Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan (National Nutrition Mission) is an Integrated Nutrition Support Programme. It seeks to address the challenges of malnutrition in children, adolescent girls, pregnant women and lactating mothers through a strategic shift in nutrition content and delivery and by creation of a convergent eco system to develop and promote practices that nurture health, wellness and immunity.
National Nutrition Mission shall focus on Maternal Nutrition, Infant and Young Child Feeding Norms, Treatment of MAM/SAM and Wellness through AYUSH. It will rest on the pillars of Convergence, Governance, and Capacity-building. Poshan Abhiyan will be the pillar for Outreach and will cover innovations related to nutritional support, ICT interventions, Media Advocacy and Research, Community Outreach and Jan Andolan.
Adequate health care, nutrition, security, safety, responsive care giving and opportunities for early learning are essential for children to achieve their full human potential. Therefore, Early Childhood Care and Education is an integral component of the programme. Recognizing that early childhood care constitutes the foundation of human development, the Scheme is designed to promote holistic development of children under six years of age through improved ECCE content and delivery of cognitive, emotional, social and intellectual development of the child to make all pre-schooler’s school ready and for seamless integration of children in the age group of 5-6 in Grade I under the National Education Policy, 2020. The programme is specifically designed to reach disadvantaged and low-income groups, for effective disparity reduction.
The current Anganwadi Services Scheme (Community Centers Scheme) is one of the largest and unique programmes of the Govt. of India for early childhood care and development. It is a firm testament of the country’s commitment to its children and nursing mothers to respond to the challenge of providing pre-school non-formal education on one hand and break the vicious cycle of malnutrition, morbidity, reduced learning capacity and mortality on the other. The beneficiaries under this scheme are children in the age group of 0-6 years, pregnant women and lactating mothers and adolescent girls in the age group 14-18 years.
The rationale for National Nutrition Mission arises from the challenges plaguing the extant supplementary nutrition programme. Nutrition policies have remained consistent over the years and have been slow to transition towards a more integrated approach to nutrition security. Past interventions in terms of both nutrition quality and delivery have been inadequate. The Anganwadi Services under ICDS have focused on ensuring calorie sufficiency, neglecting quality and diversity of diets and behavioral change towards Saksham Anganwadi. Focus of the current program has largely been driven by calorie intake rather than on balanced diets with absence of micro-nutrients in Take-Home Ration (THR) and Hot Cooked Meals (HCM). Traditional wisdom in nutritional practices have not been leveraged. Scheme execution and implementation have been affected by absence of effective participation of beneficiaries and local stakeholders pointing to weak community ownership or stake in local Anganwadi activities. A critical challenge faced is poor implementation with absence of last-mile tracking.
National Nutrition Mission is designed to address the above challenges through transparency, accountability, balanced diets, diet diversity and quality, greater grassroots involvement and last-mile delivery of services supported by key strategies, viz., corrective strategies to address nutrition related deficiencies, nutrition awareness strategies to develop good eating habits for sustainable health and well-being, strategies for communication and development of green eco-systems such as Poshan Vatikas.
Focuses on addressing specific inequalities by targeting vulnerable groups, particularly children, adolescent girls, pregnant women, and lactating mothers. The scheme ensures the following:
·     Focus on Nutrition Quality and Diversity of Diets: Ensures better nutritional outcomes for specific groups like children under 5 years, pregnant women, and adolescent girls, by improving the quality and diversity of the nutrition provided through Anganwadi centers (AWCs).
·     Provision of Better Services through Improved Infrastructure: Strengthens the infrastructure of 0.2 Million AWCs across the country over the next 5 years, ensuring accessibility and availability of services for marginalized and underserved communities.
·     Jan Bhagidari (Mass Participation) and Jan Andolan(Mass Movement): Emphasizes community ownership, with active participation from local communities to address malnutrition and promote dietary improvements.
·     Leveraging Technology for Dynamic Identification: Uses technology to dynamically identify and monitor children at risk of stunting, wasting, and underweight, ensuring that targeted interventions reach the most vulnerable populations.
·     Active Role of Poshan Panchayats: Encourages local community leadership through Poshan Panchayats to address malnutrition at the grassroots level and involve communities in eradicating malnutrition.
·     Introduction of 'Kuposhan Mukt Villages'(malnutrition free) Concept: Recognizes the efforts of villages and panchayats that contribute significantly to improving nutrition, with a focus on reducing inequalities in access to nutrition services.
·     Provision of Resources for Child Development: Allocates resources to facilitate learning and overall child development, with a specific focus on improving early childhood development for children in marginalized and underserved areas.
·     Promotion of Healthy Habits: Encourages the adoption of healthy eating and lifestyle habits, particularly among vulnerable groups such as children, pregnant women, and adolescent girls.
