There are 69 lakh children in India who are not yet two years old and are going unfed all day long.
This information was obtained by analyzing statistics from the National Family Health Survey, which is government data.
An international study measuring child hunger in India from a new angle paints such disturbing picture.
Child malnutrition was measured by weight-for-age (wasting) and height (stunting). This is the first time that ‘food consumed’ was examined, and it was found that about twenty percent of children between the ages of six and twenty-three months are at risk of going without food for an entire day.
More regrettably, there was no improvement in this figure between 2016 to 2021, rather a slight deterioration.
States like in Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, food deprivation has increased to such an extent that, It has an adverse effect on the national average.
Researchers say the survey doesn’t give a complete picture of child malnutrition — many of these 69 million children may have gone days without food, or had poor nutrition.
But the extent of unfed in such young childrens has not been so apparent before. Between 2015-16 and 2019-20, the rate of ‘stunting’ and ‘wasting’ has decreased slightly in India.
The Center has been claiming the same as ‘success’. Now this picture of food deprivation forces us to think again and again.
However, if this project works effectively, the second concern – the lack of family and social security of the child – will be alleviated.
The reason why very young children remain unfed is not just for lack of food, but lack of people to feed them also.
Child care is neglected when mothers in poor families are forced to go out to work, which is also a cause of child malnutrition.
All-day anganwadis, or creches, are therefore necessary in poor, working-class areas.
Experts suggest identifying the child’s needs and meeting them in a specific way.
