Parliament Question: Implementation of POSHAN Abhiyan Scheme

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3395 TO BE ANSWERED ON 08.08.2025 IMPLEMENTATION OF POSHAN ABHIYAAN SCHEME 3395. SHRI IMRAN MASOOD: Will the Minister of WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state: (a) the details of the progress made by the Government in reducing the rate of malnutrition among children and anaemia among women under the Poshan Abhiyaan and other related schemes during the last financial year along with the latest data in this regard; (b) whether the Government has identified any major challenges/constraints in the implementation of said schemes, particularly in remote areas; (c) if so, the details thereof along with the remedial steps being adopted in this regard; (d) the details of the scheme formulated by the Government to further strengthen coordination among various Ministries and State Governments to tackle the problem of malnutrition; and (e) whether the Government has taken any new initiatives to increase the community participation in the fight against malnutrition and to spread awareness about it, if so, the details thereof? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI SAVITRI THAKUR) (a) to (e): Under the 15th Finance Commission, various components like Anganwadi services, Poshan Abhiyaan and Scheme for Adolescent girls (of 14-18 years in Aspirational Districts and North-Eastern region) have been subsumed under the umbrella Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 (Mission Poshan 2.0) to address the challenge of malnutrition. It is a Centrally Sponsored mission, where the responsibility for implementation of various activities lies with the States and UTs. This mission is a universal self-selecting umbrella scheme where there are no entry barriers for any beneficiary to register and receive services. This mission is being implemented across the country. The objectives of Mission are as follows:  To contribute to development of human capital in the country;  Address challenge of malnutrition;  Promote nutrition awareness and good eating habits for sustainable health and wellbeing Nutrition goes beyond mere eating of food; it requires proper digestion, absorption, and metabolism of nutrients. This process is influenced by factors like sanitation, education and access to safe drinking water. As malnutrition requires a multi-sectoral approach involving dimensions of food, health, water, sanitation and education, it is crucial to effectively address the issue of malnutrition in a convergent manner. It is being addressed under Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 by establishing cross cutting convergence amongst 18 Ministries/Departments.Under Mission Poshan 2.0 a new strategy has been made for reduction in malnutrition and for improved health, wellness and immunity through activities like community engagement, outreach, behavioral 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, anaemia and being underweight. Under this mission, Supplementary Nutrition is provided to Children (6 months to 6 years), Pregnant Women, Lactating Mothers and Adolescent Girls to beat the intergenerational cycle of malnutrition by adopting a life cycle approach. Supplementary nutrition is provided in accordance with the nutrition norms contained in Schedule-II of the National Food Security Act. These norms have been revised in January 2023. The old norms were largely calorie-specific; however, the revised norms are more comprehensive and balanced in terms of both quantity and quality of supplementary nutrition 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). Fortified rice is being supplied to AWCs to meet the requirement of micro-nutrients and to control anaemia among women and children. Greater emphasis is being laid on the use of millets at least once a week for preparation of Hot Cooked Meal and Take Home ration at Anganwadi centers. Ministry of Women & Child Development and Ministry of Health & Family Welfare have jointly released the protocol for Community Management of Malnutrition (CMAM) to prevent and treat severely acute malnutrition in children and for reducing associated morbidity and mortality. The community-based approach involves timely detection and screening of children with severe acute malnutrition in the community, management for those without medical complications with wholesome, local nutritious foods at home and supportive medical care. Various rounds of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) conducted by Ministry of Health & Family Welfare since 1992-93 have shown improvement in malnutrition indicators in children across India. Details of these indicators for children since NFHS-1 to NFHS-5 are given below: NFHS Survey Stunting % Underweight % Wasting % NFHS-1 (1992-93)* 52 53.4 17.5 NFHS-2 (1998-99)** 45.5 47 15.5 NFHS-3 (2005-6)*** 48.0 42.5 19.8 NFHS-4 (2015-16)*** 38.4 35.8 21.0 NFHS-5 (2019-21)*** 35.5 32.1 19.3 * Under 4 years ** Under 3 years *** Under 5 years The above table gives a representative picture of malnutrition indicators among all children of 0-3 years, 0-4 years and 0-5 years age at the relevant time. The projected population of all children up to 5 years in India for the year 2021 is 13.75 crores approximately (source: Population Projections for India and States 2011-2036, National Commission on Population, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare). However, only 7.36 crores children up to 5 years were enrolled in Anganwadis and registered on Poshan Tracker of the Ministry of Women & Child Development as per the June, 2025 data. 7 crores of these children were measured on growth parametersof height and weight. 