BJP’s incompetence exposed by women, children health data, claims Kharge

New Delhi: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday claimed that "absolute incompetence"of the BJP has been "unmasked" by the NFHS-6 data and alleged that the Modi government has betrayed India's women and children on healthcare and nutrition.

Kharge said the BJP has a five-step formula to hide its "sins".

He accused the BJP of burying selected data, abandoning the vulnerable, advertising "Sabka Saath" and "Amrit Kaal", manipulating the narrative and protecting Prime Minister Narendra Modi's PR at all costs.


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"Not only does the Modi government betray India's women and children on healthcare and nutrition, but it also deliberately hides crucial data which exposes its failures!" Kharge said on X.

"Absolute incompetence of the BJP has been unmasked by the NFHS-6 data! 1 in 5 children suffer from acute malnutrition. One-third of Indian children are underweight. More than 84% of children aged 6 to 23 months do not receive adequate nutrition. 57% of women between 15 and 49 years are anaemic as per NFHS-5. 1 in 5 women is undernourished," Kharge said, citing NFHS data.

The NFHS-6 was conducted during 2023-24 by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare with the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai as the nodal agency.

Covering nearly 6.79 lakh households across 715 districts, the survey provides evidence on population, health, nutrition and family welfare indicators and supports programme implementation up to the district level.

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According to the sixth round of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-6) released by the Union Health Ministry on Friday, India has registered significant improvements in child health indicators, including immunisation coverage and nutritional outcomes.

India continues to make strong progress towards universal immunisation coverage, the ministry said in a statement.