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The Union Minister of Women and Child Development, Smriti Zubin Irani, chaired the 5th National Council on India’s Nutrition Challenges today in New Delhi.
In her keynote address Women and Child Development (WCD) Minister said that a humane solution has to be developed to tackle the menace of malnutrition in India and for this the economic benefits of investing in nutrition has to be highlighted and propagated. WCD Minister quoted the World Bank Global Nutrition Report – 2018 which says that malnutrition costs India at least USD 10 billion annually in terms of lost productivity, illness and death and is seriously retarding improvements in human development and further reduction of childhood mortality.
WCD Minister informed that the Ministry along with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Deendayal Research Institute is developing a POSHAN atlas to map the crops and foodgrains grown in different regions of the country because the solution to tackling malnutrition lies in promoting regional cropping patterns and embracing local food that are rich in protein.
