NITI Aayog to rank states on nutrition under govt's POSHAN scheme

NITI Aayog will start ranking states on the nutrition parameter under the government run POSHAN Abhiyaan.

The first meeting of the National Council on India's Nutrition Challenges under POSHAN (nutrition) Abhiyaan was convened by NITI Aayog today to address the issue through coordination and review meeting between ministries.

A scheme of the Ministry of Women and Child Development, POSHAN Abhiyaan was launched in March this year by the Prime Minister in Jhunjhunu (Rajasthan).

The Council will submit its report to the Prime Minister every six months.

"NITI Aayog will work to rank the states on their efforts to reduce malnutrition. This will help continuously monitor the implementation of POSHAN Abhiyaan," NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar said.

 

The Council is tasked to provide policy directions, review programmes and establishing coordination and convergence of all ministries and their programmes relating to nutrition.

NITI Aayog said the POSHAN Abhiyaan seeks to provide quality nutrition to pregnant women.

The meeting saw participation from various ministries of the central and state governments also.

"By detecting and eliminating diseases at an early stage, we can prevent irreversible damages to children and contribute to national development," NITI Aayog said.

"POSHAN Abhiyaan needs to evolve as a Jan Andolan (mass movement). From being a project of the government, it has to become a project of the people," said Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State for Housing & Urban Affairs.

As 80 per cent of a child's brain develops during the first 1,000 days of his life, POSHAN Abhiyaan will provide a focussed attention during this critical period, NITI Aayog said.

The Abhiyaan targets to reduce stunting, under-nutrition, anemia (among young children, women and adolescent girls) and reduce low birth weight.

The target of the mission is to bring down stunting among children in the age group 0-6 years from 38.4 per cent to 25 per cent by 2022.