CHILDREN UNDER FIVE YEARS OF AGE AS PER NATIONAL FAMILY HEALTH SURVEY-5 (2019-2021) S. No. State and UT Stunting (%) Wasting (%) Underweight (%) INDIA 35.5 19.3 32.1 1 Andaman & Nicobar Islands 22.5 16 23.7 2 Andhra Pradesh 31.2 16.1 29.6 3 Arunachal Pradesh 28 13.1 15.4 4 Assam 35.3 21.7 32.8 5 Bihar 42.9 22.9 41 6 Chandigarh 25.3 8.4 20.6 7 Chhattisgarh 34.6 18.9 31.3 8 DNH& DD 39.4 21.6 38.7 9 Delhi 30.9 11.2 21.8 10 Goa 25.8 19.1 24 11 Gujarat 39 25.1 39.7 12 Haryana 27.5 11.5 21.5 13 Himachal Pradesh 30.8 17.4 25.5 14 Jammu & Kashmir 26.9 19 21 15 Jharkhand 39.6 22.4 39.4 16 Karnataka 35.4 19.5 32.9 17 Kerala 23.4 15.8 19.7 18 Lakshadweep 32 17.4 25.8 19 Ladakh 30.5 17.5 20.4 20 Madhya Pradesh 35.7 19 33 21 Maharashtra 35.2 25.6 36.1 22 Manipur 23.4 9.9 13.3 23 Meghalaya 46.5 12.1 26.6 24 Mizoram 28.9 9.8 12.7 25 Nagaland 32.7 19.1 26.9 26 Orissa 31 18.1 29.7 27 Puducherry 20 12.4 15.3 28 Punjab 24.5 10.6 16.9 29 Rajasthan 31.8 16.8 27.6 30 Sikkim 22.3 13.7 13.1 31 Tamil Nadu 25 14.6 22 32 Telangana 33.1 21.7 31.8 33 Tripura 32.3 18.2 25.6 34 Uttar Pradesh 39.7 17.3 32.1 35 Uttarakhand 27 13.2 21 36 West Bengal 33.8 20.3 32.2Annexure II STATE AND UT WISE FUND RELEASE DETAILS FOR LAST 3 YEARS (Rs. in crores) S. State and UT Funds released Funds released Funds released Funds released No. (2022-23) (2023-24) (2024-25) (2025-26) Andaman & Nicobar 1 3.85 12.15 9.63 8.10 Islands 2 Andhra Pradesh 827.79 705.68 645.73 522.97 3 Arunachal Pradesh 137.78 162.06 102.61 109.67 4 Assam 1651.63 2233.31 2482.34 1025.07 5 Bihar 1740.09 1859.29 2262.92 878.72 6 Chandigarh 33.10 19.79 14.56 9.87 7 Chhattisgarh 668.96 579.46 733.30 392.39 8 DNH & DD 5.80 11.97 9.13 144.61 9 Delhi 182.77 161.81 160.41 5.92 10 Goa 14.71 13.95 13.44 12.62 11 Gujarat 912.64 1126.80 601.32 337.53 12 Haryana 195.25 225.78 232.69 43.38 13 Himachal Pradesh 270.24 301.09 313.07 257.02 14 Jammu & Kashmir 479.01 530.88 662.79 282.87 15 Jharkhand 430.91 664.30 496.95 386.01 16 Karnataka 765.87 912.96 886.85 620.40 17 Kerala 444.98 306.64 435.74 176.06 18 Ladakh 18.79 19.62 18.89 16.41 19 Lakshadweep 0.44 2.88 1.35 0.82 20 Madhya Pradesh 1011.57 1123.11 1144.54 791.73 21 Maharashtra 1646.17 1699.52 1368.84 1060.79 22 Manipur 135.95 201.28 342.87 133.15 23 Meghalaya 192.39 269.69 137.93 81.40 24 Mizoram 42.81 100.27 55.29 47.93 25 Nagaland 199.30 262.91 147.01 88.88 26 Odisha 923.92 968.80 948.16 789.82 27 Puducherry 0.12 4.48 3.68 3.90 28 Punjab 75.31 307.87 265.48 133.15 29 Rajasthan 974.02 1091.96 741.85 722.33 30 Sikkim 20.33 33.49 18.07 9.00 31 Tamil Nadu 766.81 880.79 638.47 508.87 32 Telangana 550.69 507.87 430.76 117.70 33 Tripura 150.52 244.22 153.41 133.75 34 Uttar Pradesh 2721.87 2668.69 2694.62 1944.79 35 Uttarakhand 425.84 288.24 216.33 223.30 36 West Bengal 1227.59 1237.56 1513.80 1029.28 *****