Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Sunday said that malnutrition is much bigger threat than Left wing extremism in the State.

To combat the threat, the state government is working hard to improve the health of its people.

Baghel was delivering a special lecture titled “Changing Chhattisgarh Under New Leadership” at India International Centre. The event was jointly organised by Raipur-based Group of Thinkers, founded by senior journalist Sujeet Kumar, and Society for Policy Studies.  

"Today malnutrition is bigger threat than Maoism in the state," he told a large gathering of diplomats, thinkers, policy analysts and industrialists.

He said over 37.06 per cent of the state children are malnourished.

"Thus to provide good nutrition to the children we have started Suposhan scheme in over 109 panchayats of the state," he said. The scheme will be extended throughout the state on October 2, coinciding with the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

Highlighting works of his government in last eight months in the state, Baghel said, "After we came to power we returned the lands of the tribals which were acquired in 2006 but no industries were set up on it."

"We returned 4,200 acres of land located in 1,700 villages to the tribal people," he said.

He said his government also waived off the farm loans of the farmers in the state.

The Chief Minister underlined that the problem of LWE increase in the state as the tribals did not get benefit of the state’s growth story.

"So, I decided to speak to them to remove the trust deficit that they have with the government," he said.

He said to increase the income of the farmers his government also bought the paddies from them at the minimum support price of Rs 2,500 per quintal, which is much higher than the rate prescribed by the Central government.

To provide better medical facilities, Baghel said he took the primary health centres to the local haats, so that more tribal people can avail the treatment.

"I am happy to share that the list of patients arriving at the local haats is much higher than the patients arriving at the OPDs of a primary health centre and government hospitals," he said, adding that it has brought the medical facilities much closer to the people.

Baghel also appealed to investors to come to Chhattisgarh for investment and that his government will help them in providing land and power.

He also highlighted his government’s flagship scheme Narva, Garva, Ghurva Bari (NGGB) in the state. The scheme emphasizes collective action to ensure water conservation, livestock development, use of compost and cultivation of vegetable and fruit backyard.

Referring to the water problem, he said, "Ground water level is deteriorating in the country. Thus I have made the scheme to recharge the ground water in the state by working on the nallahs.”

He said detailed project report of over 1028 nallah has already been made.

Emphasizing on the use of livestock's, Baghel said, "To build the cattle day-care centre, such spots have been selected which already have green cover so that the bovine could easily get natural shades of trees."