‘1.42 lakh underweight children in Gujarat’

GANDHINAGAR: The Gujarat government stated in the state assembly that 1.42 lakh children in the state are underweight. Of these 1.42 lakh underweight children, 24,101 are severely underweight.
The tribal districts of Dahod (14,191) and Narmada (12,673) had the highest number of underweight children in the state, said Vibhavari Dave, minister of state for women and child development.
The Congress MLA from Petlad, Niranjan Patel, had spoken of the number of malnourished (ku-poshit) children in the state. While discussing her written reply, Dave objected to the word used, saying that using the ‘ku-poshan’ (malnutrition) was an attempt to malign Gujarat’s image.
“This word ku-poshan is as an attempt to malign Gujarat’s image. We do not accept the word ku-poshan. In my reply, I have said children are either underweight or severely underweight,” Dave said.
The minister of state said that about 3.95% children in Anand and Valsad districts are underweight.
Dave stated that the government is providing hot meals, take-home rations, double fortified salt, fortified oil, and fruit to anganwadi children and their mothers, to address malnutrition.
When the Congress MLAs demanded a massive campaign to combat malnutrition, chief minister Vijay Rupani intervened and urged the members “to join hands to fight the problem”.
“All members of the house, from both BJP and Congress, expressed concern over the issue. We want to completely eradicate malnutrition from the state. I urge all members to take this as a movement and help the government. We are serious about this issue and are taking steps to end malnutrition,” Rupani told the huse.
Interestingly, the Socio-Economic Review tabled with the modified budget, the government has said that under the Kuposhan-Mukt Gujarat Mahaabhiyan (Phase IV) which was carried out between June 15, 2018 and September 30, 2018, in which 57.48 lakh children up to 5 years old were screened by family health workers for various nutrition parameters. At the end of screening exercise, about 34,344 children were identified as suffering from severe acute malnutrition (SAM), the Socio-Economic Review had noted.