Centre releases Rs 1426 crore under ICDS to fight malnutrition

New Delhi, Mar 29 (UNI) The Centre has released Rs. 142684.25 lakh during 2006-07 for providing nutritional support to children under Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme.

Madhya Pradesh, which has the highest rate of child malnutrition, has received Rs 5770.97 lakh under ICDS this year, an official release said here today. However, the maximum amount of Rs 39216.88 lakh has been sanctioned to Uttar Pradesh, Currently, nutritional support under the ICDS is being provided to about 543.43 lakh children through a network of about 7.81 lakh Anganwadi centres.

The centre has provided Rs 9052.04 lakh to Andhra Pradesh, Rs 11828.92 lakh to Bihar, Rs 2953.64 lakh to Chhattisgarh, Rs 175.41 lakh to Goa, Rs 3946.29 lakh to Gujarat, Rs 2829.56 lakh to Haryana, Rs 629.63 lakh to Himachal Pradesh, Rs 563.09 lakh to Jammu and Kashmir, Rs 11154.47 lakh to Jharkhand, Rs 5707.61 lakh to Karnataka and Rs 3666.11 lakh to Kerala.

It has also granted Rs 5770.97 lakh to Madhya Pradesh, Rs 8443.33 lakh to Maharashtra, Rs 6646.40 lakh to Orissa, Rs 3138.07 lakh to Punjab, Rs 6661.68 lakh to Rajasthan, Rs 3451.94 lakh to Tamil Nadu, Rs 39216.88 lakh to Uttar Pradesh, Rs 1347.89 lakh to Uttarakhand and Rs 5916.07 lakh to West Bengal.

Besides, Rs 93.67 lakh has been granted to Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Rs 154.76 lakh to Chandigarh, Rs 22.59 lakh to Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Rs 13.74 lakh to Daman and Diu, Rs 39.91 lakh to Lakshadweep, Rs 694.29 lakh to Delhi, Rs 55.03 lakh to Pondicherry Rs 379.84 lakh to Arunachal Pradesh, Rs 3711.54 lakh to Asom Rs 914.32 lakh to Manipur, Rs 1023.42 lakh to Meghalaya, Rs 488.97 lakh to Mizoram, Rs 1188.71 lakh to Nagaland, Rs 95.77 lakh to Sikkim and Rs 707.69 lakh to Tripura.

Under the scheme, the Centre provides financial support to the States up to 50 per cent of the financial norms or to support 50 per cent of the expenditure incurred by them on supplementary nutrition, which ever is less.

UNI