17% of children underweight, 36% stunted, 6% wasted: Women and Child Development Ministry
New Delhi: Over 50% of children under the age of 5 in India suffer from chronic malnutrition, according to the latest data from the Women and Child Development (WCD) Ministry. Responding to a question in the Lok Sabha, WCD Minister Annapurna Devi shared data from the Poshan Tracker for June, revealing that of the approximately 8.57 crore children under 6 years old measured, 17% were underweight, 36% were stunted, and 6% were wasted.
Stunted growth refers to children who are too short for their age, wasting indicates children who are too thin for their height, and underweight children have low weight for their age, reflecting both stunting and wasting. These indicators are crucial for identifying chronic or acute malnutrition in children.
Uttar Pradesh reported the highest stunting rate at 46.36%, followed closely by Lakshadweep at 46.31%. Other states with alarming stunting rates include Maharashtra at 44.59% and Madhya Pradesh at 41.61%. Wasting, an indicator of acute malnutrition, is most severe in Lakshadweep, affecting 13.22% of children. Bihar and Gujarat also reported high wasting rates at 9.81% and 9.16%, respectively. These high percentages indicate significant recent weight loss in children, often due to insufficient food intake or illness.
In terms of underweight children, Madhya Pradesh leads with 26.21%, followed by Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu at 26.41%. Lakshadweep also shows a concerning underweight rate of 23.25%.
Conversely, some states showed better results with lower malnutrition rates. Goa, for example, reports the lowest stunting rate at 5.84%, wasting at 0.85%, and underweight children at 2.18%, reflecting more effective nutritional policies and better overall health conditions.
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Double-decker electric bus gutted in fire at Kurla BEST depot
Mumbai (PTI): An empty double-decker electric bus was gutted in a fire during servicing at a BEST depot in Mumbai's Kurla area on Sunday, officials said, adding that nobody was injured.
The blaze broke out inside the Kurla BEST bus depot near Kanakia Building at 4.14 pm, according to preliminary information from the Mumbai Fire Brigade.
The parked bus was unoccupied at the time of the incident.
Fire brigade personnel rushed to the spot and brought the blaze under control. The exact cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained, they said.
No injuries were reported in the incident, officials added.
The Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) Undertaking has hired 50 electric double-decker buses from Switch Mobility in its fleet of around 2,700 buses.
