A survey conducted by the Department of Women and Child Development in 2023 revealed that Bidar and Kolar districts had the highest share of children suffering malnutrition.
A total of 27,73,247 children under the age of 6 were weighed across Karnataka for the survey to identify children suffering from malnutrition. Of these, 2,20,049 were found to be malnourished. Of them 73,300 children (2.64%) have been found to be Severely Acute Malnourished (SAM), and 1,46,749 children (5.29%) were found to be Moderately Acute Malnourished (MAM).
In Bidar district, a total of 86,163 children were weighed, out of which 4,327 children (5.02%) were suffering from SAM and 6,826 (7.92%) from MAM, topping the charts.
In Kolar, a total of 72,242 children were weighed, out of which 3,333 children (4.61%) suffered from SAM and 3,948 (5.46%) suffered from MAM.
Haveri district has the lowest number of SAM children. Here, when 1,05,367 were weighted, only 657 children (0.62%) were found to be suffering from SAM, and 2,463 (2.34%) from MAM. This was followed by Udupi, in which 0.72% of the children covered in the survey suffer from SAM.
Districts with higher malnutrition rates:
| District | Children weighed | SAM (%) | MAM (%) |
| Bidar | 86,163 | 5.02 | 7.92 |
| Kolar | 72.242 | 4.61 | 5.46 |
| Yadgir | 93,798 | 3.97 | 6.75 |
| Kalaburagi | 1,64,129 | 3.90 | 6.10 |
| Shivamogga | 44,650 | 3.42 | 6.44 |
| Raichur | 1,54,228 | 3.28 | 8.72 |
Districts with lower malnutrition rates:
| District | Children weighed | SAM (%) | MAM (%) |
| Haveri | 1,05,367 | 0.62 | 2.34 |
| Udupi | 43,605 | 0.71 | 2.14 |
| Kodagu | 8,736 | 0.90 | 3.43 |
SAM — Severely Acute Malnourished; MAM — Moderately Acute Malnourished
Source: Department of Women and Child Development, government of Karnataka
Fund cuts for ICDS and gaps in anganwadi programme blamed
Anganwadi workers claim that poor implementation of programmes, like adoption of malnourished children through anganwadis to provide nutritious food, has led to an increase in the number of malnutrition cases in Karnataka.
However, S. Varalakshmi, president of Anganwadi Employees’ Association, said the problem stems from fund cuts for Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programmes in successive years. “Before 2014, the Central and State sharing for ICDS was in the ratio of 90:10. However it is now 60:40. In the 2021-22 annual budget, fund for the ICDS programme was cut by ₹8,500 crore by the Union Government. However, around ₹300 crore has been cut in the 2024 annual budget. Given these circumstances, how can malnutrition be eradicated?” Malnutrition figures across India are seeing an upswing, especially post the pandemic, she claimed.
The Karnataka government has recently revised the menu of children andanganwadis and decided to provide supplementary nutritious food, some of which are millet-based. The new menu has ready-to-eat khichdi and millet laddu, instead of groundnut chikki provided earlier.
However, “most children do not like millet laddus and khichdi, and are not eating them,” said Sunitha, an anganwadi worker from Belagavi. “This may be one of the reasons for high malnutrition among children.”
