Lok Sabha Question No. 24 (STARRED), answered on 2023-02-03
Subject: POSHAN Abhiyaan
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Chandra Prakash Joshi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *24

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 03.02.2023

## 'POSHAN ABHIYAAN'

- *24      SHRI CHANDRA PRAKASH JOSHI:

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

- (a) the present status of POSHAN Abhiyaan under National Nutrition Mission;
- (b) the various measures taken to overcome the problem of malnutrition in a phased manner in Rajasthan; and
- (c) the details of amount spent under POSHAN Abhiyaan during the last three years?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) to (c)    A statement is laid on the table of the House
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## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 24* FOR ANSWER ON 03.02.2023 ASKED BY SHRI CHANDRA PRAKASH JOSHI REGARDING 'POSHAN ABHIYAAN'

(a)       POSHAN Abhiyaan (erstwhile National Nutrition Mission) was launched on 8 th March 2018 with an aim to achieve improvement in nutritional status of Children under 6 years, Adolescent Girls, Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers in a time bound manner  by  adopting  a  synergised  and  result  oriented  approach.  The  programme makes interventions by use of technology, behavioural change through convergence and lays-down specific targets to be achieved across different monitoring parameters.. The present status of Poshan Abhiyan is as follows:

- i. POSHAN Abhiyaan  has  been  rolled  out  across  all  the  36  States/UTs.  The Abhiyaan covers around 735 Districts including 112 Aspirational Districts.
- ii. Under  POSHAN  Abhiyaan,  for  the  first  time,  the  Anganwadi  worker  was empowered with mobile devices. 11.22 lakh smart phones have been provided to Anganwadi workers. Besides, to promote regular growth monitoring, 12.65 lakh Growth Monitoring Devices such as Infantometer, Stadiometer, Weighing Scale for Mother and Infant and Weighing Scale for Child have been procured by States/UTs under the Abhiyaan.
- iii. IT systems have been leveraged to strengthen and bring about transparency in nutrition delivery support systems. The 'Poshan Tracker' application was rolled out on 1 st March 2021 through National e-Governance Division (NeGD), as an important governance tool. Around 13.97 lakh AWCs have started using the ICT Application.
- iv. A Web and App based 'Grievance Redressal Cell' has been established for effective service delivery and beneficiary feedback. Besides, a national Poshan Helpline has been made available for beneficiaries and the public. Through the Helpline a beneficiary can raise a concern about the services offered under Mission Poshan 2.0
- v. Streamlined Guidelines were issued on 13 th January, 2021 to ensure greater transparency and accountability and quality in nutrition service delivery.
- vi. Under the key component of Jan Andolan, total five (5) Poshan Maahs and four (4) Poshan Pakhwadas have been held across the country since 2018. Approx., 60+ crore Jan Andolan based activities have been conducted since the launch of the Abhiyaan. The Poshan Maah conducted during the month of September 2022 witnessed approximately 17 crore Jan Andolan based activities throughout the country. Around 3.70 crore Community  Based Events (CBEs) have  also  been  organized  since  the  launch  of  the  Abhiyaan  in  a convergent manner at Anganwadi Centres with field functionaries.
- vii. More than 4 lakh Poshan Vatikas have been developed and 1.10 lakh Medicinal Saplings have been planted across the country.
- viii. More  than  10  lakh  Frontline  Functionaries  have  been  trained  on  thematic modules.
- ix. 10.10 crore beneficiaries have been registered under Poshan Tracker (as on 31-12-2022). Details are as follows:

| Total         | Lactating Pregnant Children   | Lactating Pregnant Children   | Lactating Pregnant Children   | Children (6m-3y)                | Children (3y-6y)   | Adolescent Girls (14-18 y)   |
|---------------|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|---------------------------------|--------------------|------------------------------|
| Beneficiaries | Mothers                       | Women                         | (0-6M)                        |                                 |                    |                              |
| 10,10,50,463  | 52,41,44080,40,21545,95,834   |                               |                               | 4,06,33,0404,25,39,93418,11,961 |                    |                              |

x. 88.15% of beneficiaries registered on the Poshan Tracker have been successfully Aadhar verified.

