42 pc children underweight in India; PM says a national shame

New Delhi, Jan 10 (PTI) Highlighting that 42 per cent children were underweight in a country witnessing high growth, India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today described it as a national shame and said the government could not rely solely on ICDS to address the issue. "...the problem of malnutrition is a matter of national shame. Despite impressive growth in our GDP, the level of under-nutrition in the country is unacceptably high," he said releasing a report on Hunger and Malnutrition (HUNGaMA) here. Pointing out that India had not succeeded in reducing the levels of malnutrition fast enough, he said, "Though the ICDS continues to be our most important tool to fight malnutrition, we can no longer rely solely on it." ICDS stands for Integrated Child Development Services scheme of the Government of India with the objectives of improving the nutritional and health status of children and reducing the incidence of mortality, morbidity, malnutrition and school dropout, among other things. The schme is implemented through the various state governments. The HUNGaMA report states that the prevalence of child underweight has decreased from 53 per cent to 42 per cent, marking a 20.3 per cent fall over a seven year period with an average annual rate of reduction of 2.9 per cent. The survey found that the rates of child malnutrition were still unacceptably high in the 100 focus districts across the country with the poorest child development indicators where over 40 per cent of children were underweight and almost 60 per cent stunted. He said policy makers and programme implementers need to clearly understand many linkages - between education and health, sanitation and hygiene, drinking water and nutrition – and then shape their responses accordingly. The report based on the survey conducted by Naandi Foundation has been made at the insistence of the Citizens' Alliance against Malnutrition which comprises young parliamentarians, artistes, directors, social activists and policy makers. The Prime Minister said his government was working to launch a strengthened and restructured ICDS; to start a multi-sectoral programme for 200 high burden districts and to initiate a nationwide communication campaign against malnutrition. "The fact is that while India has been progressing quite a lot in the last 20 years, the fight against the malnutrition has not made as much progress," Biju Janata Dal MP Jay Panda, a member of the Alliance, told reporters here. He said the Alliance will now adopt three blocks in the states of Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and apply some of the learnings from the report to show that malnutrition can be tackled at a more rapid pace. Among those present at the function to release the report at the Prime Minister's residence included Minister Sachin Pilot, filmmaker-turned-MP Shyam Benegal, actor Rahul Bose, singer Penaz Masani, MPs Jay Panda, Jyoti Mirdha, Madhu Yaski Goud and Shahnawaz Hussain. PTI