Lok Sabha Question No. 1839 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-12-16
Subject: Development of Children in North-Eastern States
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Kripanath Mallah

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN & CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO: 1839

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 16.12.2022

## DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN IN NORTH-EASTERN STATES

## 1839:  SHRI KRIPANATH MALLAH:

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

- (a) the  details  of  the  initiatives  taken  by  the  Ministry  and  its  ancillary  bodies  for overall development of children in North-Eastern States including Assam;
- (b) the  details  of  the  funds  sanctioned,  allocated  and  utilised  for  these  initiatives during the last three years within Assam; and
- (c) the  details  of  the  target  set  and  achievements  made  so  far  along  with  its  r esponse within Assam?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)

(a)  to  (c)  The  Government  has  recently  approved  `Mission  Saksham  Anganwadi  and Poshan 2.0 realigning the existing  schemes of Anganwadi Services, Poshan 2.0 and Scheme  for Adolescent Girls. The important components  of Mission  Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 are as under:

-  Nutrition  Support  for  POSHAN  through  Supplementary  Nutrition  Programme (SNP) for children of the age group of 06 months to 6 years, pregnant women and lactating mothers (PWLM); and for Adolescent Girls in the age group of 14 to 18 years in Aspirational Districts and North Eastern Region (NER);
-  Early  Childhood  Care  and  Education  [3-6  years]and  early  stimulation  for  (0-3 years);
-  Anganwadi Infrastructure including modern, upgraded Saksham Anganwadi; and
-  Poshan Abhiyaan

POSHAN Abhiyaan, a flagship scheme of the Government was launched in 2018 to address  the  malaise  of  malnutrition  by  adopting  a  synergised  and  result  oriented approach. To ensure a holistic approach, all districts of States/UTs have been covered in  the  Abhiyaan  which  also  includes  the  districts  of  North  East  region.  The  goals  of POSHAN Abhiyaan are to achieve improvement in nutritional status of Children from 06  years,  Adolescent  Girls,  Pregnant Women  and  Lactating  Mothers,  in  a  time  bound manner with fixed targets.

The  goals  of  POSHAN  Abhiyaan  are  to  achieve  improvement  in  nutritional  status  of Children from 0-6 years, Adolescent Girls, Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers, in a time bound manner with fixed targets as under:

|   S.No | Objective                                                                                          | Target   |
|--------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------|
|      1 | Prevent and reduce Stunting in children (0- 6 years)                                               | @2%p.a.  |
|      2 | Prevent and reduce under-nutrition (underweight prevalence) in children (0-6 years)                | @2%p.a.  |
|      3 | Reduce the prevalence of anaemia among young Children(6- 59 months)                                | @3%p.a.  |
|      4 | Reduce the prevalence of anaemia among Women and Adolescent Girls in the age group of 15-49 years. | @3%p.a.  |
|      5 | Reduce Low Birth Weight (LBW).                                                                     | @2%p.a.  |

Mission  Poshan  2.0  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.  Steps  have  been taken to improve nutritional quality and testing in accredited labs, strengthen delivery and leverage technology under the 'Poshan Tracker', a robust ICT enabled platform to improve governance with regard to real time monitoring of provisioning of supplementary nutrition for prompt supervision and management of services.

One of the key planks of the program is behaviour change communication through Jan Andolan  activities.  At  a  national  level,  Poshan  Maah  is  conducted  every  year  in September and Poshan Pakhwada is conducted every year in March.. During Poshan Pakhwada 2022, over 15 thousand activities and during Poshan Maah 2022 close to 6 lakh  Jan Andolan based activities were carried out in the state of Assam.

The  details  of  funds  allocated  and  utilised  by  the  state  of  Assam  under  POSHAN Abhiyaan during the last three years are as under:

## Amount in ₹lakhs

|   Central Funds released in 2019-20 |   Central Funds released in 2020-21 |   Central Funds released in 2021-22 |   Total Central Funds released till 31.03.2022 |   Total Central Funds utilised as on 31.03.2022 |
|-------------------------------------|-------------------------------------|-------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------|
|                               14171 |                              987.04 |                                   0 |                                        32948.7 |                                         21276.3 |

Further, out of 1,03,461 sanctioned Anganwadi centres for North-Eastern States, a total of  1,02,808  are  operational  in  NE  States  including  Assam.  The  total  number  of beneficiaries in the NE states under the scheme is 58,47,355 out of which 49,80,677 are children in the age group of 6 months to 6 years. The details of operational AWCs and the number of beneficiaries in respect of each of the NE States including Assam is given at Annexure I .

The  funds  allocated,  released  and  utilized  under  Anganwadi  Services  in  respect  of Assam is placed at Annexure II .

The Ministry  is  implementing  a  centrally  sponsored  scheme namely  Mission  Vatsalya Scheme (erstwhile  Child  Protection  Services  (CPS)  Scheme)  under  which  support  is provided  to  State  and  UT  Governments  including  Assam  for  delivering  services  for children in need and in difficult circumstances universally across the country.  The Child Care Institutions (CCIs) established under the scheme support inter-alia ageappropriate education, access to vocational training, recreation, health care, counselling etc. and covers both rural and urban children. Further, the Ministry regularly engages with all States/UTs and from time to time has shared various advisories and guidelines for continued and uninterrupted delivery of services and also for effective implementation of the scheme.

State-wise statement of funds released under Child Protection Services Scheme during the last three years to the State of Assam is at Annexure-III.

