Expressing concern at the deteriorating malnutrition situation in India, Government today said that the problem needs to be tackled in a "Mission Mode".
"A national programme in Mission Mode is urgently required to halt the deteriorating malnutrition situation in India, as present interventions are not adequate" said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley as he presented the Union budget today.
"A comprehensive strategy including detailed methodology, costing, time lines and monitorable targets will be put in place within six months," he said.
According to the report by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation - Children in India 2012 - 48 per cent children under the age of five are stunted (too short for their age), which indicates that half of the country's children are chronically malnourished.
The report states that malnutrition is higher among children whose mothers are uneducated or have less than five years of education.
Similarly, the percentage of underweight children in lowest wealth index is three times higher than higher wealth index.
Further, according to a report prepared by Naandi Foundation that covered 112 districts across India, 42.5 per cent of children under five years of age are underweight (low weight for age), 58.8 per cent are stunted (low height for age), and 11.4 per cent are 'wasted' (low weight for height).
The World Bank report described malnutrition as India's silent emergency and stated that the rate of malnutrition cases among children in India is almost five times more than in China, and twice than in Sub-Saharan Africa.
For the past nine years, the government in India has not collected national-level data on nutrition as the last National Family Health Survey conducted in 2005-06, showed that 42.5 percent of children under the age of 5 were underweight.
To tackle the problem of malnutrition, Congress-led government had restructured the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programme.
The revised programme focused on providing supplementary foods to pregnant women, nursing mothers and children under three years of age.
It also worked towards improving mothers' feeding and caring practices as well as promoting immunization and growth monitoring of children among people.