·     Leveraging Traditional Knowledge Systems (AYUSH): Integrates traditional systems of knowledge in the health and nutrition programs to ensure a holistic approach to nutrition and health, particularly for communities that may rely on traditional medicine.
·     Revision of Supplementary Nutrition Costs: Revises cost norms for supplementary nutrition to ensure that even economically disadvantaged groups can access the required nutrition services.
·     Provision of Food Grains under National Food Security Act (NFSA): Provides food grains like wheat, rice, and other coarse grains at subsidized rates under the Wheat-Based Nutrition Programme (WBNP) and Scheme for Adolescent Girls (SAG) to ensure access to nutrition for economically vulnerable populations.
·     Migration Facilities: Facilitates the movement of pregnant and lactating women between AWCs within and outside states, ensuring continuity of services regardless of their location, addressing barriers for mobile and displaced populations.
Integration with Technology Platforms: Integrates Poshan Tracker with RCH Portal and U-Win, enabling better tracking and ensuring that the services reach the intended beneficiaries, especially marginalized and mobile populations
Type of beneficiaries
- No. of Registered Beneficiaries (April 2024): Total Children (0-6 months) 38,69,489
- Total Children (6 months - 3 years): 4,04,93,633
- Total Children (3 - 6 years): 4,48,43,636
- Total Pregnant Woman: 62,31,696
- Total Lactating Mother: 46,32,617
- Total Adolescent Girls: 21,76,894
- Total: 10,22,47,965
Mission POSHAN 2.0 has a total financial implication of Rs. 21523.13 Crore for Year 2023-24 (USD 2593.78 million)
Framework at Central Level Central Empowered Programme Committee under Anganwadi Services:
The Government of India has introduced development of Annual Programme Implementation Plans (APIPs) in Anganwadi Services since 2011-12 in a prescribed format. The APIP mode of programme implementation in the Anganwadi Services Scheme is one of the key aspects of the strengthened and restructured Anganwadi Services Scheme whose administrative approval was issued to the States on 22nd October, 2012. The States/UTs were also informed that from 2013-14, submission of the APIP by the States/UTs in the prescribed format will be mandatory and the second as well as any subsequent instalments of funds from GOI will be released to the States/UTs only after approval of the APIP.
The Empowered Programme Committee (EPC) is the highest technical body for planning,supervising and monitoring the effective implementation of Anganwadi Services Scheme. The Composition of the EPC is Secretary, Ministry of WCD, Senior Advisor, NITI Aayog, Joint Secretary, Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance AS& FA, Ministry of WCD, Representative of M/o Rural Development Representative* of Ministry of Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Representative* of M/o H&FW, Representative* of M/o Panchayati Raj, Rep* of Dept. of School Education & Literacy, Rep*. Of Ministry of Agriculture, Rep*. Of Ministry of Social Justice &Empowerment, Rep*. Of Food & Public Distribution Director, NIPCCD, AS/Joint Secretary (in-charge), MWCD, Technical Advisor, Food & Nutrition Board, Secretary of States from five regions by rotation, Director, NIN Mission Director /DS(* Not below the rank of Joint Secretary)
2.2 Roles and responsibilities of State Administration:
Nutrition requires convergence of various services that contribute to improved nutritional status. This requires strong and effective multi-department convergent efforts and actions to address malnutrition. Therefore, Chief Secretary of the States/UTs shall coordinate the activities of various departments through a State Level Steering Committee to ensure effective convergence between various schemes/programs having bearing on nutrition and review the progress made regarding Nutritional Indicators on regular basis.
Secretaries of different departments may assess how their schemes/programs can positively impact nutrition levels and also how POSHAN Abhiyaan can be supported to build awareness and create Jan Andolan around nutrition.
2.3 Roles and responsibilities of District Administration:
The District Magistrate shall be the Nodal Point in the district for monitoring nutritional status and quality standards. The DM/Collector shall chair, supervise and monitor the activities of the District Nutrition Committee. The Members of the District Committee 8 Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 have to be mandatorily certified nutrition experts. The Child Development Project Officer (CDPO) who is responsible for administration and implementation of nutrition and ICDS projects, shall carry out major responsibilities as follows under the supervision of the DM/Collector:
- coordinate and evaluate deliveries in the district as a Key Performance Indicator of the DM/Collector for nutritional improvement of beneficiaries, especially SAM/MAM children;
- undertake overall administration and coordination of the nutrition project and ensure smooth and effective delivery of all intended services in the project jurisdiction;
- conduct periodic monitoring, including surprise spot-checks, collection of samples for quality testing of supplementary nutrition (THR and HCM) provided, ensuring adequate measures for food safety and hygiene are followed throughout the supply chain, assessing the quality of pre-school delivery etc., to ensure quality and undertake necessary course correction;
- monitor distribution of necessary stocks for delivery of key services;
- participate in the VHSND meetings, community-based events, Jan Andolan activities etc. to motivate beneficiaries and field functionaries;
- facilitate preparation of Block Convergence Action Plan and its implementation;
- conduct Joint Field Visits with Medical Officer (MO) and Joint Review Meetings on monthly basis, especially with regards to SAM children; ensure collation of monthly progress reports for the District and share with the State;
- While visiting AWCs, CDPO must conduct home-visits for pregnant women, new-born and infants crossing 6-months and undertake age-appropriate nutrition counselling to train and demonstrate the importance of home-visits and counsel AWWs and motivate them to undertake regular home visits as part of their activity calendar.
