Lok Sabha Question No. 476 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-12-09
Subject: Safety of Women and Children
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Dhal Singh Bisen

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.476

TO BE ANSWERED ON 09.12.2022

## SAFETY OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN

476.   DR. DHAL SINGH BISEN:

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

- (a) the policy of the Government for ensuring the safety of women and children;
- (b) the details of the efforts made especially for the safety of women labourers and their children;
- (c) whether  women  and  children  suffer  from  serious  disease  like  anaemia  due  to malnutrition in tribal areas and if so, the details thereof;
- (d) the  reasons  for  non  eradication  of  anaemia  in  women  and  children  even  after consumption of nutritious food provided in Anganwadis;
- (e) whether the Government is considering any specific programme for eradicating malnutrition and anaemia in tribal areas, if so, the details thereof; and
- (f) the details of the criteria adopted to ensure quantity and quality of the nutritious food provided in Anganwadis?

## ANSWER

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

(a) & (b) To ensure better monitoring and efficient implementation, all the schemes for women and children of the Ministry have been clubbed together into three verticals, viz.  (1)  Saksham  Anganwadi  &  Poshan  2.0  for improving  nutrition  indicators  in  the country;  (2)  Mission  Vatsalya,  for  protection  and  welfare  of  children  and  (3)  Mission Shakti, for safety, protection and empowerment of women, including safety of women labourers.

(c) to (f) Malnutrition  is  a  multi-  faceted  problem  and  needs  a  multi-pronged approach. The important determinants of malnutrition are poor socio- economic status of women, female illiteracy, low access of population to health education, safe drinking water,  environmental,  sanitation,  hygiene  and  other  social  services.  Key  reasons  for malnutrition  setting  in  early  life  are  early  marriage,  faulty  and  sub-optimal  infant  and young child feeding practices, childhood illnesses and low birth weight. The nutritional status  of  the  population  is  outcome  of  complex  and  inter-related  set  of  factors  and cannot be improved by the efforts of single sector alone.

The Government has accorded high priority  to  the  issue  of  malnutrition  and  is making  serious  efforts  to  address  this  issue.  Government  implements  Anganwadi Services  Scheme, POSHAN Abhiyaan, Scheme for Adolescent Girls, Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana etc as targeted interventions for Children, Pregnant Women and Lactating  Mothers  and  Adolescent  Girls,  throughout  the  country.  POSHAN  Abhiyaan aims  to  reduce  malnutrition  in  a  phased  manner,  through  a  life  cycle  approach,  by adopting a synergised and result oriented approach. All these schemes address in one or  other  aspects  related  to  nutrition  and  have  the  potential  to  improve  nutritional outcomes  in  the  country.  Poshan  Abhiyan  has  been  rolled  out  in  all  States/UTs, including all tribal districts of the country.

In  pursuance  of  the  Hon'ble  Prime  Minister's  Address  on  75th  Independence Day, Fortified Rice have to be provided through every Government Scheme by the year 2024,  therefore,  in  the  2nd  quarter  of  FY  2021-22,  21  States/UTs  were  allocated Fortified Rice and from the 3rd quarter onwards, only Fortified Rice in lieu of normal rice has been allocated to all the State/UTs in Supplementary Nutrition Programme under Anganwadi Services Scheme and Scheme for Adolescent Girls, which helps in fighting malnutrition  and  anaemia  in  women  and  children  arising  due  to  deficiency  of  micro nutrients like Iron, Folic Acid and Vitamin B-12.

For greater transparency, accountability and quality in nutrition support programme  and  service  delivery,  streamlined  guidelines  dated  13.1.2021  have  been issued to States/UTs. These guidelines emphasize on ensuring the quality of supplementary nutrition, highlights roles and responsibilities of duty holders, IT enabled data management and monitoring, leveraging of traditional knowledge through AYUSH, procurement and convergence for achieving good nutritional outcomes.

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