The Government of India is ‘celebrating’ September as ‘Poshan Maah’ or Nutrition Month. The issue of malnourishment remains a problem in India and is in fact on the rise. A 91% rise in the number of severely acute malnourished children has been seen between November 2020 and October 14, 2021 – up from 9.27 lakh to 17.76 lakh now.
Post the pandemic, Poshan Abhiyaan was named Poshan 2.0 and four schemes were merged. The four schemes that are part of Poshan 2.0 are Anganwadi services, Poshan Abhiyaan, the Scheme for Adolescent Girls and the National Creche Scheme. What is the reality of malnourishment in India, the problems it possesses and whether it is right to “celebrate” Poshan in India?
The Wire spoke with some anganwadi workers who are alleging that they were pressured to fill in positive numbers to downplay the number of malnourished kids. Watch this video by Zeeshan Kaskar for more details.