2.4 Roles and Responsibilities of Anganwadi Workers
a. To elicit community support and participation in running the Poshan 2.0 programme.
b. To learn to use and become proficient in the operations of the smartphone provided to the AWC where she undertakes the voluntary work.
c. To feed relevant beneficiary data in Poshan Tracker app on regular basis as instructed from time to time and generate/submit reports/ returns as specified.
d. To weigh each child every month, record the weight graphically on the growth card, use referral card for referring cases of mothers/children to the sub 9 Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 centres/PHC etc., and maintain child cards for children below 6 years and produce these cards before visiting medical and para-medical personnel.
e. To carry out a quick survey of all the families, especially mothers and children in those families at least once in a year.
f. To organize non-formal pre-school activities in the Anganwadi for children in the age group 3-6 years and to help in designing and making of toys and play equipment of indigenous origin for use in the Anganwadi Centre.
g. To organize supplementary nutrition feeding for children (0-6 years) and expectant and nursing mothers by planning the menu based on locally available ingredients and recipes.
h. To provide health and nutrition education and counselling on breastfeeding and infant & young child feeding practices to mothers. Anganwadi workers being close to the local community shall motivate married women to adopt family planning/birth control measures.
i. To help pregnant and lactating mothers visiting the Anganwadi centre to get the birth of their child registered and share the information with the village level functionary who notifies the Registrar of Births.
j. To undertake home visits for educating parents and to enable mothers to plan effectively for the child’s growth and development with special emphasis on the new born child.
k. To maintain files and records as prescribed.
l. To assist the PHC staff in the implementation of the health component of the programme, viz. immunization and health check-up, ante-natal and post-natal check etc.
m. To assist ANM in the administration of IFA and Vitamin A by keeping stock of the two medicines in the Centre without maintaining stock register as it would add to her administrative work and affect her main functions under the Scheme.
n. To share information collected under ICDS Scheme with the ANM. However, ANM will not solely rely upon the information obtained from the records of AWW.
o. To bring to the notice of the Supervisors/CDPO any development in the village which requires their attention and intervention particularly with regard to the work of the coordinating arrangements with different departments.
p. To coordinate with other local institutions and involve lady school teachers and girls of the primary/middle schools in the village which have relevance to her functions.
q. To guide Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) engaged under National Heath Mission in the delivery of health care services and maintenance of records under Poshan 2.0 (Anganwadi) Scheme.
r. To assist in implementation of SAG and motivate and educate the adolescent girls and their parents and community in general by organizing social awareness programmes/campaigns etc.
s. AWW shall assist in implementation of Nutrition Programme for Adolescent Girls as per the guidelines of the Scheme and maintain such records as prescribed.
t. Anganwadi Worker shall function as depot holder for RCH Kit/contraceptives and disposable delivery kits. However, actual distribution of delivery kits or administration of drugs, other than OTC (Over the Counter) drugs shall be carried out by the ANM or ASHA as decided by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.
u. AWW shall help to identify the children with special needs during her home visits and refer the case immediately to the nearest PHC or District Disability Rehabilitation Centre.
v. AWW shall support in organizing Pulse Polio Immunization (PPI) drives and in identifying cases of juvenile diabetes. w. Maintain Covid-19 protocols.
x. Inform the ANM in case of emergency cases like diarrhoea, cholera etc.
y. To perform any bona fide task related to Saksham Anganwadi & Poshan 2.0 as directed by Govt. of India depending on the circumstances.
2.5 Roles and Responsibilities of Anganwadi Helpers
a. Cook and serve food to beneficiaries.
b. Clean the Anganwadi premises daily and fetch water.
c. Ensure cleanliness in young children.
d. Bring children from the village community to the Anganwadi centre.
e. Help AWW in smooth discharge of her duties.
f. In absence of AWW, the Anganwadi Helper shall carry out her functions and discharge her responsibilities.
