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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.
*****Annexure
STATE AND UT WISE PREVALENCE OF ANAEMIA AMONG BENEFICIARIES ACROSS
THE COUNTRY UNDER NFHS-5 (2019-21):
Sr. No. S tates and UTs Children (6–59 months) Anaemic (%)
1 Andhra Pradesh 63.2
2 A&N Islands 40.0
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 64.0
28 Punjab 71.1
29 Rajasthan 71.5
30 Sikkim 56.4
31 Tamil Nadu 57.4
32 Telangana 70.0
33 Tripura 64.3
34 Uttar Pradesh 66.4
35 Uttarakhand 58.8
36 West Bengal 69.0
*****