Guwahati, March 29 (PTI): Close to 195 million people in India still remain undernourished and do not have access to healthy diet, a seminar was told here today.
Assam’s position was among one of the bottom five states of the country and was also lacking in its health and nutrition indicators with 36.4 per cent children under five years of age stunted and infant mortality rate at a high 48 per cen. The seminar ‘Transforming the Food and Nutrition Landscape in Assam’, organised by Coalition for Food and Nutrition Security, India (CFNS) and Inter Agency Group (IAG), Assam, stressed the need for an urgent and concerted action along with a new development agenda to tackle hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition in the state. Opportunities for achieving food and nutrition security in a sustainable way have been globally identified and many countries are making progress on it.
Assam Chief Secretary V K Pipersenia said there was a need for an urgent action on the issue and the state can tackle the problem besides setting an example for the other states. The seminar also discussed how resources can be optimally utilised to improve the present situation and what best could be done to achieve the state targets.
