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Relevance: GS Paper II — Health, Issues relating to Hunger & Poverty, Schemes Source: NFHS-6 data, 2026

1 · What happened

New data from the National Family Health Survey-6 (NFHS-6) shows a clear national fall in childhood stunting — a long-term gain.

But the headline hides trouble: wasting is nearly stagnant, diets stay poor, and exclusive breastfeeding has dropped sharply, with several large states moving backwards.

2 · Four signals from the data

Stunting is low height-for-age (long-term); wasting is low weight-for-height (acute, recent); underweight is low weight-for-age (mixed). India is winning on the slow measure but stuck on the acute ones.

The Win
Stunting Down
Stunting fell 35.5% → 29.3%; severe wasting 7.7% → 5.2%, which lowers under-five deaths.
The Stall
Wasting Stuck
Wasting barely moved (19.3% → 19.0%) — ~1 in 5 children acutely malnourished; ~1 in 3 still underweight.
The Alarm
Breastfeeding Collapse
Exclusive breastfeeding (under 6 months) fell 63.7% → 55.8%; in UP it crashed 59.7% → 34.6%.
The Bright Spot
Vaccination Surge
Full immunisation rose 83.8% → 87.1%; rotavirus vaccine coverage jumped 36.4% → 85.4%.

  • State reversals: Wasting and underweight rose in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan; Jharkhand underweight worsened to 41.1% and wasting stays frozen at 22.3% (double Kerala’s 10.9%).
  • The real gap: Hospital births are up, so the breastfeeding fall points to weak postnatal and lactation support after discharge, not delivery failure.
  • Diet still poor: Adequate diet for infants aged 6–23 months rose only 11.0% → 15.3% — over 8 in 10 infants still lack a sound diet (Rajasthan just 8.7%).

UPSC Value Box
Stunting Low height-for-age; reflects long-term, chronic undernutrition.
Wasting Low weight-for-height; reflects acute, recent malnutrition.
Underweight Low weight-for-age; mix of chronic and acute factors.
NFHS / IIPS Survey under MoHFW; IIPS Mumbai is the nodal agency.
POSHAN Abhiyaan National Nutrition Mission; targets stunting, undernutrition, anaemia, low birth weight.
NFSA, 2013 Gives statutory backing to food safety nets and supplementary nutrition.
ICDS / Anganwadi Network delivering nutrition to pregnant/lactating women and under-6 children.
IYCF Infant and Young Child Feeding practices — the key behavioural gap.

MCQ Practice Question
Q. With reference to child nutrition indicators and surveys in India, consider the following statements:

  1. Wasting refers to low weight-for-height and indicates acute malnutrition.
  2. Stunting refers to low weight-for-age and indicates short-term malnutrition.
  3. The National Family Health Survey is conducted under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 and 2 only    (b) 1 and 3 only    (c) 2 and 3 only    (d) 1, 2 and 3

Answer: (b) 1 and 3 only

  • Statement 1 — Correct: Wasting is low weight-for-height and signals acute, recent undernutrition.
  • Statement 2 — Incorrect: Stunting is low height-for-age and reflects long-term undernutrition — the definition has been swapped with underweight/wasting.
  • Statement 3 — Correct: NFHS is conducted under the MoHFW, with IIPS Mumbai as the nodal agency.
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