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GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF WOMEN & CHILD DEVELOPMENT
RAJYA SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO: 4317
TO BE ANSWERED ON 01.04.2026
ANGANWADI CENTRES IN HARYANA
4317. SMT. REKHA SHARMA
Will the Minister of WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:
(a) the number of Saksham Anganwadi centres upgraded with modern infrastructure and
digital facilities in Haryana;
(b) how the Facial Recognition System (FRS) under the Poshan Tracker has improved
transparency in the distribution of Take Home Rations in the State;
(c) the outcomes of the “Poshan Bhi Padhai Bhi” training programme conducted for
Anganwadi workers in Haryana;
(d) whether the Poshan Tracker 2.0 application is successfully monitoring the growth of
children and beneficiaries in the State; and
(e) the number of Anganwadi-cum-Crèche (Palna) centres currently operational in
Haryana?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
(SHRIMATI SAVITRI THAKUR)
(a): Under Mission Poshan 2.0 during the 15th FC cycle period, two lakh Anganwadi Centres
located in Government buildings @40,000 AWCs per year are being strengthened as Saksham
Anganwadis for delivery of improved nutrition and for Early Childhood Care and Education.
Saksham Anganwadis are provided with better infrastructure than the conventional Anganwadi
centres with LED screens, water filtration system, Poshan Vatika, ECCE material and BALA
paintings. As on 27.03.2026, a total of 2 lakh AWCs including 2,804 AWCs for the State of
Haryana have been approved for upgradation across the country as Saksham Anganwadis.
(b): The Ministry of Women and Child Development has developed Facial Recognition System
(FRS) in Poshan Tracker Application for last mile tracking of Take-Home Ration distribution
and to ensure that benefit is given only to the intended and identified beneficiary registered in
the application. Further, Aadhaar based tracking has enabled proper identification of
beneficiaries, prevention of leakages and eliminating ghost entries.
(c): AWWs have been trained in Early Child Care and Education (ECCE) pedagogy and
delivery of nutritional services. The training intends to build capacity of the AWW in deliveryof quality ECCE. As on 23.03.2026, 808 State Level Master Trainers (SLMTs) and 21,980
Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) have been trained in Round-1 of Poshan Bhi Padhai Bhi (PBPB)
Programme in the State of Haryana.
(d): The ‘Poshan Tracker’ digital application has been rolled out as an ICT based governance
tool for monitoring and tracking of all activities in the Anganwadi Centres (AWCs), AWWs
and beneficiaries on defined indicators. It has facilitated near real time data collection for
Anganwadi Services such as, opening of AWCs, daily attendance of children, ECCE activities,
Growth Monitoring of children, Provision of Supplementary Nutrition etc. Technology under
Poshan Tracker is being leveraged for dynamic identification of stunting, wasting, under-
weight& overweight prevalence among children from 0-6 years of age group. The State wise
information on these indicators is available on the Poshan Tracker public dashboard at:
https://www.poshantracker.in/statistics.
(e): The Ministry of Women and Child Development has introduced Palna Scheme under the
Samarthya Vertical of Umbrella Mission Shakti for all States and UTs w.e.f. 01 April 2022.
Anganwadi centres are the world's largest childcare institutions dedicated to providing essential
care and support to children ensuring delivery of care facilities till the last mile. In a first of its
kind approach, Ministry has extended the services of childcare through Anganwadi cum Crèche
(AWCC). Anganwadi cum Crèche initiative aims to increase ‘women work force participation’
in the economy. The objective of the scheme is to provide quality crèche facility in safe and
secure environment for children (from ages 6 months – 6 years), nutritional support, health and
cognitive development of children, growth monitoring and immunization. Crèche facilities
under Palna are provided to all mothers, irrespective of their employment status.
Palna scheme is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme. Programme Approval Board (PAB) meetings
are held with the State Governments and UT Administrations annually wherein States and UTs
submit proposals for opening Anganwadi-cum-Creches and operationalize them. State
Governments and UT Administrations also contribute their corresponding share for the
implementation of the Scheme.
As on date, a total of 14,708 Aganwadi-cum-Creches (AWCCs) have been approved across
34 States/UTS including 628 AWCCs in Haryana out of which 294 AWCCs are operational.
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