One out of every 7 kids malnourished in Indore district

INDORE: The Indore bench of MP high court has issued a notice to the state government seeking reply over two petitions filed against the high prevalence of malnutrition in Indore, Khargone , Jhabua and Alirajpur districts.


The first petition was filed by Kanji Katiji and another by Madhavlal. Both of them were represented by advocate Shanno Shagufta Khan.

Khan said that, in a news article by a leading newspaper on July 4, it came to fore that every seventh child in Indore district was malnourished. Also, there were 3040 children under the highly-malnourished category, said Khan.

As many as 872 children were reported suffering from malnutrition at 88 Anganwadi centres across Khargone. The district reported zero children suffering from malnutrition a year earlier, said Khan. The figure was attained because the government department hid facts. Whereas, there were 5179 malnourished children in the district in the year when the government reported it to be zero, alleged Khan.

Khan, in the second petition against the high prevalence of malnutrition in Jhabua and Alirajpur district, said that in Alirajpur also every seventh child was malnourished including 3040 children falling under the highly-malnourished category.

The figures as on July 4 this year, were in accordance with the figures of women and child development department. The report also showed that in Alirajpur every tenth child among 25,330 who were found to be underweight was at risk, said Khan.

In case of Jhabua district, there were many children who were suffering from malnutrition and in May last year, two and a half months old twins had died within a span of two days because of malnourishment.

The government advocate sought time from the court, which was granted.