By IndiaTomorrow.net,
Ahmedabad, 26 July 2014: In what may shock many who were swayed by the Gujarat shining ad campaign of Bharatiya Janata Party and its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi during the recent Lok Sabha elections, the government of Gujarat on Friday said there are over 8.44 lakh children who are underweight as per the norms of ICDS (Integrated Child Development Services). Of them, over 62000 are severely underweight. The state BJP government tabled the figures in the Assembly in response to a question by Congress MLA Tejashree Patel.
According to the figures quoted by Indian Express daily, Vadodara, from where Modi had contested Lok Sabha poll and won, is at No. 1 in the state with highest number of malnourished children (over 65,800). The district also has an additional 5900 children who are severely underweight. Modi had also fought from Varanasi and he won it also.
Vadodara is followed by the tribal district of Dahod (56600 underweight and 3500 severely underweight children) while the state’s most urbanized district and its capital Ahmedabad is at No. 3 with 55,500 underweight and 5700 severely underweight children.
