New Delhi: Union Minister of State for Women and Child Development Savitri Thakur told the Lok Sabha on Friday that approval has been given for the upgradation of 2 lakh Anganwadi Centres (AWCs) as Saksham Anganwadis for the delivery of improved nutrition and Early Childhood Care and Education activities.
She said that to address the challenges of malnutrition, Anganwadi services, Poshan Abhiyaan and Scheme for Adolescent girls have been subsumed under the umbrella Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 (Mission Poshan 2.0).
The Mission is being implemented in all States and UTs in the country, including high-burden districts, said Savitri Thakur in reply to a question
She said the Mission includes beneficiaries: Children under 6 years of age, pregnant women, lactating mothers and adolescent girls (age 14-18 years in Aspirational Districts and North-Eastern region).
Under the Mission, 2 lakh Anganwadi Centres (AWCs) have been approved to be upgraded as Saksham Anganwadis for delivery of improved nutrition and for ECCE activities, she said.
These AWCs are equipped with better infrastructure such as LED screens, water filtration system, Poshan Vatika, Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) material and Building as Learning Aid (BaLA) paintings, she said.
Further, 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, 2013, she said.
These norms were 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, she said.
Extra Supplementary Nutrition (Take Home Ration) is also provided to Severely Acute Malnourished (SAM) children, said the Minister.
The Scheme is digitally monitored and regularly reviewed by the Ministry using the ‘Poshan Tracker’ digital application, an ICT-based governance tool. The application enables near real-time entry of data and tracking of all activities in the Anganwadi Centres (AWC), Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) and beneficiaries on defined indicators, she said.
State-wise details of the beneficiaries identified along with the improvements achieved are available at the given link of Poshan Tracker: https://www.poshantracker.in/statistics.
Evidence from institutional assessments and household surveys indicated that in its current form, Mission Poshan 2.0 represents the Government’s latest effort to holistically combat malnutrition and promote child development by building on past programmes with a converged and strengthened approach, said Savitri Thakur.
On the micronutrient front, the prevalence of anaemia among children aged 6–59 months declined by 8.5 percentage points, reflecting the potential impact of iron-folic acid supplementation, fortified foods, and improved outreach under SNP (Supplementary Nutrition Programme) and related interventions, she said.
(IANS)