"Poshan Tracker" was leveraged to strengthen and ring about transparency in nutrition delivery support systems at the Anganwadi centres (Community centres). The 'Poshan Tracker' application developed by National E-Governance Division (NeGD) was rolled out on 1st March, 2021 as an important governance tool. The application facilitates monitoring and tracking of all Anganwadi Centre (AWCs), Anganwadi Worker (AWWs) and beneficiaries on defined indicators.
Technology under Poshan Tracker is being leveraged for dynamic identification of stunting, under-weight prevalence wasting, among children. Further, under Poshan 2.0, a digital revolution was ushered in when the Anganwadi Centres were equipped with mobile devices. The mobile application has also facilitated digitization and automation of physical registers used by AWWs that helps in improving their quality of work along- with beneficiary registration and aadhaar seeding (Aadhaar seeding is the process of linking an individual's unique 12-digit Aadhaar number to their personal identification documents and benefit cards, such as bank accounts, scholarships, and government assistance programs, to streamline access to services and benefits) to ensure last mile tracking and effective delivery of services to beneficiaries at Aanganwadi centres.
It has also facilitated near real time data collection for Anganwadi Services such as. daily attendance, Provision of Hot Cooked Meal (HCM)/Take Home Ration (THR-not raw ration), Growth Measurement etc.
The App also offers counselling videos on key behaviours and services which help disseminate messages on birth preparedness, delivery, post-natal care. Breast feeding and complementary feeding. Leveraging the power of data and analytics, government can fine-tune strategies and interventions, to ensure maximum Impact and sustainable outcomes. Further, in order to Improve the program-related outcomes, service- delivery and governance, RCH functionality is live on Poshan Tracker for Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers. Integration of U-win with Poshan Tracker has also been made live wherein the updated vaccination status of children is available.
- NITI Aayog assessed the implementation of POSHAN Abhiyaan since its inception and also analysed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on nutrition and health services. Following are the key findings of the report:
- Poshan Abhiyaan has helped to bring a strong focus on improving nutrition outcomes during the first 1,000 days.
- Poshan Abhiyaan has enabled a nation-wide jan-andolan catalysing nutrition related behaviour change at scale for positive impact on feeding and health care practices.
- Poshan Abhiyaan demonstrated that the processes for inter-sectoral convergence are effectively operationalized through in place institutional mechanisms at multiple levels.
- Poshan Abhiyaan showed that technology can be leveraged forreal time monitoring of large scale health and nutrition programmes.
- Poshan Abhiyaan supported the resilience of health and nutrition systems during covid-19 pandemic.
World Bank Policy Brief - Transforming India’s Nationwide Nutrition Program: Poshan Abhiyaan
- An army of 1.4 million frontline workers reached over 80 million beneficiaries in every village and slum across India’s 36 states and union territories. A nationwide people’s movement was launched, and the world’s largest technology platform in public health and nutrition was deployed.
- Between 2015-16 and 2019-21, in the 11 focus states where the Bank closely tracked the pace and quality of the program’s implementation, child stunting decreased significantly from an average of 41% to 37%, while child wasting fell from an average of 22% to 20%.
- Four in five (80.7 percent) pregnant women had received information on nutrition.
- The majority (77.2 percent) of those who received this information had received counselling from the anganwadi worker (AWW).
- Two thirds of the women (67.4 percent) had received a counselling visit at home from an AWW in the past month (February-March 2021).
- Over half (54.0 percent) of beneficiaries received take-home rations for more than 21 days in  the past month (February-March 2021).
- Given the restrictions on public gatherings during the pandemic, it came as no surprise that less than half of the women (41.4 percent) had ever attended a Community Based Event at the Anganwadi Centre (AWC), and a similar proportion (45.7 percent) had attended a Village Health, Sanitation, and Nutrition Day in the past month (February-March 2021).
- Nearly three-quarters (73.7 percent) of beneficiaries with children 0-23 months old had received growth monitoring services at the AWC in the past year. Â It is important to note that AWCs were closed for extended periods in most states and some services had been shifted to home delivery during the survey period.
- The initiative has helped to bring a strong focus on improving nutrition outcomes during the first 1,000 days.
- Poshan Abhiyaan has enabled a nation-wide jan-andolan(mass movement) catalysing nutrition related behaviour change at scale for positive impact on feeding and health care practices.
- Poshan Abhiyaan demonstrated that the processes for inter-sectoral convergence are effectively operationalized through in place institutional mechanisms at multiple levels.
- Poshan Abhiyaan showed that technology can be leveraged for real time monitoring of large scale health and nutrition programmes.
- Poshan Abhiyaan supported the resilience of health and nutrition systems during covid-19 pandemic.
