The Hindu published an article stating that the Lok Sabha, Congress member Deepak Baij asked whether malnutrition among children had increased during the pandemic period. The Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani said, “To ensure continuous nutritional support to beneficiaries, Anganwadi workers and helpers distributed supplementary nutrition at the doorstep of beneficiaries once in 15 days during COVID-19 as all Anganwadi centers across the country were closed to limit the impact of the pandemic.” Senior Research Fellow, Purnima Menon, said, “It is really important that we have data on what has been going on with children and families in what has been a challenging time. There are methods for collecting rapid data during emergencies, but there was no surveillance. I would have liked to see rapid surveys in the context of COVID-19 and that data made public."
