Patna: Bihar tops the world list of malnourished children if one goes by the figures presented by Belgian born Indian development economist and activist Jean Dreze while addressing a development dialogue on malnutrition among women and children in Bihar at AN Sinha Institute here on Tuesday.
Dreze said 48.3 per cent of total child population of the state are malnourished. "There are 20 parameters for calculating the malnutrition index and in most of the parameters Bihar fails", he said.
"In Bihar more than 40 per cent girls are getting married well before their attainable marriage age and this leads to malnutrition in their off springs", he said.
He said the cut in budget allocation by central government in mid-day meal scheme would further exaggerate the problem.
"The government has already slashed the mid-day meal budget by 36 per cent and further linking of this scheme with Aadhar will be a dangerous move", he said.
Social welfare department principal secretary Vandana Kini said malnutrition is a serious problem for the state but situation has been improving.
Photo: Aftab Alam Siddiuqi
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