- Child malnutrition deaths continue in Madhya Pradesh despite government schemes and rising budgets
- Over 85,000 children have been admitted to Nutrition Rehabilitation Centres in tribal blocks since 2020
- Madhya Pradesh’s severe malnutrition rate is 7.79%, higher than the national average of 5.40%
Another child has lost her life to malnutrition in Madhya Pradesh, bringing the state's decades-long health crisis back into sharp focus.
On Saturday, 15-month-old Divyanshi of Shivpuri, weighing just 3.7 kg, died at the district hospital.
Identified earlier under the state's Dastak Abhiyan, her haemoglobin level was just 7.4 g/dl -- dangerously low for survival.
Doctors admit her family was repeatedly advised to admit her to the Nutrition Rehabilitation Centre (NRC), but the mother alleges her in-laws prevented treatment because she was a girl. "Whenever she fell ill, they said let her die, she is just a daughter," the grieving mother told local reporters.
Days earlier, Radhika, a 1.5-year-old tribal girl from Sheopur, died weighing barely 2.5 kg a quarter of what a child her age should weigh. Her mother said the girl was healthy at birth, but within months her arms and legs thinned to sticks. In Bhind district, yet another toddler was declared dead at Lahar Civil Hospital in July. Families allege malnutrition, doctors deny it but the pattern is chillingly familiar.
These back-to-back deaths underline a grim truth: despite tall claims, Madhya Pradesh remains the epicenter of malnutrition in India.
According to official figures tabled in the state assembly: 85,330 children have been admitted to Nutrition Rehabilitation Centres in tribal blocks from 2020 to June 2025. Yearly admissions are rising sharply from 11,566 in 2020-21 to 20,741 in 2024-25. In just the first three months of this financial year, 5,928 children have already been treated.
Government records admit that over 10 lakh children in MP are malnourished, including 1.36 lakh severely wasted. For comparison, the national rate of severe and moderate malnutrition in under-5 children was 5.40% in April 2025, while in Madhya Pradesh it stood at a staggering 7.79%.
The crisis is compounded by anaemia. 57% of women in MP are anaemic, weakening the next generation even before birth.
The Centre's Nutrition Tracker App shows that in May 2025, 45 out of 55 districts in MP were in the "red zone" meaning more than 20% of children were underweight for their age.
On paper, the state spends Rs 980 per child at NRCs. In Anganwadis, severely malnourished children are allocated Rs 12 per day, while normal children receive Rs 8. Congress MLA Dr. Vikrant Bhuria slammed the government he said "Even two bananas cost more than Rs 12. Milk is Rs 70 a litre. What nutrition can you buy for Rs 8? The state government is not spending even a rupee of its own. The money comes from the Centre."
Meanwhile, the 2025-26 budget for nutrition stands at Rs 4,895 crore, yet ground realities remain unchanged.
Beyond underfunding lies another rot corruption. In 2022, NDTV had exposed massive irregularities in the procurement and transportation of nutrition food. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has now confirmed a Rs 858 crore scam. Despite this, no meaningful action has been taken against officials or contractors.
Experts warn that food often never reaches the intended beneficiaries. Supplies are siphoned off midway, local Anganwadi centers function irregularly, and frontline workers lack accountability.
Women and Child Development Minister Nirmala Bhuria insists the state is innovating: "We have had successes in Mandla, Dewas and Jhabua. Mothers are being made aware, new models are being tried. We are confident the situation will improve."
Despite rising budgets and repeated promises, little has changed. With over 10 lakh malnourished children, shocking deaths across Shivpuri, Sheopur, and Bhind, and widespread corruption in nutrition schemes, the crisis is no longer one of poverty alone -- it is of governance failure.
