Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday termed the National Nutrition Month campaign as the foundation for a healthy and capable India.
"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," he was quoted as saying in an official statement.
The chief minister highlighted that the state government has created a new mechanism through which women self-help groups are delivering nutritious food to anganwadi centres.
Speaking at a programme of the national campaign, Adityanath said, "The nutrition campaign is the foundation for a healthy and capable India."
On decrease in maternal and child mortality rates in Uttar Pradesh, he said that this became possible because mothers and children started receiving nutritious food, according to the statement.
The chief minister also 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, he said.
In 30 years, from 1977 to 2017, approximately 50,000 children in the state fell prey to this disease, he said, according to the statement.
"After our government came to power, we made 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 said.
During the programme, Adityanath inaugurated or laid the foundation stones of 1,359 anganwadi centres. The foundation stones of 171 child development project offices were also laid.
He also transferred an amount of Rs 29 crore through DBT for uniforms (sarees) to 2.90 lakh anganwadi workers and helpers.
-With PTI Input
