“The families which have malnourished children are mostly those which do not earn minimum wages,” CRY director Yogita Verma said here Thursday. A study by CRY and its partner organisations in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, shows that most malnourishment cases occur among the Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and Other Backward Classes.
“They are mostly daily wage earners, tribals who have been uprooted, or Scheduled or Backward Castes,” she said. According to the study, more than 60 percent children residing in Delhi's slums are malnourished.
“Slum dwellers make up 20 percent of Delhi's population, and a majority of 66 percent children in Delhi's slums are malnourished,” Yogita Verma said. In Madhya Pradesh, 60 percent children are malnourished, while in Uttar Pradesh, 85 percent are anaemic while 41.6 percent are underweight. The national figures show 40 percent children as underweight and 45 percent as stunted.
“Malnourished children, even if they get nutritious meals later, have shorter average life, low immunity and are not properly developed,” Verma said. Suggesting reforms needed, Verma said strengthening the Public Distribution System, integrating various health schemes like Integrated Child Development Services and National Rural Health Mission and strict monitoring are needed to deal with the problem.
