Parliament Question: National Nutrition Mission - Poshan Abhiyaan

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2144 TO BE ANSWERED ON 01.08.2025 NATIONAL NUTRITION MISSION – POSHAN ABHIYAAN

2144. SHRI TEJASVI SURYA:

Will the Minister of WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

(a) the details of reduction in malnutrition rates among children under age five as measured by the National Family Health Survey-6, State-wise;

(b) the current status of monitoring of the scheme as well as the policy directives received from the National Council on India’s Nutrition Challenges constituted under Poshan Abhiyaan; and

(c) the details of the effectiveness of the Poshan tracker application in enabling the collection of real-time data and intervention? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI SAVITRI THAKUR)

(a) The data of Sixth round of National Family Health Survey (NFHS-6) is yet to be published. The percentage of malnutrition among children under age 5 years State/UTs wise as per June 2025 data of Poshan Tracker is placed at Annexure.

(b) & (c) Poshan Abhiyaan was launched in March 2018 to achieve improvement in nutritional status of Children from 0-6 years, Adolescent Girls, Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers by adopting a synergised and result oriented approach.

Under the 15th Finance Commission, Poshan Abhiyaan has been re-aligned as part of Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0, an integrated nutrition support programme that seeks to strengthen nutritional content, delivery, outreach and outcomes with focus on developing practices that nurture health, wellness and immunity from malnutrition. This Mission is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme implemented across all States/UTs.

The ‘Poshan Tracker’ application, launched on 1st March 2021, acts as a key governance tool under Mission Poshan 2.0 to facilitate real-time monitoring of infrastructure and service delivery at Anganwadi Centers (AWCs). It captures data on daily attendance, Early Childhood Care Education

(ECCE) activities, growth measurements, and the provision of Hot Cooked Meal (HCM) and Take- Home Ration (THR). The Tracker also enables dynamic identification of stunting, wasting, and underweight prevalence, improving program effectiveness through data-based decision-making.Beneficiaries receive SMS alerts, and the recently introduced Facial Recognition System (FRS) ensures last-mile tracking and transparency in THR distribution.

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.

In addition to digital systems, other monitoring mechanism include regular reviews and consultations such as Chintan Shivir, zonal meetings, APIP meetings, video conferences, and field visits by officials are conducted from time to time to assess and improve implementation. Training workshops and on-ground support by Block and District Coordinators further reinforce the monitoring and accountability framework under Mission Poshan 2.0.

*****Annexure ANNEXURE REFERRED IN REPLY TO PART (a) OF LOK SABHA QUESTION NO. 2144 FOR

01.08.2025 REGARDING “NATIONAL NUTRITION MISSION- POSHAN ABHIYAAN” ASKED BY SHRI TEJASVI SURYA The details of percentage of malnutrition among children under age 5 years State/UTs wise as per June 2025 data of Poshan Tracker are as follows:

S. No. State Stunting% Wasting% Underweight% 1 Andhra Pradesh 18.43 4.97 7.68 2 Arunachal Pradesh 38.38 5.18 11.65 3 Assam 42.94 4.50 16.88 4 Bihar 42.68 9.31 20.98 5 Chhattisgarh 27.10 7.77 14.23 6 Goa 6.18 0.78 1.96 7 Gujarat 32.72 7.28 18.41 8 Haryana 23.41 3.83 7.85 9 Himachal Pradesh 19.68 2.41 6.88 10 Jharkhand 43.26 6.68 19.13 11 Karnataka 39.05 3.18 16.50 12 Kerala 35.75 3.20 10.18 13 Madhya Pradesh 42.09 8.19 24.82 14 Maharashtra 39.68 4.01 14.80 15 Manipur 9.27 0.67 2.69 16 Meghalaya 20.73 1.11 5.14 17 Mizoram 27.33 2.98 6.33 18 Nagaland 28.91 6.08 7.00 19 Odisha 27.91 3.21 11.63 20 Punjab 17.14 2.95 5.12 21 Rajasthan 36.10 6.49 17.57 22 Sikkim 7.89 1.95 1.69 23 Tamil Nadu 14.23 3.54 6.29 24 Telangana 36.24 5.93 17.00 25 Tripura 41.52 7.68 18.01 26 Uttar Pradesh 48.83 5.04 19.96 27 Uttarakhand 23.52 2.47 6.31 28 West Bengal 32.09 4.75 9.00 29 Andaman & Nicobar 6.62 1.66 2.93 Islands 30 Dadra & Nagar Haveli - 38.61 3.56 17.45 Daman & Diu 31 Delhi 30.63 3.81 15.35 32 J&K 15.94 1.55 4.05 33 Ladakh 12.28 0.25 1.98 34 Lakshadweep 44.83 11.62 22.54 35 Puducherry 40.88 6.40 12.20 36 UT-Chandigarh 22.27 5.34 14.69 *****