Lok Sabha Question No. 2972 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-03-17
Subject: POSHAN Abhiyaan
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Vinod Chavda

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN & CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2972

TO BE ANSWERED ON 17.03.2023

## POSHAN ABHIYAAN

## 2972. SHRI VINOD L. CHAVDA:

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

- a. whether the Government has launched POSHAN Abhiyaan to improve child nutrition indicators in the country;
- b. if so, the details of the efforts made across the country particularly in districts of Bhuj, Abdasa,  Gandhidham,  Rapar,  Mandvi,  Anjar  of  the  Parliamentary  Constituency  of Kutch and outcome thereof in this regard; and
- c. if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

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

(a)  to  (c)    POSHAN  Abhiyaan  was  launched  on  8th  March  2018  with  an  aim  to  achieve improvement  in  nutritional  status  of  Adolescent  Girls,  Pregnant  Women  and  Lactating Mothers in a time bound manner by adopting a synergised and result oriented approach. The Abhiyaan  has  been  rolled  out  in  all  the  States/UTs  including  the  constituencies  of  Bhuj, Abdasa, Gandhidham, Rapar, Mandvi, Anjar of the Kutch District.

The efforts under the Supplementary Nutrition Programme under Anganwadi Services and POSHAN  Abhiyaan  have  been  rejuvenated  and  converged  as ' Saksham  Anganwadi  and POSHAN 2.0 ' (Mission  Poshan  2.0).  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.

Mission Poshan 2.0 focuses on Maternal Nutrition, Infant and Young Child Feeding Norms, Treatment  of  MAM/SAM  and  Wellness  through  AYUSH.  It  rests  on  the  pillars  of Convergence, Governance, and Capacity-building. POSHAN Abhiyaan is the key pillar for Outreach and will cover innovations related to nutritional support, ICT interventions, Media Advocacy and Research, Community Outreach and Jan Andolan. 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.

Under Mission Poshan 2.0, focus is on diet diversity, food fortification, leveraging traditional systems of knowledge and popularizing use of millets. Nutrition awareness strategies under Mission 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,  BVitamins,  minerals  such  as  calcium,  iron,  zinc,  folic  acid  and  other  micro-nutrients  thus helping to tackle anemia and other micro-nutrient deficiencies common among women and children.

Further, the initiatives taken by the Government of Gujarat throughout the State, including Kutch District, are as under:

-  Regular Growth Monitoring of children under 5 years of age is carried out.
-  Training of State, District and Block Resource Groups at sector level on Interactive Learning Modules in 7 districts
-  A total  of  11029  Poshan  Vatikas  were  developed  at  Anganwadi  Centres  across  the State,  where  in  1806  Poshan  Vatikas  have  been  developed  in  convergence  with MNREGA. A total of 1028 Poshan Vatikas have been established at 2116 AWCs in Kutch.
-  During April-May 2022, October-November 2022 and February 2023 Master Trainer Training of the POSHAN Tracker Application was conducted.
-  Aadhaar verification of the beneficiaries is done in the POSHAN Tracker application to and so far 97% of the beneficiaries have been Aadhaar verified.
-  Anganwadi workers are also trained on the POSHAN tracker application and thematic sessions on Poshan tracker module have been delivered  from time to time
-  Every  year  September  is  celebrated  as  Nutrition  Month  (Poshan  Maah)  by  the Government of India and special importance is given to various activities related to nutrition and health. A total of 14,02,216 activities were conducted in total in all the constituency of Kutch in September 2022.
-  Community Based Events are celebrated at every Anganwadi centre across the State on the first  and  third  Tuesday  of  the  month.  During  the  year  2022-23,  95%  AWCs conducted the two thematic Community-Based Events (CBE). Suposhan Samvad is celebrated on the first Tuesday of every month and Annaprashan is celebrated on the third Tuesday of every month.
-  State  Level  Sanctioning  Committee  (SLSC)  constituted  under  the  Chairmanship  of Chief  Secretary  holds  review  meetings  to  monitor  the  progress  of  activities  done under Poshan Abhiyan.
-  District Level Monitoring Review Committee has been constituted at the district level and  one  meeting  per  quarter  is  held  in  all  the  districts  under  the  chairmanship  of Collector/District Magistrate.

In  order  to  assess  the  outcome  of  various  interventions  of  the  Government  to  address  the issue of malnutrition, data on nutritional indicators is captured regularly under the National Family Health Surveys (NFHS) conducted by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. As per the  last  two  rounds  of  NFHS,  the  prevalence  of  undernutrition  has  decreased  in  the  Kutch district  of  Gujarat.  The  prevalence  of  stunting,  wasting  and  underweight  has  reduced  from 40.8%, 31.4% and 39% in NFHS-4 (2015-16) to 37.5%, 20.2%, and 33.4% as per NFHS-5 (2019-21).

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