Parliament Question: Beneficiaries of PMMVY and ICDS

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3669 TO BE ANSWERED ON 13.03.2026 BENEFICIARIES OF PMMVY AND ICDS 3669. SHRI RAJABHAU PARAG PRAKASH WAJE: Will the Minister of WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state: (a) whether women and children are being benefited under the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) and the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) in Nashik district of Maharashtra; (b) if so, the details of pregnant and lactating women and children covered under both schemes in the said district during the last three years and the current year, scheme-wise; (c) the details of the funds allocated, released and utilised under PMMVY and ICDS in the said district during the said period; (d) whether any outcome assessment has been conducted to evaluate improvements in maternal nutrition, anaemia reduction, institutional deliveries and child malnutrition indicators in the said district; and (e) if so, the details thereof and if not, the steps proposed to strengthen implementation and monitoring of these schemes in the said district? ANSWER MINISTER OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI ANNPURNA DEVI) (a)&(b) Under the 15th Finance Commission, various components including Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) have been subsumed under the umbrella Mission Saksham Anganwadi and POSHAN 2.0). The details of beneficiaries covered under the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) and the Mission Saksham Anganwadi & POSHAN 2.0 in Nashik district of Maharashtra during the last three years and the current year are as under:S.No Scheme Beneficiaries FY 2022- FY 2023- FY 2024- FY 2025- 23 24 25 26 1. Pradhan Mantri Matru Beneficiaries paid 45,506 3,684 34,866 42,198* Vandana Yojana 2. Mission Saksham No. of Children 4,10,133 3,90,816 3,76,449 3,50,963** Anganwadi & POSHAN No. of Pregnant 26,777 21,005 20,967 20,361** 2.0 Women No. of Lactating 25,302 17,194 19,049 19,241** Mothers *As on 09.03.2026 **As on 28.02.2026 (c) Under the schemes of the Ministry, funds are released to the States and UTs for implementation of the scheme and funds are not directly released to the districts. The details of funds released/ utilised under the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) and the Mission Saksham Anganwadi & POSHAN 2.0 in the State of Maharashtra during the last three years and the current year are as under: (Rs. in crores) S.No Scheme FY 2022- FY 2023- FY 2024- FY 2025- 23 24 25 26 1. Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana 240.83 0.00 141.17 115.57* 2. Mission Saksham Anganwadi & 1,646.17 1,699.52 1,368.84 1060.79** POSHAN 2.0 *As on 11.03.2026 ** As on 09.03.2026 (d) & (e) NITI Aayog has got conducted a third-party evaluation of the schemes of the Ministry of Women and Child Development for Financial Years 2019 to 2024. The study found that the SAMARTHYA vertical of Mission Shakti including PMMVY is highly relevant and PMMVY Scheme has good awareness at grassroot level. The evaluation adopted a pragmatic mixed-methods approach, combining primary and secondary research to assess. In 2021, the World Bank conducted a survey on Poshan Abhiyaan in 11 priority states. The aim of this survey was to assess the program’s delivery of nutrition services, whether the nutritional knowledge of beneficiaries had improved and if they had adopted more appropriate nutrition and feeding practices. The findings demonstrated that the services delivered through the Poshan Abhiyaan – the receipt of relevant messages, home visits by the Anganwadi Worker, and attendance at community-based events – were associated with improved nutrition behaviours. The survey also found that the program's nutrition messages reached more than 80% of women, and that 81% of women practiced exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months.Further, a third-party evaluation and impact assessment of Poshan Abhiyaan was conducted by NITI Aayog in 2020 and also in 2025. Both these assessments have found its relevance to be satisfactory for tackling malnutrition in the country. The steps taken to strengthen the implementation and monitoring of these schemes, are as under: • A new portal, Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana Software (PMMVYSoft) was developed and launched in March, 2023. Under PMMVYSoft, Aadhaar authentication through UIDAI and National Payment Corporations of India (NPCI) verification is ensured so that funds are directly transferred to their DBT-enabled Aadhaar-seeded bank or post office accounts. • Available database of the Pregnant Women & Lactating Mothers from Poshan Tracker is used to create a “Due List” of potential beneficiaries on PMMVY Portal accessible at AWW/ASHA level. • IT systems have been leveraged to strengthen and bring about transparency in nutrition delivery support systems at the Anganwadi Centres. The ‘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. The States/UTs have also been advised to discontinue the use of physical registers and use Poshan Tracker to reduce work load of Anganwadi workers and improving their efficiency. To track last mile Service Delivery, Facial Recognition System (FRS) is used for distribution of Take-Home Ration to ensure that benefit is given only to the intended beneficiary registered in Poshan Tracker. *****