Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said here on Tuesday that the nutrition campaign is the foundation of a healthy and capable India.

Yogi Adityanath said there was a time when the liquor mafia used to supply ‘nutritious food’ in Uttar Pradesh, adding, “Our government has created a new mechanism through which women self-help groups are now delivering nutritious food to Anganwadi centers.”

Addressing the National Nutrition Month program here on Monday, he said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inspired the entire country to fight malnutrition by initiating a widespread campaign. In this direction, a lot of work has been done in Uttar Pradesh over the past six years.”

The chief minister further said that there was a time when the state used to witness around 1,200-1,500 deaths annually due to encephalitis. Eastern Uttar Pradesh was particularly affected by this disease. In the last 30 years from 1977 to 2017, approximately 50,000 children in the state fell prey to this disease.

Emphasizing the significant improvements in the National Family Health Survey, the Chief Minister said that there has been a 5.1 per cent improvement in anemia, a 6.6 per cent improvement in dwarfism, a 7.4 percent improvement in underweight, and a 0.6 percent improvement in dryness between 2015-2016 and 2019-2020.

CM Yogi added, “After our government came to power, we started our efforts to eradicate encephalitis from the state through inter-departmental coordination with the Central government in 2018 and today we have been largely successful in our attempt.”

He also shed light on the decrease in maternal and child mortality rates in Uttar Pradesh today.

“This became possible because mothers and children started receiving nutritious food. Our government will organize competitions for healthy boys and girls at the Anganwadi centers, Nyay Panchayat and block level,” he added.

CM Yogi said as this year marks the first year of the Azaadi ka Amrit Kal, the government aims to establish India as the world’s third-largest economy by 2027. He mentioned that Prime Minister Modi has set a goal for 2047, the centenary year of India’s independence, to make the country developed. “For this, we need to make our country healthy, educated, and capable,” he added.

During the baby shower ceremony, the chief minister gifted medicines and nutritious food items to some pregnant women. He also performed Annaprashan Sanskar of infants by feeding pudding to them.

Additionally, the chief minister honoured the parents of three children who came from malnourished to well-nourished categories of families, under the ‘Sambhav’ campaign. He further gifted two sarees each as uniform to four Anganwadi workers as a token of appreciation.

During the programme, the chief minister inaugurated/laid the foundation stone of 1,359 Anganwadi centers at a cost of Rs 155 crore. Besides, the foundation stone of 171 child development project offices was laid at a cost of Rs 50 crore. Additionally, the CM transferred an amount of Rs 29 crore through DBT for uniforms (sarees) to 2.90 lakh Anganwadi workers and helpers.