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GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
LOK SABHA
STARRED QUESTION NO. *302
TO BE ANSWERED ON 13.03.2026
AWCS IN MADHYA PRADESH
*302. DR. LATA WANKHEDE:
Will the Minister of WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:
(a) the total number of Anganwadi Centres (AWCs) operational in Madhya Pradesh and
the number of beneficiaries covered therein;
(b) the status of upgradation of AWCs into 'Saksham Anganwadis' with better
infrastructure and smart learning aids in the State;
(c) the details of the implementation of the 'Poshan Tracker' application to monitor the
nutritional status of children in the State;
(d) the measures taken to fill the vacancies of Anganwadi Workers and Helpers in Madhya
Pradesh; and
(e) the plan of the Government to construct pucca buildings for the AWCs running in
rented or temporary structures in the State?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
(SHRIMATI ANNPURNA DEVI)
(a) to (e) A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
*****STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (A) TO (E) OF LOK SABHA
STARRED QUESTION NO.302 TO BE ANSWERED ON 13.03.2026 REGARDING
“AWCS IN MADHYA PRADESH”
(a) The number of Anganwadi Centres and beneficiaries covered therein for the State of
Madhya Pradesh is available at the link: https://www.poshantracker.in/statistics.
(b) A total of 24,662 Anganwadi Centres (AWCs) have been sanctioned for upgradation as
Saksham Anganwadi Centres for the State of Madhya Pradesh and as informed by the State, a
total of 8,038 AWCs have been upgraded as Saksham Anganwadis.
(c) Poshan Tracker application was rolled out as an important governance tool. The Poshan
Tracker facilitates monitoring and tracking of all AWCs, AWWs and beneficiaries on defined
indicators. Technology under Poshan Tracker is being leveraged for dynamic identification of
stunting, wasting, underweight prevalence among children. 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 Hot Cooked Meal (HCM)/Take
Home Ration (THR-not raw ration), Growth Measurement etc. The application also offers
counselling videos on key behaviors and services which help disseminate messages on birth
preparedness, delivery of child, post-natal care, breastfeeding and complementary feeding.
Regular field level trainings/workshops are conducted directly for AWWs regarding use of the
Poshan Tracker Application. Poshan Tracker also features self-learning videos for AWWs,
enabling continuous capacity building and on-the-job learning through digital modules.
For last mile tracking of Service Delivery, Ministry of Women and Child Development
(MWCD) has developed Facial Recognition System (FRS) in Poshan Tracker Application for
distribution of Take-Home Ration to ensure that benefit is given only to the intended
beneficiary registered in Poshan Tracker.
The Nominee Module has been introduced in Poshan Tracker to ensure uninterrupted delivery
of Take-Home Ration (THR) to the beneficiaries; Pregnant Women, Lactating Mothers, and
Adolescent Girls. If due to any reason, the registered beneficiary is unable to visit the
Anganwadi Centre to receive their THR through FRS, she can nominate a nominee on her
behalf to receive her THR. Nominee has to undergo e-KYC only ONCE. But face matching
will be done every time for receiving THR on behalf of the beneficiary. Even after addition of
the nominee, beneficiary can still receive the THR at the Anganwadi Center if the nominee has
not received it already.
A significant number of families availing Anganwadi services are migrant workers, who move
from villages to urban areas for employment. Seasonal agricultural migrants travel to cities
after the agricultural season and return to villages after a few months. To ensure uninterrupted
service delivery, Poshan Tracker provides a facility for migration from one Anganwadi Centre
to another, both within and across States. Through this module, beneficiaries can avail services
at the nearest Anganwadi Centre at the destination location using the Migration-In facility. By
entering the Aadhaar number, an AWW can migrate a beneficiary from another Anganwadi
Centre.
Under the Mission, AWWs have been provided with smartphones procured by States/UTs on
a cost sharing basis for data entry and use of Poshan Tracker application.The State/UT wise data including for the State of Madhya Pradesh from Poshan Tracker
regarding nutritional status of children and services at AWCs is available at the link:
https://www.poshantracker.in/statistics.
(d) Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 is a Centrally Sponsored scheme. The
Central Government is responsible for policy and planning and the State Governments/UT
Administrations are responsible for day-to-day program implementation including
recruitment of staff for implementation of the scheme. The matter regarding filling up of
vacant posts at various levels is regularly taken up with them through sustained engagements
and video conferences so as to ensure uninterrupted delivery of services to the beneficiaries.
(e) Under Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0, various steps have been undertaken
to improve the infrastructure facilities at Anganwadi Centres. During 15th Finance Commission
cycle, 50000 Anganwadi Centres are being constructed @10000 AWCs per year in
convergence with MGNREGS wherein Rs.8.00 Lakh is provided under MGNREGS, Rs.2.00
Lakh under 15th Finance Commission (FC) (or any other untied funds) and Rs.2.00 Lakh by
MWCD per AWC shared between Centre and States/UTs in the prescribed cost sharing ratio.
Further, States/UTs have also been advised to continue to tap funds for construction of AWC
buildings from various schemes such as Member of Parliament Local Area Development
Scheme (MPLADS), Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF), Finance Commission
Grants to Panchayati Raj Institutions, Multi- Sectoral Development Programme (MSDP) of
Ministry of Minority Affairs, etc.
In convergence with Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education
Guidelines for Co-locating Anganwadi Centres within Government Primary Schools have been
jointly launched on 3rd September, 2025 to strengthen ECCE and Foundational Literacy and
Numeracy (FLN) services. In places where physical co-location is not possible, AWCs are to
be mapped with the nearest primary school.
******