9.27 lakh children in India severely and severely malnourished: RTI

Survey data for children aged six months to six years

Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of 3,98,359 children and Bihar has the highest number of 2,79,417 children.

New Delhi: 9.27 lakh children in India are severely and severely malnourished, an RTI has revealed. Most of the children are in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. These children range in age from six months to six years. As of November 2020, so many children were registered in the category of severely and severely malnourished children. Ministry of Women and Child Welfare This is answered in the RTI filed by.

As of November 2020, a total of 9,27,606 severely and severely malnourished children were registered in the country. The highest number of children is in Uttar Pradesh (3,98,359) and Bihar (2.79,427). Last year, the Union Ministry of Women and Child Welfare directed all states and union territories to provide data on malnourished children in this category.

No severely malnourished children have been reported in Ladakh, Lakshadweep, Nagaland, Manipur and Madhya Pradesh. However, in all the four states, except for Ladakh, no state's Anganwadi has provided data on malnutrition in this category.

According to experts, these figures show that the Corona epidemic situation may exacerbate the problem in extremely poor children. At present, these figures may seem small compared to the total population of the country, but as the third wave is most likely to affect children, these figures are seriously worth considering.