PM Modi launches ‘POSHAN Maah 2020’ campaign to fight malnutrition in India

Last updated on February 15th, 2023 at 12:33 pm

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Friday, launched a social media campaign to promote “PoshanMaah” (Nutrition Month) which is celebrated during the month of September. Noting that proper nutrition is crucial to building a prosperous nation, PM Modi kickstarted the 3rd RashtriyaPoshanMaah (National Nutrition Month) with #POSHANMaah2020 on Twitter and appealed the citizens to initiate efforts to eradicate malnutrition from the country.
“Let us undertake efforts to reach out to people across the length and breadth of India and spread awareness on eradicating malnutrition. This will help our Nari Shakti and Yuva Shakti,” the Prime Minister said in his tweet.
In another tweet, he launched the #Local4Poshan campaign, inviting people to share the recipes of their home-cooked, healthy dishes on the government website as part of their contribution towards building a nutritious India by the year 2022.

“Let’s be #Local4Poshan! Our nation is home to dozens of healthy dishes, which have high nutrition value. Share them on a specially created space on @mygovindia. May your family recipe contribute to a nutritious as well as healthy India,” PM Modi said in another tweet.

Adding to the Prime Minister’s tweet, Home Minister Amit Shah highlighted that ‘PoshanMaah’ was launched in 2018 by the Modi government as a robust scheme aimed at eliminating malnutrition from the country in a bid to build a malnutrition-free India. In a series of tweets, the Home Minister stated that, during PoshanMaah 2020 this month, the Modi government will focus on an intensive campaign throughout the country for the holistic nourishment of children with severe acute malnutrition.

‘PoshanMaah’ is a part of the Modi government’s flagship programme POSHAN Abhiyaan (Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition) which was launched in 2018, with the objective to improving nutritional policies for pregnant women, lactating mothers and children. During the 3rd PoshanMaah this year, the government reportedly is going to focus its attention on identifying Severely Acute Malnourished Children and taking care their needs with the broader goal to make India malnutrition-free.

Joining the initiative, BJP chief JP Nadda also urged people to prepare healthy and nutritious Indian food and share their recipes with the government, which will further create a database of all local recipes coming from every part of the country. In the wake of Coronavirus pandemic, the Women and Child Development Ministry has also encouraged citizens to celebrate PoshanMaah and contribute to the initiative through digital platforms.

Earlier in his ‘Mann kiBaat’ radio address, the Prime Minister Modi had expressed concerns that over lack of awareness related to malnutrition which is affecting both poor and affluent families across the country.

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