See Full Document Text
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
RAJYA SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 4311
TO BE ANSWERED ON 01.04.2026
HEALTH MONITORING UNDER MISSION POSHAN 2.0 AND SAKSHAM
ANGANWADI
4311. SHRI RAVI CHANDRA VADDIRAJU:
Will the Minister of WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:
(a) whether Government has taken steps to strengthen nutrition, health monitoring and
early childhood education under Mission Poshan 2.0 and Saksham Anganwadi;
(b) the details of modernization of Anganwadi centres with digital monitoring and smart
infrastructure;
(c) whether Government proposes to introduce skill development and entrepreneurship
programs for women through Anganwadi and Self-Help Groups; and
(d) the progress of these initiatives in Telangana?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
(SHRIMATI SAVITRI THAKUR)
(a) and (b): The Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 Scheme provides the following package
of services in an integrated manner to eligible beneficiaries:
i. Supplementary nutrition.
ii. Pre-school non-formal education.
iii. Nutrition and health education.
iv. Immunization.
v. Health check-up.
vi. Referral services.
Three of the six services, viz., immunization, health check-up and referral services, are related
to health and are provided through National Health Mission (NHM) and Public Health
Infrastructure.Under Mission Poshan 2.0, a new strategy has been adopted for reduction in malnutrition and
for improved health, wellness and immunity of children. It includes approaches like community
engagement, outreach, behavioural change and advocacy. It focuses on Maternal Nutrition,
Infant and Young Child Feeding Norms, treatment of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM)/
Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM) and wellness through AYUSH practices to reduce
prevalence of wasting, stunting, anemia and being underweight.
Supplementary Nutrition is provided to Children (6 months to 6 years), Pregnant Women,
Lactating Mothers and Adolescent Girls in accordance with the nutrition norms contained in
Schedule-II of the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013. These norms have been revised
in January 2023. Revised norms are more comprehensive and balanced in terms of both
quantity and quality of supplementary nutrition. It is based on the principles of diet diversity
that provides for quality protein, healthy fats and micronutrients (Calcium, Zinc, Iron, Dietary
Folate, Vitamin A, Vitamin-B6 and Vitamin B-12). Extra Supplementary Nutrition is provided
to SAM children.
Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) launched the Poshan Bhi Padhai Bhi
(PBPB) initiative under Mission Saksham Anganwadi and POSHAN 2.0. PBPB aims at
improving the quality of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) through the Anganwadi
system by equipping Anganwadi Centres (AWCs) with high-quality infrastructure, play
equipment, and well-trained Anganwadi Workers (AWWs).
Capacity building of AWWs has been envisioned as the first step towards improving the quality
of ECCE. Under the capacity building programme of PBPB, 10,58,168 AWWs have been
trained as on 27th March 2026 in ECCE pedagogy and delivery of nutritional services. Under
PBPB, allocation for Pre-school Education (PSE) Kits has been increased to ₹3,000 per AWC
per year for providing adequate PSE kits at the AWCs. In order to improve the quality of ECCE,
Government launched in March 2024, Navchetana - a National Framework for Early Childhood
Stimulation for children up to 3 years of age, and Aadharshila - National Curriculum for ECCE
for children of 3 to 6 years age. Navchetana framework empowers caregivers and AWWs for
holistic early stimulation of children through responsive caregiving. Aadharshila improves the
quality of early childhood education transacted at AWCs by prioritizing play-based activities
covering all learning domains.
Government has so far upgraded 1,03,940 Anganwadi Centres (AWCs) into Saksham
Anganwadi Centres for better delivery of nutrition and increased focus on Early Childhood
Care and Education (ECCE) services to the beneficiaries.
In order to leverage information technology to strengthen and bring about transparency in
nutrition delivery support systems at the AWCs, Government has rolled out ‘Poshan Tracker’
e-Governance portal on 1st March 2021. Poshan Tracker enables capturing of the real time data
of the Mission. All AWWs are provided with smart phones along with Internet connectivity to
ensure smooth and uninterrupted data entry. The Poshan Tracker facilitates monitoring and
tracking of all AWCs, Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) and beneficiaries on defined indicators.
Poshan Tracker based applications are being leveraged for dynamic identification of stunting,
wasting, under-weight prevalence among children.
Provision of Growth Monitoring Devices (GMDs) have also been made at each AWC for the
growth monitoring of registered beneficiaries.Further, for last mile tracking of Service Delivery, Facial Recognition System (FRS) has been
developed using Poshan Tracker for distribution of Take-Home Ration (THR) to ensure that
benefit is given only to the intended and identified beneficiary registered on Poshan Tracker.
The Nominee Module has been introduced in Poshan Tracker to ensure uninterrupted delivery
of THR to all the beneficiaries.
Poshan Tracker is being used for delivery of ECCE at AWCs. Daily learning prompts are
delivered to AWWs through Poshan Tracker in the form of over 249 videos, 190 voice notes
and 159 unique ECCE activity PDFs for children aged 3–6 years. For children aged 0–3 years,
14 videos comprising 140 activities of early childhood stimulation have been developed to
support structured home visits and caregiver engagement.
(c) and (d): At present, Ministry of Women and Child Development does not propose skill
development and entrepreneurship programs for women through Anganwadi and Self-Help
Groups.
*****