More than 3.3 lakh children are malnourished across ten districts of Gujarat, while 26,871 children fall under the 'extremely malnourished' category, Women and Child Development Minister Ganpat Vasava informed the state Assembly today.
Tribal district of Panchmahal in central Gujarat has the highest number of 69,961 malnourished children, while Vadodara, which has a sizable tribal population, has 6,676 children in the extremely malnourished category, she said in a written reply.
In Ahmedabad district, ten talukas in rural areas have 31,966 malnourished children and 2,314 extremely malnourished children. Daskroi taluka has the highest number of malnourished children in the district at 5,336.
In central Gujarat, Vadodara has 65,723 malnourished children while figures for Kheda and Anand are 36,291 and 24,273 respectively.
In south Gujarat, the number of malnourished children is 36,968 in Bharuch, while in coastal Valsad, it is 27,330. In Tapi and Navsari, it is 18,170 and 13,472 respectively.
Junagadh in Saurashtra has 22,016 malnourished children, the House was informed.
Bharuch (3,167) and Navsari (3,862) have recorded high number of extremely malnourished children.
To a question on steps being taken by the state government, Vasava said under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), children between six months and three years are provided food, while girls, pregnant women and children between 3 and 6 years are provided food for 300 days a year.