National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development https://nipccd.nic.in/
National eGovernance Division https://negd.gov.in/
1. SDG 2: Zero Hunger
- Target 2.2: End all forms of malnutrition, including achieving, by 2025, the internationally agreed targets on stunting and wasting in children under 5 years of age, and address the nutritional needs of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women.
- Indicator 2.2.1 Prevalence of stunting (height for age <-2 standard deviation from the median ofthe World Health Organization (WHO) Child Growth Standards) among children under 5 years of age
- Indicator 2.2.2 Prevalence of malnutrition (weight for height >+2 or <-2 standard deviation from the median of the WHO Child Growth Standards) among children under 5 years of age, by type (wasting and overweight)
- Indicator 2.2.3 Prevalence of anaemia in women aged 15 to 49 years, by pregnancy status (percentage)
2. SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being
- Target 3.2: End preventable deaths of newborns and children under 5 years of age, with all countries aiming to reduce neonatal mortality to at least as low as 12 per 1,000 live births, and under-5 mortality to at least as low as 25 per 1,000 live births
- Indicator 3.2.1 Under-5 mortality rate
- Indicator 3.2.2 Neonatal mortality rate
1. SDG 2: Zero Hunger
- Target 2.2: End all forms of malnutrition, including achieving, by 2025, the internationally agreed targets on stunting and wasting in children under 5 years of age, and address the nutritional needs of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women.
- Indicator 2.2.1 Prevalence of stunting (height for age <-2 standard deviation from the median ofthe World Health Organization (WHO) Child Growth Standards) among children under 5 years of age
- Indicator 2.2.2 Prevalence of malnutrition (weight for height >+2 or <-2 standard deviation from the median of the WHO Child Growth Standards) among children under 5 years of age, by type (wasting and overweight)
- Indicator 2.2.3 Prevalence of anaemia in women aged 15 to 49 years, by pregnancy status (percentage)
2. SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being
- Target 3.2: End preventable deaths of newborns and children under 5 years of age, with all countries aiming to reduce neonatal mortality to at least as low as 12 per 1,000 live births, and under-5 mortality to at least as low as 25 per 1,000 live births
- Indicator 3.2.1 Under-5 mortality rate
- Indicator 3.2.2 Neonatal mortality rate
Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan (National Nutrition Mission) is an Integrated Nutrition Support Programme. It seeks to address the challenges of malnutrition in children, adolescent girls, pregnant women and lactating mothers through a strategic shift in nutrition content and delivery and by creation of a convergent eco system to develop and promote practices that nurture health, wellness and immunity.
National Nutrition Mission shall focus on Maternal Nutrition, Infant and Young Child Feeding Norms, Treatment of MAM/SAM and Wellness through AYUSH. It will rest on the pillars of Convergence, Governance, and Capacity-building. Poshan Abhiyan will be the pillar for Outreach and will cover innovations related to nutritional support, ICT interventions, Media Advocacy and Research, Community Outreach and Jan Andolan.
Adequate health care, nutrition, security, safety, responsive care giving and opportunities for early learning are essential for children to achieve their full human potential. Therefore, Early Childhood Care and Education is an integral component of the programme. Recognizing that early childhood care constitutes the foundation of human development, the Scheme is designed to promote holistic development of children under six years of age through improved ECCE content and delivery of cognitive, emotional, social and intellectual development of the child to make all pre-schooler’s school ready and for seamless integration of children in the age group of 5-6 in Grade I under the National Education Policy, 2020. The programme is specifically designed to reach disadvantaged and low-income groups, for effective disparity reduction.
The current Anganwadi Services Scheme (Community Centers Scheme) is one of the largest and unique programmes of the Govt. of India for early childhood care and development. It is a firm testament of the country’s commitment to its children and nursing mothers to respond to the challenge of providing pre-school non-formal education on one hand and break the vicious cycle of malnutrition, morbidity, reduced learning capacity and mortality on the other. The beneficiaries under this scheme are children in the age group of 0-6 years, pregnant women and lactating mothers and adolescent girls in the age group 14-18 years.
The rationale for National Nutrition Mission arises from the challenges plaguing the extant supplementary nutrition programme. Nutrition policies have remained consistent over the years and have been slow to transition towards a more integrated approach to nutrition security. Past interventions in terms of both nutrition quality and delivery have been inadequate. The Anganwadi Services under ICDS have focused on ensuring calorie sufficiency, neglecting quality and diversity of diets and behavioral change towards Saksham Anganwadi. Focus of the current program has largely been driven by calorie intake rather than on balanced diets with absence of micro-nutrients in Take-Home Ration (THR) and Hot Cooked Meals (HCM). Traditional wisdom in nutritional practices have not been leveraged. Scheme execution and implementation have been affected by absence of effective participation of beneficiaries and local stakeholders pointing to weak community ownership or stake in local Anganwadi activities. A critical challenge faced is poor implementation with absence of last-mile tracking.
