There are over 14 lakh severely malnourished children in the country as per the government's Poshan Tracker, the Women and Child Development Ministry said on Wednesday.
Children who are severely malnourished have very low weight for their height, and are nine times more likely to die in case of diseases due to their weakened immune system.
Responding to a question in Rajya Sabha, Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani said under Poshan Tracker, the ICT application for monitoring service delivery under Mission Poshan 2.0, out of approximately 5.6 crore children measured in the month of February 2023, the percentage of severely malnourished children is 2.6 per cent. The number comes to be 14,56,000.
The percentage of malnourished children was found to be 7.7 per cent which comes to around 43 lakh, the ministry said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Featured Video Of The Day
Mumbai Airport Dazzles In Tricolour Lights On Eve Of Independence Day
DU Women's Hostels Get Rs 272 Crore Under Nirbhaya Fund: Smriti Irani 'Zero-Food Children' Report Attempt To Sensationalise Fake News: Centre How India Can Become Developed When Malnutrition Prevalent, Asks Raghuram Rajan 150 mg Semen In Kolkata Doctor's Body, Suspect Gang-Rape: Parents To Court 2 French Rafale Jets Collide Mid-Air, Instructor, Pilot Missing "Attempt To Save Accused Instead Of...": Rahul Gandhi On Doctor Rape-Murder "Full Of Negativity...": PM Slams Opposition In Independence Day Speech "We Revived Nalanda University, Now We Must Revive Nalanda Spirit": PM Modi "Secular Civil Code Need Of Times": PM Modi In Independence Day Speech Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.