Parliament Question: Facial Recognition System in Anganwadi Services

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4305 TO BE ANSWERED ON 01.04.2026 FACIAL RECOGNITION SYSTEM IN ANGANWADI SERVICES 4305. SHRI MADAN RATHORE: DR. ANIL SUKHDEORAO BONDE: SMT. KIRAN CHOUDHRY: SHRI NARHARI AMIN: SHRI ASHOKRAO SHANKARRAO CHAVAN: SHRI SADANAND MHALU SHET TANAVADE: SHRI LAHAR SINGH SIROYA: Will the Minister of WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state: (a) the current number of beneficiaries verified through the Facial Recognition System (FRS) under Anganwadi services for delivery of Take-Home Ration (THR), along with the extent of eKYC completion among eligible beneficiaries; (b) the manner in which the FRS module has been integrated with the Poshan Tracker application for verification and service delivery; (c) whether any operational or technical challenges have been reported by States and Union Territories including Rajasthan in implementing FRS-based authentication; and (d) if so, the details thereof, along with measures undertaken to ensure accuracy, transparency and secure verification of beneficiaries? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI SAVITRI THAKUR) (a) to (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), Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) and beneficiaries on defined indicators. It has facilitated near real time data collection for Anganwadi Services. In order to ensure that the benefits (Supplementary Nutrition) provided under the scheme are reaching the actual/intended beneficiary; to remove duplication and risk of leakage of benefits and to make the scheme more transparent, the Ministry has introduced Face Recognition System (FRS) in August 2024. FRS was rolled out as a pilot in 6 States and UTs viz. Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and Chandigarh. Further, FRS was rolled out on Pan India basis in December 2024 with an option to distribute THR without FRS. The entire process of onboardingbeneficiaries for FRS is being taken up in a gradual manner. Facial Recognition System (FRS) is ensuring that benefit is given only to the intended beneficiaries registered in the application. Further, Children (up to 6 years of age) registered under the Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 are not required to undergo e-KYC/FRS. On behalf of children, mother, father or any guardian can undergo e-KYC/ FRS and receive the THR. FRS, as a technology, doesn't demand any additional equipment/device to be given to AWW. It has been introduced as one of the features in the existing Poshan Tracker Application. Further, Aadhaar based tracking has enabled proper identification of beneficiaries and prevention of leakages. Considering the sensitivity of the collection of bio-metric details for beneficiaries, a specific consent is taken before face enrolment through Anganwadi Worker (AWW). The private data is not publicly accessible; it is only available to authorized personnel solely for verification purposes. Access is role-based, logged and monitored to prevent misuse. Additional Measures taken for ensuring data privacy before introducing FRS are as follows: 1. All requests and responses related to Face Verification are encrypted during transit, ensuring data is protected from interception or tampering. 2. The internal database of mobile application is encrypted, preventing access to sensitive information outside the app environment. 3. Face images are handled in base64 encoded format within the app to ensure safe processing and transmission. 4. Individual images made available to Anganwadi Worker (AWW) for face matching purposes cannot be copied. 5. No images or data are stored permanently on the device. As a precautionary measure, all cached or temporary data is wiped automatically when the AWW logs out of the application. 6. Annual Security Audit is complied with on every year basis, security audit for 2025 has been completed by October 2025 through Cert-In empanelled agency. As per Poshan Tracker Application data on FRS, a total of 4,77,88,108 eligible beneficiaries were identified for THR distribution through FRS in February 2026. Out of these, e-KYC and face matching have been successfully completed for 97.01% beneficiaries. Regular training is being provided to AWWs by National e-Governance Division (NeGD) through state coordinators on FRS. Training videos are also shared with AWWs to support their learning. Further, under Poshan Bhi Padhai Bhi (PBPB), training is being conducted by the Savitribai Phule National Institute of Women and Child Development (SPNIWCD, MoWCD) to State Level Master Trainers (SLMTs) who in turn train Anganwadi Workers in the field. As of 18.03.2026, 41645 State Level Master Trainers (SLMTs) have been trained under Round 1 and 3901 SLMTs under Round 2. Block and District coordinators provide on- ground handholding support to AWWs and supervisors for effective usage of the Poshan Tracker and resolution of technical glitches. *****