The Women and Child Development Ministry has sought unconditional apology from foreign news agency Reuters for carrying a news item quoting the Minister as saying that country's main programme to fight child malnutrition has been hit by budget cuts. The Ministry has termed the news story as misleading and a clear distortion of facts. It said Union Minister Maneka Gandhi at no point had criticized the government policy as mentioned in the news story and the article is aimed at sensationalizing facts with the idea of tarnishing the image of the government. In a statement, the Ministry said the matter has also been reported to the Press Council of India as well as the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for necessary action on their part.