37.07% of them have been found to be stunted, 15.93% have been found to be underweight and 5.46% wasted. The analysis of the above NFHS data and the Poshan Tracker data shows improvement in malnutrition indicators in children across India. The State/UT wise data on Stunting, wasting and underweight can be accessed from the link: https://www.poshantracker.in/statistics. Under this Mission, one of the major activities undertaken is Community Mobilization and Awareness Advocacy to educate people on nutritional aspects as adoption of good nutrition habit requires sustained efforts for behavioural change. Community-Based Events (CBEs) have served as a significant strategy in changing nutritional practices, and all Anganwadi workers are required to conduct two CBEs every month. Under Jan Andolan, Poshan Pakhwada and Rashtriya Poshan Maah are celebrated annually in March-April and September respectively, since 2018. So far, a total of 7 Poshan Maah and 7 Poshan Pakhwada have been conducted. The States/ UTs have reported more than 140 crore outreach activities around various thematic areas including importance of maternal nutrition, appropriate techniques of breastfeeding, importance of timely initiation of complimentary feeding, first 1000 days of life, poshan ke panch sutra, anemia, tribal sensitisation, millet promotion, environment protection, ECCE etc., in coordination with more than 18 partner ministries/ departments. Various steps have been taken up from time to time for improving the implementation of scheme Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0. Following are some of the initiatives undertaken recently:  Ministry vide notification dated 12th September, 2022 issued Integrated Nutrition Support Programme - Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan (2.0), Rules,2022 to regulate the entitlements specified under the provisions of National Food Security Act, 2013 for every pregnant women and lactating mother, till six months after child birth and every child in the age group of six months to six years.  District Nutrition Committee (DNC) chaired by the District Collector is envisaged as a critical mechanism for decentralized planning, implementation, and monitoring of nutrition interventions under Mission POSHAN 2.0. To strengthen and institutionalize the functioning of DNCs, specific Guidelines for District Nutrition Committees have been developed, including suggested data templates for regular review meetings. These guidelines aim to enhance multi- sectoral coordination, improve service delivery, and ensure targeted actions for improving the nutritional status of women and children at the district level.  As on date, 2 lakh Anganwadi Centres have been approved to be upgraded as Saksham Anganwadis for improved nutrition delivery and for imparting early childhood care and development. Saksham Anganwadis are provided with better infrastructure than the conventional Anganwadi Centres which includes internet/Wi-Fi connectivity, LED screens, water purifier/installation of RO Machine and smart learning equipment’s.  The Government has taken a policy decision to upgrade each Mini AWCs to a full-fledged Anganwadi Centre with one worker and one helper to help in carrying out the various responsibilities under Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 including responsibilities related to Early Childhood Care & Education. Sanction for upgradation of 1,11,363 Mini-AWCs to main AWCs has been issued as on 08.07.2025.  Poshan Tracker an ICT tool has been implemented for monitoring and tracking of infrastructure and service delivery at Anganwadi Centres (AWCs) and beneficiaries on defined indicators.  For last mile tracking of Service Delivery, MWCD has developed Facial Recognition System (FRS) for the distribution of Take-Home Ration to ensure that benefit is given only to the intended beneficiary registered in Poshan Tracker. The FRS has been made mandatory for the distribution of THR from 1st July, 2025. The PM JANMAN Mission launched by Ministry of Tribal Affairs aims for targeted development of 75 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) residing in 18 States and a UT. This Mission focuses on 11 critical interventions related to 9 key Ministries including Ministry of Women and Child Development. As on date, a total of 2500 AWCs have been approved for construction under PM JANMAN across the country.  Ministry of Tribal Affairs has launched Dharti Aaba Janjati Gram Unnat Abhiyan (DAJGUA) aimed at improving the socio-economic condition of tribal communities by adopting saturation coverage of tribal families in tribal majority areas and aspirational block ST villages. The intervention of Ministry of Women and Child Development involves establishment of 2000 new Saksham AWCs and upgradation of 6000 existing AWCs into Saksham AWCs from FY 2024- 25 to FY 2028-29.  To strengthen on-ground implementation, a supportive supervision module has been launched for supervisors to monitor the working of Anganwadi centres under them. Dashboards with heat maps and analytics are available at block, district, state, and national levels. These tools support timely decision-making, allow targeted interventions, and highlight data anomalies for correction.  The Suposhit Gram Panchayat Abhiyaan was launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister on 26th December 2024. The initiative by the Government of India aims to improve nutritional outcomes and well-being through strengthened nutrition services, community participation, and multi- stakeholder convergence. The top 1000 Gram Panchayats will be awarded an incentive of 1 lakh. These incentives will be utilized to motivate the Anganwadi workers & helpers to help improve service delivery, and as an incentive to the Gram Panchayat to improve community mobilization & increase enrollment and help nutrition related initiatives. ******