xi. For the first time, migration facility for pregnant women and lactating mothers from one AWC to another within and outside a State has been facilitated under the Poshan Tracker. Migration facility from one category to another category of beneficiary is also available. Integration of the Poshan Tracker with RCH portal is in process.

xii. Best Practices on use of millets and improvement in nutritional status of severely acutely malnourished (SAM) children in districts were recognized and selected for the PM's Award for Excellence for promotion of Jan Bhagidari in Poshan Abhiyaan on 21st April  2022.  These  best  practices,  shared  with  all  States/UTs  included  Mission Sampurna Poshan in Asifabad, Telangana, Mera Bachccha Abhiyaan Model in Datia, Madhya Pradesh and Project Sampoorna in Bongaigaon, Assam.

xiii. 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-weight has improved from 35.7% (NFHS-4) to 32.1% (NFHS5) and stunting has improved from 38.4%(NFHS-4) to 35.5% (NFHS-5)

(b) Government  has  accorded  high  priority  to  the  issue  of  malnutrition  and  is implementing  Saksham  Anganwadi  and  Poshan  2.0   Mission  Poshan  2.0)   which includes  key  schemes  such  as  the  POSHAN  Abhiyaan,  Anganwadi  Services  and Scheme for Adolescent Girls as direct targeted interventions to address the problem of malnutrition in the country. The beneficiaries under the Anganwadi Services scheme are children in the age group of 0-6 years, pregnant women and lactating mothers. Supplementary nutrition is provided to beneficiaries in the form of Hot Cooked Meals at Anganwadi Centres and Take Home Ration (not raw ration).

Mission Poshan 2.0, an integrated nutrition support programme has been announced in budget 2021-2022 for all States/UTs including the state of Rajasthan. 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. Steps have been taken to improve nutritional quality, strengthen delivery and leverage technology under Poshan Tracker to improve governance.

Poshan Abhiyan, as a targeted scheme to address malnutrition has been rolled out in all 33 districts of Rajasthan. As on 31 st  December 2022, 48,77,364 beneficiaries in the State have been registered on Poshan Tracker, the ICT application facilitating data entry and monitoring of key services delivered under Mission Poshan 2.0.

The State has procured 67,467 Smartphones and close to 59,493 Growth monitoring devices such as  Infantometer, Stadiometer and Weighing Scales for the Anganwadi Centres for regular growth monitoring of children registered in the Anganwadi Centres.

One of the key components under Poshan Abhiyan is Behaviour Change through Jan Andolan to instil nutrition and health seeking behaviour in  communities. In the State of  Rajasthan,  close  to  45  thousand  activities  were  conducted  during  Poshan Pakhwada 2022 and close to 14.2 lakh activities were carried out during Poshan Maah 2022. Key themes included 'Mahila aur Swasthya', with a focus on anemia, 'Bacha aur Shiksha',  Gender  Sensitive  Water  Management  and  Traditional  food  for  Healthy Mother and Child in Tribal areas.

As per NFHS-5 reports, in the State of Rajasthan, the nutrition indicators for children under  5  years  have  improved  as  compared  with  NFHS-4  (2015-16).  Wasting  has improved from 23% (NFHS-4) to 16.8 % (NFHS-5), Under-weight has improved from 36.7% (NFHS-4) to 27.6% (NFHS-5) and Stunting has improved from 39.1%(NFHS4) to 31.8% (NFHS-5)

(c) The details of amount spent under POSHAN Abhiyaan during the last three years are as under:

## Amount in ₹lakhs

|   Central released in 20 |   Funds 2019- Central released in 21 |   Funds 2020- Central Funds released in 2021- 22 |   Total Central Funds released till 31.03.2022 |
|--------------------------|--------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|
|                   171459 |                              20844.7 |                                          14597.6 |                                         540295 |

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