Over 1.42 lakh children in the state are malnourished. Responding to a set of questions raised by Congress MLAs during Question Hour, Minister of State for Women and Child Development Vibhavari Dave informed that out of the total 1,42,142 malnourished children in the state, 1,18,041 are 'underweight' while 24,101 are 'severely underweight'.

This means 17% of the total malnourished kids in the state fall in the severely underweight category.

As per details given by the state government, the presence of such malnourished children was highest in Narmada (3,410) and Dahod ( 2,405) followed by Sabarkantha (1,293) and Anand (1274). Narmada and Dahod also have the highest number of underweight children followed by Sabarkantha and Chhota Udepur.

The discussion gave way to a heated argument in the state Assembly over usage of the word 'kuposhan'.

Several Congress MLAs raised questions about the government's efforts in tackling malnourishment. In reply, Dave pointed out that it was not right to call these kids as suffering from kuposhan (malnourishment) but that it was a case of alpposhan (low nourishment).

This lead to uproar from the Opposition bench with Chavda saying that it was a matter of shame that despite over two decades of BJP rule, Gujarat still had children who were malnourished. In reply to Chavda's question about spending on such children to help improve their nourishment levels, Dave said that the government spends Rs 8 per underweight child in the 0-3 years category while it was Rs 12 per day for severely underweight children.

She corrected that the amount was Rs 4 per child in the severely underweight category for age group 3- 6 years. "Malnourished children are identified at the anganwadi and such children are given a third meal in the form of nutrient-rich laddoos," said Dave. Congress MLA from Danilimda Shailesh Parmar also chided the government stating that facts remain facts and it won't be changed over usage of words. He also called for an increase in daily spending on such children.

The uproar over Dave's insistence on not to call such children malnourished also forced Chief Minister Vijay Rupani to address the house calling for the need for every MLA to work towards ending malnourishment in the state. "Every child in the state should be healthy and we should, irrespective of our differences, work towards a Kuposhan Mukt (malnourishment free) state. Each of the public representatives should also work towards the goal in their own respective areas.