The government has identified 200 districts with high extent of malnourishment in children under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme.
In a written reply in Rajya Sabha, Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi said that Uttar Pradesh tops the list with as many as 41 districts having high extent of undernourished children, followed by Madhya Pradesh with 30 such districts.
Rajasthan has 20 such districts, Bihar 17, Chhattisgarh nine, and Jharkhand, Uttarakhand and Odhisha six each.
In reply to another question, the minister said that as per the National Family Health Survey, 2005-06, the top five states with high number of malnourished women are Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha.
"The government has accorded high priority to the issue of malnutrition and is implementing several schemes/programmes of different ministries and departments through state governments/UT administrations," Gandhi said.
The schemes include ICDS, National Health Mission, Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls - 'Sabla', Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojna as direct targeted interventions, besides indirect multi-sectoral interventions including National Food Security Mission, Total Sanitation Campaign and National Rural Drinking Water Programme.
All these schemes have potential to address one or other aspect related to nutrition including nutrition of women, the minister said.
