Guj CM launches special drive against malnutrition

Ahmedabad, July 4: Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani launched 'Poshan Abhiyan'--a statewide mission to eradicate malnutrition among children by providing them nutritious food through Anganwadi centres.

During the function organised at Gandhinagar, the chief minister also launched 'Purna' project to eliminate malnutrition among girls in the age group of 14 to 18, an official release said.

'Purna' stands for Prevention of Under Nutrition and Reduction of Nutritional Anaemia among Adolescent Girls.

Rupani said the government has allocated Rs 270 crore to control malnutrition among those girls who he said would become mothers in future.

On the occasion, Rupani urged officials to focus on children, girls and pregnant women of those districts that are still lagging behind in nutrition parameters.

Addressing Anganwadi workers, who were watching the live telecast at their respective centres across the state, Rupani appealed to them to ensure that every newborn and mother get nutritious food for the first 1000 days of the birth.

He added that the nationwide Poshan Mission was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Rajasthan on March 8 this year.

In her address, state Women and Child Development Minister Vibhavariben Dave expressed confidence that Gujarat will lead from the front at a time when the entire country is fighting malnutrition.

She said that as many as 60 lakh beneficiaries would be covered across the state through a network of 53,000 Anganwadi centres under this mission, the release said.