National Nutrition Mission is designed to address the above challenges through transparency, accountability, balanced diets, diet diversity and quality, greater grassroots involvement and last-mile delivery of services supported by key strategies, viz., corrective strategies to address nutrition related deficiencies, nutrition awareness strategies to develop good eating habits for sustainable health and well-being, strategies for communication and development of green eco-systems such as Poshan Vatikas.
Focuses on addressing specific inequalities by targeting vulnerable groups, particularly children, adolescent girls, pregnant women, and lactating mothers. The scheme ensures the following:
·     Focus on Nutrition Quality and Diversity of Diets: Ensures better nutritional outcomes for specific groups like children under 5 years, pregnant women, and adolescent girls, by improving the quality and diversity of the nutrition provided through Anganwadi centers (AWCs).
·     Provision of Better Services through Improved Infrastructure: Strengthens the infrastructure of 0.2 Million AWCs across the country over the next 5 years, ensuring accessibility and availability of services for marginalized and underserved communities.
·     Jan Bhagidari (Mass Participation) and Jan Andolan(Mass Movement): Emphasizes community ownership, with active participation from local communities to address malnutrition and promote dietary improvements.
·     Leveraging Technology for Dynamic Identification: Uses technology to dynamically identify and monitor children at risk of stunting, wasting, and underweight, ensuring that targeted interventions reach the most vulnerable populations.
·     Active Role of Poshan Panchayats: Encourages local community leadership through Poshan Panchayats to address malnutrition at the grassroots level and involve communities in eradicating malnutrition.
·     Introduction of ‘Kuposhan Mukt Villages'(malnutrition free) Concept: Recognizes the efforts of villages and panchayats that contribute significantly to improving nutrition, with a focus on reducing inequalities in access to nutrition services.
·     Provision of Resources for Child Development: Allocates resources to facilitate learning and overall child development, with a specific focus on improving early childhood development for children in marginalized and underserved areas.
·     Promotion of Healthy Habits: Encourages the adoption of healthy eating and lifestyle habits, particularly among vulnerable groups such as children, pregnant women, and adolescent girls.
·     Leveraging Traditional Knowledge Systems (AYUSH): Integrates traditional systems of knowledge in the health and nutrition programs to ensure a holistic approach to nutrition and health, particularly for communities that may rely on traditional medicine.
·     Revision of Supplementary Nutrition Costs: Revises cost norms for supplementary nutrition to ensure that even economically disadvantaged groups can access the required nutrition services.
·     Provision of Food Grains under National Food Security Act (NFSA): Provides food grains like wheat, rice, and other coarse grains at subsidized rates under the Wheat-Based Nutrition Programme (WBNP) and Scheme for Adolescent Girls (SAG) to ensure access to nutrition for economically vulnerable populations.
·     Migration Facilities: Facilitates the movement of pregnant and lactating women between AWCs within and outside states, ensuring continuity of services regardless of their location, addressing barriers for mobile and displaced populations.
Integration with Technology Platforms: Integrates Poshan Tracker with RCH Portal and U-Win, enabling better tracking and ensuring that the services reach the intended beneficiaries, especially marginalized and mobile populations
- The initiative has helped to bring a strong focus on improving nutrition outcomes during the first 1,000 days.
- Poshan Abhiyaan has enabled a nation-wide jan-andolan(mass movement) catalysing nutrition related behaviour change at scale for positive impact on feeding and health care practices.
- Poshan Abhiyaan demonstrated that the processes for inter-sectoral convergence are effectively operationalized through in place institutional mechanisms at multiple levels.
- Poshan Abhiyaan showed that technology can be leveraged for real time monitoring of large scale health and nutrition programmes.
- Poshan Abhiyaan supported the resilience of health and nutrition systems during covid-19 pandemic.
-; Access to basic health care; Maternity protection/benefits; Prevention, detection and management of malnutrition
National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development https://nipccd.nic.in/
National eGovernance Division https://negd.gov.in/
Framework at Central Level Central Empowered Programme Committee under Anganwadi Services:
The Government of India has introduced development of Annual Programme Implementation Plans (APIPs) in Anganwadi Services since 2011-12 in a prescribed format. The APIP mode of programme implementation in the Anganwadi Services Scheme is one of the key aspects of the strengthened and restructured Anganwadi Services Scheme whose administrative approval was issued to the States on 22nd October, 2012. The States/UTs were also informed that from 2013-14, submission of the APIP by the States/UTs in the prescribed format will be mandatory and the second as well as any subsequent instalments of funds from GOI will be released to the States/UTs only after approval of the APIP.
