Lok Sabha Question No. 351 (STARRED), answered on 2023-03-24
Subject: Schemes under National Nutrition Mission
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: C.N. Annadurai, Manjulata Mandal

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA

## STARRED QUESTION NO. *351 TO BE ANSWERED ON 24.03.2023

## 'SCHEME UNDER NATIONAL NUTRITION MISSION'

## *351    SHRI C.N. ANNADURAI:

SHRIMATI MANJULATA MANDAL:

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

- a.  the details of the various schemes implemented by the Government under National Nutrition Mission (NNM) in order to prevent malnutrition among women and children in the State of Tamil Nadu and Odisha and the challenges faced therein;
- b.  the number of people trained so far to strengthen the implementation and operational preparedness under the said mission;
- c.  whether the Government has been able to reach remote and backward areas of said States through various schemes under NNM and if so, the details thereof;
- d.  whether the quantum of funds allocated for schemes implemented under NNM is very low and if so, the corrective steps taken in this regard; and
- e.  whether the Government has reviewed the schemes under NNM to prevent malnutrition among children, if so, the efforts made by the Government to address the challenges and shortcoming detected during the said review?

## ANSWER

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

(a) to (e)          A statement is laid on the table of the House

## Statement referred to in reply to Part (a) to (e) of Lok Sabha Starred Question No.351 by Shri C. N. Annadurai and Shrimati Manjulata Mandal to be answered on 24.03.2023 regarding 'Schemes under National Nutrition Mission'

(a) POSHAN  Abhiyaan  (erstwhile  National  Nutrition  Mission)  was  launched  in March 2018 to achieve improvement in nutritional status of Children from 0-6 years, Adolescent Girls, Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers in a time bound manner and to achieve reduction in stunting and wasting in children (0-6 years) as well as reduction in anemia in women, children and adolescent girls. The Abhiyaan has been rolled out in all the 36 States/UTs including the state of Tamil Nadu and Odisha. The key  components  of  the  Scheme  include  use  of  technology,  convergence  and behaviour  change  communication  through  Jan  Andolan.  Another  key  plank  of  the Abhiyaan to enable the right kind of nourishment are the Poshan Vatikas or Nutrigardens that are being set up across the country to provide easy and affordable access to fruits, vegetables, medicinal plants and herbs.

Poshan Abhiyan has now been re-aligned as part of Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0, along with Anganwadi services and revised Scheme for adolescent Girls. It seeks to strengthen nutritional content, delivery, outreach and outcomes with focus on developing practices that nurture health, wellness and immunity to disease and malnutrition. It rests on the key pillars of Maternal Nutrition, Infant and Young Child Feeding Norms, Treatment of SAM/MAM and wellness through AYUSH.

Under Poshan 2.0, focus is on diet diversity, food fortification, leveraging traditional systems of knowledge and popularizing use of millets. Nutrition awareness strategies under Poshan 2.0 aim to develop sustainable health and well-being through regional meal plans to bridge dietary gaps. Further, greater emphasis is being given on the use of millets for preparation of Hot Cooked Meal and Take Home rations (not raw ration) at Anganwadi centres for Pregnant Women, Lactating Mothers and Children below 6 years of age, as millets have high nutrient content which includes protein, essential fatty acid, dietary fibre, B-Vitamins, minerals such as calcium, iron, zinc, folic acid and other micro-nutrients thus helping to tackle anemia  and  other micro-nutrient deficiencies in women and children. Further, under Mission Poshan 2.0, only fortified rice is being allocated to States/UTs. 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.

Poshan Abhiyan is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme with the implementation of the scheme  being  done  by  States/UTs.  To  ensure  that  all  Anganwadi  Centres  are equipped  with  Smart  phones  and  Growth  Monitoring  devices  (GMDs)  such  as Infantometer, Stadiometer, Weighing Scale for Mother and Infant, the Ministry has released revised guidelines for technical specifications and replacement of GMDs by the States.

(b) Under Poshan Abhiyan, training is conducted for field functionaries' upto the level  of  Anganwadi  Workers.  More  than  10  lakh  Anganwadi  Workers  have  been trained on thematic modules to strengthen the implementation and operationalisation of the Abhiyaan.

(c) The Abhiyaan has been rolled out in all the Districts of Tamil Nadu and Odisha, including remote and backward areas. The details of the coverage of the scheme, total beneficiaries  registered  on  the  Poshan  Tracker  application  are  given  in  the  table below:

| State      |   Districts |   Projects | Sectors   | AWCs   | Total Beneficiaries   |
|------------|-------------|------------|-----------|--------|-----------------------|
| Tamil Nadu |          38 |        435 | 1,801     | 54,439 | 39,76,423             |
| Odisha     |          30 |        338 | 2,811     | 74,153 | 41,07,868             |

(d) So far, an amount of Rs.540295.40lakh has been released to States/UTs under the Abhiyaan. Regular reports are received from States regarding progress of fund utilization under POSHAN Abhiyaan. Delays if any, are monitored through sustained engagements with State Governments in review meetings to ensure that targets are achieved and funds are utilized. A major plank of Poshan Abhiyan is Behaviour Change Communication through Jan Andolan activities. Due to Covid pandemic, States/ UTs were unable to fully utilise funds as the Jan Andolan activities were affected. States/UTs are advised to utilise the funds allocated under various components of POSHAN Abhiyaan as per the cost norms for effective implementation of the scheme.

(e) The estimated number of underweight, malnourished and severely malnourished children under 5 years of age is obtained under National Family Health Survey (NFHS) conducted by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare. As per the recent report of NFHS-5 (2019-21), the nutrition indicators for children under 5 years have improved as compared with NFHS-4 (2015-16). Wasting has improved from 21% (NFHS-4) to 19.3 % (NFHS-5), Under nutrition has improved from 35.7% (NFHS-4) to 32.1% (NFHS-5) and stunting has improved from 38.4%(NFHS-4) to 35.5% (NFHS-5).

Development  Monitoring  &  Evaluation  Office  (DMEO)  under  NITI  Aayog  has conducted Sectoral Evaluation of schemes including POSHAN Abhiyaan.      Performance of Poshan Abhiyan has been found 'Satisfactory' in the categories of Relevance, Sustainability and Equity.

Further, in order to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the Abhiyaan, Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0, the integrated nutrition support programme was announced in budget 2021-2022 for all States/UTs. Steps have been taken to improve nutritional  quality  and  testing  in  accredited  labs,  strengthen  delivery  and  leverage technology  under  Poshan Tracker  to  improve  governance.  Streamlined  Guidelines were issued for transparency and accountability in delivery of supplementary nutrition and to track nutritional outcomes on 13.01.2021.

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