More than two lakh children in Gujarat are malnourished across 20 of the state’s 34 districts, the state government informed the assembly on Saturday.
Responding to questions raised by Congress MLAs during Question Hour, women and child development minister Manisha Vakil said 2.05 lakh children had been identified as malnourished in these districts as of January 2026.
Of them, nearly 1.69 lakh children were classified as “underweight”, while 36,805 were listed as “severely underweight”, according to data presented in the House. The figures show that several tribal and rural districts account for a large share of the cases.
Panchmahal district reported the highest number of malnourished children at 20,762. It was followed by Banaskantha district with 19,391 and Kheda district with 18,590.
Other districts with high numbers included Sabarkantha district (16,588), Dahod district (16,388) and Chhota Udepur district (16,322). Narmada district recorded 8,881 cases, while Mahisagar district had 7,838.
Among the 20 districts, the tribal-dominated Tapi district recorded the lowest number of malnourished children at 4,424. The urban districts of Ahmedabad district and Gandhinagar district reported 6,411 and 6,467 cases respectively.
In the past year, 1,164 children were added to the list of malnourished children in Kheda district and Chhota Udepur district. During the same period, the number of malnourished children across these 20 districts declined by nearly 1.59 lakh.
“The state government is taking various steps to end malnutrition. Fortified nutritious food is provided to children in all Anganwadi centres. Moreover, women receive nutritious food for 1,000 days before and after birth for the sake of the children's health,” Vakil told the House.
“The government also provides supplementary nutrition to the Anganwadi children and their mothers under various schemes, such as Take Home Ration, Dudh Sanjeevani and Poshan Sudha scheme to tackle malnutrition,” she added.
The data presented in the assembly shows that child malnutrition continues to affect several districts in Gujarat.