MP: Over 78,000 malnourished kids in state from Jan to Mar, says state govt

Bhopal: Nearly 78,000 children were found to be malnourished in Madhya Pradesh in the first three months of this calendar year, the state government said in the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan gave the data in a written reply to a question by Leader of Opposition Govind Singh on Tuesday.

Malnourished children are often weak and in bad health because of a lack of food or a lack of food that is good for them. It can cause stunting and wasting in kids and make them underweight.

Singh, a Congress MLA from Lahar in Bhind district, had sought to know if about 78,000 malnourished children were found in the first three months of this year.

The numbers include 21,631 acutely malnourished children, Singh said quoting figures of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Child Health and Nutrition Mission.

According to the written reply by the government, the Indore division had the most number of malnourished kids in the state at 22,721. The division includes the tribal-dominated districts of Alirajpur and Jhabua.