A file picture of scholars having the mid-day meal at a authorities faculty in Hubballi, Karnataka.
| Photo Credit: Kiran Bakale
A survey carried out by the Department of Women and Child Development in 2023 revealed that Bidar and Kolar districts had the very best share of children struggling malnutrition.
A complete of 27,73,247 children underneath the age of 6 have been weighed throughout Karnataka for the survey to establish children affected by malnutrition. Of these, 2,20,049 have been discovered to be malnourished. Of them 73,300 children (2.64%) have been discovered to be Severely Acute Malnourished (SAM), and 1,46,749 children (5.29%) have been discovered to be Moderately Acute Malnourished (MAM).
In Bidar district, a complete of 86,163 children have been weighed, out of which 4,327 children (5.02%) have been affected by SAM and 6,826 (7.92%) from MAM, topping the charts.
In Kolar, a complete of 72,242 children have been weighed, out of which 3,333 children (4.61%) suffered from SAM and 3,948 (5.46%) suffered from MAM.
Haveri district has the bottom variety of SAM children. Here, when 1,05,367 have been weighted, solely 657 children (0.62%) have been discovered to be affected by SAM, and 2,463 (2.34%) from MAM. This was adopted by Udupi, in which 0.72% of the children lined in the survey undergo from SAM.
| District | Children weighed | SAM (%) | MAM (%) |
| Bidar | 86,163 | 5.02 | 7.92 |
| Kolar | 72.242 | 4.61 | 5.46 |
| Yadgir | 93,798 | 3.97 | 6.75 |
| Kalaburagi | 1,64,129 | 3.90 | 6.10 |
| Shivamogga | 44,650 | 3.42 | 6.44 |
| Raichur | 1,54,228 | 3.28 | 8.72 |
| Haveri | 1,05,367 | 0.62 | 2.34 |
| Udupi | 43,605 | 0.71 | 2.14 |
| Kodagu | 8,736 | 0.90 | 3.43 |
SAM — Severely Acute Malnourished
MAM — Moderately Acute Malnourished
Source: Department of Women and Child Development, authorities of Karnataka
Fund cuts for ICDS and gaps in anganwadi programme blamed
Anganwadi employees declare that poor implementation of programmes, like adoption of malnourished children by way of anganwadis to offer nutritious meals, has led to a rise in the variety of malnutrition circumstances in Karnataka.
However, S. Varalakshmi, president of Anganwadi Employees’ Association, stated the issue stems from fund cuts for Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programmes in successive years. “Before 2014, the Central and State sharing for ICDS was in the ratio of 90:10. However it is now 60:40. In the 2021-22 annual budget, fund for the ICDS programme was cut by ₹8,500 crore by the Union Government. However, around ₹300 crore has been cut in the 2024 annual budget. Given these circumstances, how can malnutrition be eradicated?” Malnutrition figures throughout India are seeing an upswing, particularly publish the pandemic, she claimed.
The Karnataka authorities has not too long ago revised the menu of children andanganwadis and determined to offer supplementary nutritious meals, a few of that are millet-based. The new menu has ready-to-eat khichdi and millet laddu, as an alternative of groundnut chikki offered earlier.
However, “most children do not like millet laddus and khichdi, and are not eating them,” stated Sunitha, an anganwadi employee from Belagavi. “This may be one of the reasons for high malnutrition among children.”