The Empowered Programme Committee (EPC) is the highest technical body for planning,supervising and monitoring the effective implementation of Anganwadi Services Scheme. The Composition of the EPC is Secretary, Ministry of WCD, Senior Advisor, NITI Aayog, Joint Secretary, Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance AS& FA, Ministry of WCD, Representative of M/o Rural Development Representative* of Ministry of Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Representative* of M/o H&FW, Representative* of M/o Panchayati Raj, Rep* of Dept. of School Education & Literacy, Rep*. Of Ministry of Agriculture, Rep*. Of Ministry of Social Justice &Empowerment, Rep*. Of Food & Public Distribution Director, NIPCCD, AS/Joint Secretary (in-charge), MWCD, Technical Advisor, Food & Nutrition Board, Secretary of States from five regions by rotation, Director, NIN Mission Director /DS(* Not below the rank of Joint Secretary)
2.2 Roles and responsibilities of State Administration:
Nutrition requires convergence of various services that contribute to improved nutritional status. This requires strong and effective multi-department convergent efforts and actions to address malnutrition. Therefore, Chief Secretary of the States/UTs shall coordinate the activities of various departments through a State Level Steering Committee to ensure effective convergence between various schemes/programs having bearing on nutrition and review the progress made regarding Nutritional Indicators on regular basis.
Secretaries of different departments may assess how their schemes/programs can positively impact nutrition levels and also how POSHAN Abhiyaan can be supported to build awareness and create Jan Andolan around nutrition.
2.3 Roles and responsibilities of District Administration:
The District Magistrate shall be the Nodal Point in the district for monitoring nutritional status and quality standards. The DM/Collector shall chair, supervise and monitor the activities of the District Nutrition Committee. The Members of the District Committee 8 Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 have to be mandatorily certified nutrition experts. The Child Development Project Officer (CDPO) who is responsible for administration and implementation of nutrition and ICDS projects, shall carry out major responsibilities as follows under the supervision of the DM/Collector:
- coordinate and evaluate deliveries in the district as a Key Performance Indicator of the DM/Collector for nutritional improvement of beneficiaries, especially SAM/MAM children;
- undertake overall administration and coordination of the nutrition project and ensure smooth and effective delivery of all intended services in the project jurisdiction;
- conduct periodic monitoring, including surprise spot-checks, collection of samples for quality testing of supplementary nutrition (THR and HCM) provided, ensuring adequate measures for food safety and hygiene are followed throughout the supply chain, assessing the quality of pre-school delivery etc., to ensure quality and undertake necessary course correction;
- monitor distribution of necessary stocks for delivery of key services;
- participate in the VHSND meetings, community-based events, Jan Andolan activities etc. to motivate beneficiaries and field functionaries;
- facilitate preparation of Block Convergence Action Plan and its implementation;
- conduct Joint Field Visits with Medical Officer (MO) and Joint Review Meetings on monthly basis, especially with regards to SAM children; ensure collation of monthly progress reports for the District and share with the State;
- While visiting AWCs, CDPO must conduct home-visits for pregnant women, new-born and infants crossing 6-months and undertake age-appropriate nutrition counselling to train and demonstrate the importance of home-visits and counsel AWWs and motivate them to undertake regular home visits as part of their activity calendar.
2.4 Roles and Responsibilities of Anganwadi Workers
a. To elicit community support and participation in running the Poshan 2.0 programme.
b. To learn to use and become proficient in the operations of the smartphone provided to the AWC where she undertakes the voluntary work.
c. To feed relevant beneficiary data in Poshan Tracker app on regular basis as instructed from time to time and generate/submit reports/ returns as specified.
d. To weigh each child every month, record the weight graphically on the growth card, use referral card for referring cases of mothers/children to the sub 9 Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 centres/PHC etc., and maintain child cards for children below 6 years and produce these cards before visiting medical and para-medical personnel.
e. To carry out a quick survey of all the families, especially mothers and children in those families at least once in a year.
f. To organize non-formal pre-school activities in the Anganwadi for children in the age group 3-6 years and to help in designing and making of toys and play equipment of indigenous origin for use in the Anganwadi Centre.
g. To organize supplementary nutrition feeding for children (0-6 years) and expectant and nursing mothers by planning the menu based on locally available ingredients and recipes.
h. To provide health and nutrition education and counselling on breastfeeding and infant & young child feeding practices to mothers. Anganwadi workers being close to the local community shall motivate married women to adopt family planning/birth control measures.
i. To help pregnant and lactating mothers visiting the Anganwadi centre to get the birth of their child registered and share the information with the village level functionary who notifies the Registrar of Births.
j. To undertake home visits for educating parents and to enable mothers to plan effectively for the child’s growth and development with special emphasis on the new born child.
