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GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF WOMEN & CHILD DEVELOPMENT
RAJYA SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO: 3823
TO BE ANSWERED ON 25.03.2026
MISSION SAKSHAM ANGANWADI AND POSHAN 2.0 PALNA SCHEME IN
BIHAR
3823. SHRI MOKARIYA RAMBHAI:
SHRI SHAMBHU SHARAN PATEL:
SMT. KIRAN CHOUDHRY:
SHRI ASHOKRAO SHANKARRAO CHAVAN:
SHRI MANAN KUMAR MISHRA:
Will the Minister of WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:
(a) whether the number of Anganwadi centres equipped with advanced LED screens and
better infrastructure has reached one lakh;
(b) the manner in which the integration of Facial Recognition System (FRS) has
increased transparency in the distribution of Take Home Ration(THR);
(c) the outcomes of the “Poshan Bhi Padhai Bhi” training programme provided to 10
lakh Anganwadi workers;
(d) whether the POSHAN Tracker application is now successfully monitoring the growth
of more than 8 crore children every month; and
(e) the number of Anganwadi-cum-creche centres being operational across the country
by March, 2026?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
(SHRIMATI SAVITRI THAKUR)
(a) Under Mission Poshan 2.0, during the 15th FC cycle period, two lakh Anganwadi Centres
located in Government buildings @40,000 AWCs per year are being strengthened as Saksham
Anganwadis for delivery of improved nutrition and for Early Childhood Care and Education.
Saksham Anganwadis are provided with better infrastructure than the conventional Anganwadi
centres with LED screens, water filtration system, Poshan Vatika, ECCE material and BALA
paintings. As on 20.03.2026, a total 1,04,403 Anganwadi Centres have been upgraded as
Saksham Anganwadi Centres across the country.
(b) The Ministry of Women and Child Development has developed Facial Recognition System
(FRS) in Poshan Tracker Application for last mile tracking of Take-Home Ration distribution
and to ensure that benefit is given only to the intended beneficiary registered in the application.Further, Aadhaar based tracking has enabled proper identification of beneficiaries, prevention
of leakages and eliminating ghost entries.
(c) As on 16th March, 2026, 41,648 State Level Master Trainers (SLMTs) and 10,40,590
Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) have been trained in Round-1 of Poshan Bhi Padhai Bhi (PBPB)
Programme. AWWs have been trained in Early Child Care and Education (ECCE) pedagogy
and delivery of nutritional services. The training intends to build capacity of the AWW in
delivery of quality ECCE.
(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), AWWs
and beneficiaries on defined indicators. 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 Supplementary Nutrition etc. Technology under
Poshan Tracker is being leveraged for dynamic identification of stunting, wasting, under-
weight& overweight prevalence among children from 0-6 years of age group. The State wise
information on these indicators is available on the Poshan Tracker public dashboard at:
https://www.poshantracker.in/statistics.
(e) The Ministry of Women and Child Development has introduced Palna Scheme under the
Samarthya Vertical of Umbrella Mission Shakti for all States and UTs w.e.f. 01 April 2022.
Anganwadi centres are the world's largest childcare institutions dedicated to providing essential
care and support to children ensuring delivery of care facilities till the last mile. In a first of its
kind approach, Ministry has extended the services of childcare through Anganwadi cum Crèche
(AWCC). Anganwadi cum Crèche initiative aims to increase ‘women work force participation’
in the economy. The objective of the scheme is to provide quality crèche facility in safe and
secure environment for children (from ages 6 months – 6 years), nutritional support, health and
cognitive development of children, growth monitoring and immunization. Crèche facilities
under Palna are provided to all mothers, irrespective of their employment status.
Palna scheme is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme. Programme Approval Board (PAB) meetings
are held with the State Governments and UT Administrations annually wherein States and UTs
submit proposals for opening Anganwadi-cum-Creches and operationalize them. State
Governments and UT Administrations also contribute their corresponding share for the
implementation of the Scheme.
During the 15th Finance Cycle i.e. up to FY 2025-26, a total of 17,000 Aganwadi-cum-Creches
(AWCCs) are to be established under the Palna Scheme. Till date, 3,130 AWCCs are
operational across the country.
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