States and Union territories have utilised just 16 per cent of the allocated resources for Poshan Abhiyaan or the National Nutrition Mission till February, according to the minutes of a meeting.
At the fourth national council meeting in February, NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar has expressed concern over the "dismal" utilisation of funds for the Poshan Abhiyaan by the states and Union territories, according to minutes of the executive committee meeting of the mission in June.
The Poshan Abhiyaan, also called the National Nutrition Mission, aims to bring down stunting of children in the age group of 0-6 years from 38.4 per cent to 25 per cent by 2022, it said.
In the February meeting, Kumar pointed out that 16 per cent utilisation of allocated resources was "not acceptable" at this juncture. He directed that states and Union territories should utilise the funds proportionately under all the activities of the nutrition mission, it said.
After the February meeting, instructions have been issued by the WCD Ministry and being followed up regularly, it said. "The full utilization plan to be shared with NITI Aayog by the Women and Child Development Ministry on (a) monthly basis."
The Women and Child Development Ministry has also expressed concern over the slow rollout of different activities under the Poshan Abhiyaan, and urged states and Union territories to ensure targets are achieved.
WCD Secretary Rabindra Panwar has urged states to ensure timely utilisation of funds allocated to them as most states had poor utilisation in the 2018-19 fiscal.
He also asked the states and Union territories that they were required to carry out a detailed review, assessment and gap analysis on an urgent basis of the scheme, according to the minutes of the June meeting.
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