Lok Sabha Question No. 3997 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-03-24
Subject: Poshan Abhiyan in Odisha
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Chandrani Murmu

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN & CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3997

TO BE ANSWERED ON 24.03.2023

## POSHAN ABHIYAN IN ODISHA

## 3997.  MS. CHANDRANI MURMU:

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

- (a) whether the Government has been able to achieve the objectives of Poshan Abhiyan in Odisha, if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;
- (b) the number of Anganwadi Centres in Odisha, wherein Poshan scheme is being implemented, district-wise; and
- (c) whether the Ministry has conducted any study on the results/achievements of this scheme in Odisha and if so, the details and outcome thereof?

## 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 State of Odisha.

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.

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. In the state of Odisha, 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 20.4% (NFHS-4) to 18.1 % (NFHS-5), Under-weight has improved from 34.4% (NFHS-4) to 29.7% (NFHS-5) and stunting has improved from 34.1% (NFHS-4) to 31% (NFHS-5).

Under POSHAN Abhiyaan, for the first time, the Anganwadi workers and Centres were empowered and equipped with mobile devices and growth monitoring devices such as

Infantometer, Stadiometer, Weighing Scale. In the state of Odisha, 81165  Smartphones and 74154 Growth Monitoring Devices have been procured. The 'Poshan  Tracker'  application  was  rolled  out  on  1st  March  2021  as  an  important governance tool. 41,07,868 number of beneficiaries have been registered on Poshan Tracker from the State of Odisha, of which close to 98% are Aadhar-seeded

Further,  Behaviour  change  and  communication  through  Jan  Andolan  is  a  key component of POSHAN Abhiyaan. At a national level, Poshan Pakhwada is celebrated every year in the month of March and the Rashtriya Poshan Maah is celebrated every year in the month of September. In Poshan Pakhwada 2022 and Poshan Maah 2022, 4793  numbers  of  activities  and  98214  numbers  of  activities,  respectivel,  were conducted across the State of Odhisha.

The  number  of  Anganwadi  Centres  in  Odisha  wherein  Poshan  scheme  is  being implemented, district-wise is Annexed.

NITI Aayog has conducted monitoring and evaluation to assess the progress and impact of POSHAN Abhiyaan. In the report, "Preserving Progress on Nutrition in India: Poshan Abhiyaan in Pandemic Times", NITI Aayog assessed the implementation of POSHAN Abhiyaan since its inception across all States/UTs and also analysed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on nutrition and health services. Following are the key findings of the report:

-  Poshan Abhiyaan has helped to bring a strong focus on improving nutrition outcomes during the first 1,000 days.
-  Poshan Abhiyaan has enabled a nation-wide jan-andolan catalyzing nutrition related behaviour change at scale for positive impact on feeding and health care practices.
-  Poshan Abhiyaan demonstrated that the processes for inter-sectoral convergence  are  effectively  operationalized  through  in-place  institutional mechanisms at multiple levels.
-  Poshan  Abhiyaan  showed  that  technology  can  be  leveraged  for  real  time monitoring of large scale health and nutrition programmes.
-  Poshan  Abhiyaan  supported  the  resilience  of  health  and  nutrition  systems during covid-19 pandemic.

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District-wise Anganwadi Centres in the State of Odisha

| S.no.   | Name of District   |   Total AWCs Operational |
|---------|--------------------|--------------------------|
| 1.      | Angul              |                     1684 |
| 2.      | BARGARH            |                     2919 |
| 3.      | Baleshwar          |                     4220 |
| 4.      | Bhadrak            |                     2435 |
| 5.      | Bolangir           |                     2775 |
| 6.      | Boudh              |                      727 |
| 7.      | Cuttack            |                     3318 |
| 8.      | Deogarh            |                      798 |
| 9.      | Dhenkanal          |                     2220 |
| 10.     | Gajapati           |                     2436 |
| 11.     | Ganjam             |                     5162 |
| 12.     | Jagatsinghpur      |                     1840 |
| 13.     | Jajapur            |                     2826 |
| 14.     | Jharsuguda         |                      967 |
| 15.     | KALAHANDI          |                     2362 |
| 16.     | KENDRAPARA         |                     2147 |
| 17.     | KHORDHA            |                     2554 |
| 18.     | Kandhamal          |                     2195 |
| 19.     | Keonjhar           |                     3351 |
| 20.     | Koraput            |                     3397 |
| 21.     | MALKANGIRI         |                     1324 |
| 22.     | MAYURBHANJ         |                     5154 |
| 23.     | Nabarangpur        |                     2330 |
| 24.     | Nayagarh           |                     1584 |
| 25.     | Nuapada            |                     1406 |
| 26.     | Puri               |                     2599 |
| 27.     | RAYAGADA           |                     2063 |
| 28.     | SUBARNAPUR         |                     1556 |
| 29.     | Sambalpur          |                     1886 |
| 30.     | Sundergarh         |                     3918 |
| Total   | Total              |                    74153 |

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Annexure