k. To maintain files and records as prescribed.
l. To assist the PHC staff in the implementation of the health component of the programme, viz. immunization and health check-up, ante-natal and post-natal check etc.
m. To assist ANM in the administration of IFA and Vitamin A by keeping stock of the two medicines in the Centre without maintaining stock register as it would add to her administrative work and affect her main functions under the Scheme.
n. To share information collected under ICDS Scheme with the ANM. However, ANM will not solely rely upon the information obtained from the records of AWW.
o. To bring to the notice of the Supervisors/CDPO any development in the village which requires their attention and intervention particularly with regard to the work of the coordinating arrangements with different departments.
p. To coordinate with other local institutions and involve lady school teachers and girls of the primary/middle schools in the village which have relevance to her functions.
q. To guide Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) engaged under National Heath Mission in the delivery of health care services and maintenance of records under Poshan 2.0 (Anganwadi) Scheme.
r. To assist in implementation of SAG and motivate and educate the adolescent girls and their parents and community in general by organizing social awareness programmes/campaigns etc.
s. AWW shall assist in implementation of Nutrition Programme for Adolescent Girls as per the guidelines of the Scheme and maintain such records as prescribed.
t. Anganwadi Worker shall function as depot holder for RCH Kit/contraceptives and disposable delivery kits. However, actual distribution of delivery kits or administration of drugs, other than OTC (Over the Counter) drugs shall be carried out by the ANM or ASHA as decided by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.
u. AWW shall help to identify the children with special needs during her home visits and refer the case immediately to the nearest PHC or District Disability Rehabilitation Centre.
v. AWW shall support in organizing Pulse Polio Immunization (PPI) drives and in identifying cases of juvenile diabetes. w. Maintain Covid-19 protocols.
x. Inform the ANM in case of emergency cases like diarrhoea, cholera etc.
y. To perform any bona fide task related to Saksham Anganwadi & Poshan 2.0 as directed by Govt. of India depending on the circumstances.
2.5 Roles and Responsibilities of Anganwadi Helpers
a. Cook and serve food to beneficiaries.
b. Clean the Anganwadi premises daily and fetch water.
c. Ensure cleanliness in young children.
d. Bring children from the village community to the Anganwadi centre.
e. Help AWW in smooth discharge of her duties.
f. In absence of AWW, the Anganwadi Helper shall carry out her functions and discharge her responsibilities.
Type of beneficiaries
- No. of Registered Beneficiaries (April 2024): Total Children (0-6 months) 38,69,489
- Total Children (6 months – 3 years): 4,04,93,633
- Total Children (3 – 6 years): 4,48,43,636
- Total Pregnant Woman: 62,31,696
- Total Lactating Mother: 46,32,617
- Total Adolescent Girls: 21,76,894
- Total: 10,22,47,965
Mission POSHAN 2.0 has a total financial implication of Rs. 21523.13 Crore for Year 2023-24 (USD 2593.78 million)
“Poshan Tracker” was leveraged to strengthen and ring about transparency in nutrition delivery support systems at the Anganwadi centres (Community centres). The ‘Poshan Tracker’ application developed by National E-Governance Division (NeGD) was rolled out on 1st March, 2021 as an important governance tool. The application facilitates monitoring and tracking of all Anganwadi Centre (AWCs), Anganwadi Worker (AWWs) and beneficiaries on defined indicators.
Technology under Poshan Tracker is being leveraged for dynamic identification of stunting, under-weight prevalence wasting, among children. Further, under Poshan 2.0, a digital revolution was ushered in when the Anganwadi Centres were equipped with mobile devices. The mobile application has also facilitated digitization and automation of physical registers used by AWWs that helps in improving their quality of work along- with beneficiary registration and aadhaar seeding (Aadhaar seeding is the process of linking an individual’s unique 12-digit Aadhaar number to their personal identification documents and benefit cards, such as bank accounts, scholarships, and government assistance programs, to streamline access to services and benefits) to ensure last mile tracking and effective delivery of services to beneficiaries at Aanganwadi centres.
It has also facilitated near real time data collection for Anganwadi Services such as. daily attendance, Provision of Hot Cooked Meal (HCM)/Take Home Ration (THR-not raw ration), Growth Measurement etc.
The App also offers counselling videos on key behaviours and services which help disseminate messages on birth preparedness, delivery, post-natal care. Breast feeding and complementary feeding. Leveraging the power of data and analytics, government can fine-tune strategies and interventions, to ensure maximum Impact and sustainable outcomes. Further, in order to Improve the program-related outcomes, service- delivery and governance, RCH functionality is live on Poshan Tracker for Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers. Integration of U-win with Poshan Tracker has also been made live wherein the updated vaccination status of children is available.