The Union government on Thursday (December 4, 2025) evaded questions about the number of infant deaths due to malnutrition in tribal regions in the last five years.
Why do infant deaths persist in the tribal-dominated region of Melghat in Maharashtra?
In a four-page reply to a direct question by Trinamool Congress member Sougata Ray, the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs spoke of schemes and programmes it is running to deal with malnutrition in all children, provided already available public National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data on stunting, wasting, and underweight children, and mentioned protocols issued to minimise mortality and morbidity due to malnutrition.
The complex web of factors behind India’s persistent stunting crisis
However, it did not provide any data on the number of deaths due to malnutrition. The reply was given by Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Durgadas Uikey in the Lok Sabha.