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Annexure I

Statement  referred  to  in  Part  (a)  to  (c) Lok  Sabha  Unstarred  Q.No.1839  for  answer  on  16.12.2022  by  SHRI  KRIPANATH MALLAH regarding Development of Children in North-Eastern States

Anganwadi  Centres  Sanctioned  and  Operational,  SNP  &  PSE  Beneficiaries  under  Anganwadi  Services   Scheme  Quarter Ending 30 June, 2022

| S. No   | State/UTs         | No. of Projects   | No. of Projects   | No. of Anganwadi Centres   | No. of Anganwadi Centres   | Beneficiaries of Supplementary Nutrition   | Beneficiaries of Supplementary Nutrition   | Beneficiaries of Supplementary Nutrition   | Beneficiaries of Supplementary Nutrition   | Beneficiaries of Supplementary Nutrition                       | Beneficiaries of Pre-school Education   | Beneficiaries of Pre-school Education   | Beneficiaries of Pre-school Education   |
|---------|-------------------|-------------------|-------------------|----------------------------|----------------------------|--------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------|
| S. No   | State/UTs         | Sancti oned       | Oper ation al     | Sanctio ned                | Operatio nal               | Children (6 months - 3 years)              | Children (3 - 6 years)                     | Total Children (6 months - 6 years)        | Pregnan t & lactatin g Mothers (P&LM)      | Total Bene- ficiaries (childre n 6 mo- 6 years plus P&LM) Boys | (3 - 6 years)                           | Girls (3 - 6 years)                     | Total (3 - 6 years)                     |
| 1       | Arunachal Pradesh | 98                | 98                | 6225                       | 6225                       | 70887                                      | 75322                                      | 146209                                     | 18511                                      | 164720                                                         | 38048                                   | 37274                                   | 75322                                   |
| 2       | Assam             | 230               | 230               | 62153                      | 61715                      | 1504072                                    | 1716760                                    | 3220832                                    | 595935                                     | 3816767                                                        | 921522                                  | 753973                                  | 1675495                                 |
| 3       | Manipur           | 43                | 43                | 11510                      | 11510                      | 148886                                     | 183005                                     | 331891                                     | 55239                                      | 387130                                                         | 92318                                   | 90165                                   | 182483                                  |
| 4       | Meghalaya         | 41                | 41                | 5896                       | 5895                       | 214309                                     | 252691                                     | 467000                                     | 74223                                      | 541223                                                         | 115887                                  | 112637                                  | 228524                                  |
| 5       | Mizoram           | 27                | 27                | 2244                       | 2244                       | 54174                                      | 46860                                      | 101034                                     | 20960                                      | 121994                                                         | 20218                                   | 20050                                   | 40268                                   |
| 6       | Nagaland          | 60                | 60                | 3980                       | 3980                       | 188212                                     | 180831                                     | 369043                                     | 41324                                      | 410367                                                         | 87601                                   | 85866                                   | 173467                                  |
| 7       | Sikkim            | 13                | 13                | 1308                       | 1308                       | 10130                                      | 7495                                       | 17625                                      | 4268                                       | 21893                                                          | 3799                                    | 3696                                    | 7495                                    |
| 8       | Tripura           | 56                | 56                | 10145                      | 9931                       | 144443                                     | 182600                                     | 327043                                     | 56218                                      | 383261                                                         | 91975                                   | 90625                                   | 182600                                  |

Annexure-II Statement referred to in Part (a) to (c) Lok Sabha Unstarred Q.No.1839 for answer on 16.12.2022 by SHRI KRIPANATH MALLAH regarding Development of Children in North-Eastern States

| Fund released to Assam under Anganwadi Services Scheme (Rupees in lakh)   | Fund released to Assam under Anganwadi Services Scheme (Rupees in lakh)   | Fund released to Assam under Anganwadi Services Scheme (Rupees in lakh)   | Fund released to Assam under Anganwadi Services Scheme (Rupees in lakh)   | Fund released to Assam under Anganwadi Services Scheme (Rupees in lakh)   | Fund released to Assam under Anganwadi Services Scheme (Rupees in lakh)   | Fund released to Assam under Anganwadi Services Scheme (Rupees in lakh)   |
|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Year                                                                      | SNP                                                                       | SNP                                                                       | SNP                                                                       | ICDS (GENERAL)                                                            | ICDS (GENERAL)                                                            | ICDS (GENERAL)                                                            |
|                                                                           | APIP Approved                                                             | Funds released                                                            | Funds Utilized                                                            | APIP Approved                                                             | Funds released                                                            | Funds Utilized                                                            |
| 2019-20                                                                   | 49541.69                                                                  | 49541.69                                                                  | 62707.56                                                                  | 63171.81                                                                  | 57539.63                                                                  | 59830.52                                                                  |
| 2020-21                                                                   | 54495.86                                                                  | 54495.86                                                                  | 69759.55                                                                  | 63289.83                                                                  | 52880.27                                                                  | 52030.96                                                                  |
| 2021-22                                                                   | 54495.86                                                                  | 69759.55                                                                  | Utilization not due for Financial Year 2021- 22                           | 69916.46                                                                  | 62230.33                                                                  | Utilization not due for Financial Year 2021-22                            |

Annexure-III Statement referred to in Part (a) to (c) Lok Sabha Unstarred Q.No.1839 for answer on 16.12.2022 by SHRI KRIPANATH MALLAH regarding Development of Children in North-Eastern States

State-wise statement of funds released and utilised in the State of Assam under Mission Vatsalya Scheme during the last three years is given below:

## (Rupees in lakh)

|         |                   | 2019-20         | 2019-20         | 2020-21         | 2020-21         | 2021-22         | 2021-22         |
|---------|-------------------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
| Sl. No. | Name of the State | Amount released | Amount Utilized | Amount released | Amount Utilized | Amount released | Amount Utilized |
| 1       | Assam             | 3363.95         | 1730.54         | 3159.17         | 2373.00         | 864.69          | 1851.75         |

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