The magnitude of problem of malnutrition among children and anaemia amongst women in India, including Gujarat, is borne by the fact that 41 per cent of children are underweight and 55 per cent women are anaemic.

These grim realities were revealed by the Union Minister of State for Women and Child Development, Ms Krishna Tirath, in the Rajya Sabha in reply to a question raised by Mr Parimal Nathwani, Jharkhand MP and group President of Reliance Industries Ltd.

Interventions to fight malnutrition must be simultaneous with outcomes being monitored by an overarching body. The finance minister’s Budget 2012 speech contains the much-awaited, much-needed paradigm shift in government’s approach to reduce undernutrition and micronutrient deficiency, the indicators of which are fast qualifying India as the malnutrition capital of the world. It is now clear that high growth rates are not automatically translating into better nutritional indicators, though there is marginal improvement in infant and mortality indicators, as per SRS 2009.

AHMEDABAD: As many as 41% of the children in the state are underweight and 55% of the women between 15 to 45 years of age in the state are anemic. This was revealed in a Rajya Sabha session on Thursday.

Union minister of state (independent charge) for women and child development, Krishna Tirath in Rajya Sabha gave the details of the number of women and children suffering from malnutrition. Tirath was replying to a question posed by Member of Parliament from Jharkhand, Parimal Nathwani.

The Budget provides proof of the United Progressive Alliance government having forgotten the importance of its own “flagship schemes”. BUDGET 2012-13 provides conclusive proof that the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government has lost its way. It has managed the remarkable feat of upsetting almost everyone and making no one happy. The Budget is highly regressive in both taxation and spending terms and will raise prices of essentials, so aam aurat and aam aadmi are not happy.

An important scheme to improve the health and lifestyle of residents in rural pockets around Tambaram and also to improve access to proper sanitation is in disarray owing to neglect on the part of State government agencies.

The Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) of the Ministry of Rural Development aims at elimination of open defecation in rural areas and ensuring that all households, schools and Children's Centres of Integrated Child Development Services or government-run creches have toilets. The scheme also mandates the construction of at least one integrated sanitary complex in every rural local body.

Rising trends in malnutrition among children under six here and in other cities have prompted the Maharashtra government to introduce an Urban Malnutrition Mission from next month, official sources said. A quarter of children below six years in the city weighed at anganwadis are underweight, according to the latest monthly progress report (MPR) of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS). Non-governmental organisations point to a severe crisis of primary health services and lack of adequate number of anganwadis in slum areas.

Neenv — a network of grass-roots non-governmental organisations working for children under six in urban poor settlements in Delhi — has sought more clarity on restructuring of the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) under the government's Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) policy.

The proposed ECCE refers to programmes for children from prenatal to six years, which cater for the needs of a child in all domains of development, including physical, motor, language, cognitive, socio-emotional, and creative and aesthetic appreciation, and provides synergy with health and nutrition aspects.

Dispur has come up with a hi-tech solution to end the chaos surrounding the distribution of nutritional food through the Anganwadi centres. In keeping with the new system, children aged between 5 months and 6 years would be enrolled into the nearest Anganwadi centre. All relevant information about a child, including age, weight, contact address and a photograph with the mother, would be stored centrally in a server, monitored at the district level after each update. A unique ID number will be issued to each child.

Women in anganwadis ended up selling food supplied to them as cattle fodder

The Department of Women and Child Development (DWCD) was spending more than Rs 600 crore annually to provide nutritious food to children, pregnant and lactating mothers, and adolescent girls. But the Department failed to act when consistent reports from anganwadi centres streamed in about rejection of the food by children and mothers, which they sold as cattle feed in the market.