Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has expressed concern over the fact that despite the progress made by the country’s economy, malnutrition levels in the country remain “unacceptably high”.
He has also noted that the rates of reduction in under-nutrition have been “disappointingly low”.
The Prime Minister was speaking at the first meeting of the PM’s National Council on India’s Nutrition Challenges in the capital on Thursday.
The PM said that it has long-term consequences on the growth, development and well-being of the country. He also noted that nutrition levels remain low despite the impressive growth of the economy and the numerous programmes aimed at meeting the nutritional challenge.
The high-level meting which was attended among others by the Union minister of agriculture, Sharad Pawar, human resource development minister Kapil Sibal, rural development minister C.P. Joshi and deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia also saw some other points being stressed to deal with malnutrition.
It was agreed during the meeting that a multi-sectoral programme to address maternal and child malnutrition in 200 high-burden districts needs to be prepared.