number

children

government

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Banaskantha

Anand

Paresh Dhanani

Figures show sharp increase of over 2.41lakh in theirsince July last yearMore than 3.8 lakhin Gujarat were malnourished, indicating a sharp increase of over 2.41 lakh in their number since July last year, the stateinformed theon Thursday. The government was responding to Congress allegation that the number of such kids had increased three-fold compared to figures last declared by the government six months ago.Responding to a set of questions raised by Congress MLAs during Question Hour, Vibhavari Dave, Minister of State for Women and Child Development, informed the House that there were a total of 3,83,840 malnourished children in the State.The presence of such malnourished children was highest in districts of(28,265),(26,021) and Dahod (22,613), Dave said.In July 2019, Dave had informed the Assembly that Gujarat had 1,42,142 malnourished children.The latest data (as on December 31, 2019) tabled in the Assembly on Thursday showed a jump of 2,41,698 in number of such children.The opposition Congress quickly latched on to the data and attacked the BJP government.In a release, Leader of Oppositionof the Congress said despite the BJP government's claim that it is doing its best to fight malnutrition, over 2.41 lakh new malnourished children were added in six months (from July till December).In her written reply, Dave listed several steps the BJP government is taking to fight malnutrition in children. She said the government provides hot meals, take-home ration, double fortified salt, fortified oil and fruits to anganwadi children to tackle the issue of malnutrition.