Lok Sabha Question No. 2701 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-08-04
Subject: Nutrition Mission
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2701

TO BE ANSWERED ON 04.08.2023

## NUTRITION MISSION

- 2701    SHRI MAGUNTA SREENIVASULU REDDY:

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

- (a) whether  the  Government  is  implementing  the  National  Nutrition  Mission  or Poshan Abhiyaan to address the problems of malnutrition in the country, if so, the  salient  features  and  various  components  thereof  along  with  the names  of districts identified/covered therein, State/UT-wise, including Andhra Pradesh;
- (b) the  total  budget  of  the  Mission/Abhiyaan  and  allocations  made  to  State/UTs during each of the last three years and the current year, State/UT-wise;
- (c) whether Government has fixed any targets to achieve the desired results/goals under the Mission and if so, the targets set and achievements made thereunder; and
- (d) whether the mission has any monitoring agency to report field level feedback on the ICDS scheme and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) POSHAN Abhiyaan 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 Abhiyaan has been rolled-out in all the States and UTs. Poshan Abhiyan seeks to address the challenge of malnutrition through following core components:
- i. Technology:   Technology  under  the  Poshan  Tracker  is  being  leveraged  for dynamic identification of stunting, wasting and underweight prevalence among children and last mile tracking of nutrition service delivery. Anganwadi Centres across the country have been provided smartphones and trained on using the Poshan Tracker for regular data entry to enable monitoring of the Mission at a central and state level.
- ii. Convergence: The Mission supports convergence between various Ministries/Departments across activities/ programmes in order to jointly address malnutrition related issues.
- iii. Capacity Building: The Abhiyaan focuses on building the capacity of front-line ICDS functionaries in effective and consistent service delivery. Functionaries are

trained  on  thematic  modules  for  better  programme  delivery  along  with  being trained on the use of the Poshan Tracker.

- iv. Community  Engagement:  Nutrition  specific  Jan  Andolans  celebrated  twice annually along with Community Based Events (CBEs) held twice a month at each operational AWC contributes to increasing the programme outreach along with sensitisation of masses towards better nutrition and health for all.

In order to maximise nutrition outcomes, the efforts under the Supplementary Nutrition  Programme under Anganwadi Services, Scheme for Adolescent Girls and POSHAN Abhiyaan have been rejuvenated and converged as 'Saksham Anganwadi and POSHAN 2.0' (Mission Poshan 2.0). The Mission 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.

Poshan Abhiyaan is being implemented in all the districts of the country, in all 36 States/UTs.

- (b)        Year-wise Financial allocation under POSHAN Abhiyaan from FY 2020-21 to FY 2022-23 as on 31.3.2023 is as under:

|   Sr. No. | Year     |      BE |
|-----------|----------|---------|
|         1 | 2020-21  |  3700   |
|         2 | 2021-22* | 20105   |
|         3 | 2022-23  | 20294.6 |
|         4 | 2023-24  | 20554.3 |

(₹ in crore)

* Scheme aligned with Anganwadi Services and Scheme for Adolescent Girls under Mission Poshan 2.0

The State/UT wise details of funds released under POSHAN Abhiyaan during the last three years and current year is at Annexure I.

(c)   POSHAN  Abhiyaan  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 objective of POSHAN Abhiyaan is to reduce malnutrition by improving utilization of key services and improving the quality of service delivery. Its aim  is  to  ensure  holistic  development  and  adequate  nutrition  for  pregnant  women, mothers and children.

Poshan Abhiyan has been rolled out in all 36 States/UTs. In the ICT application, Poshan Tracker, 13.9 lakh Anganwadi Centres are more than 10.33 crore beneficiaries are registered, out of whom close to 94% are Aadhar-verified. Further, data of monthly growth monitoring and nutrition status is being captured on Poshan Tracker.

For estimating the number  of underweight, malnourished and severely malnourished children under 5 years of age in the country a nationwide periodic survey is  being  conducted  by  Ministry  of  Health  &  Family  Welfare  which  is  known  as  the National Family Health Survey (NFHS). 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).

As per data recorded in Poshan Tracker, ICT application for Mission Poshan 2.0, close to 7 crore children were measured in the country in the month of June 2023 as per  which  7%  were  wasted  and  19%  underweight,  which  is  significantly  lower  than NFHS indicators.

(d) Government has issued Streamlined Guidelines dated 13.1.2021 under which district  officials  in  the  State  are  mandated  to  conduct  periodic  monitoring  including surprise spot-checks, draw samples for quality testing of supplementary nutrition (Take Home Ration not raw ration)  and Hot Cooked Meal) to ensure that adequate measures for food safety and hygiene are followed and undertake necessary course correction. Under Mission Poshan 2.0, convergence is a key component to ensure monitoring and implementation of service delivery. To facilitate the same, at the district level, there is the mechanism of the District Nutrition Committee with the DM/DC as Chairperson and all  officers  from  line  departments  such  as  Health,  Education,  Panchayati  Raj,  Rural Development etc. Similarly, at the State-level, the State level Steering Committee is headed by the Chief Secretary of the State.

Poshan Tracker is helping in generating data, providing feedback to Program Managers and documenting the impact of scheme on nutrition indicators. The Ministry/ States/ Districts can thus make effective timely interventions, based on the data from tracker and evaluate the progress of different components.

Poshan Tracker has facilitated  near  real  time  data  collection  for  Anganwadi Services such as, daily attendance, ECCE,  Provision of  HCM/THR,  Growth Measurement  etc.  To  ensure  last  mile  tracking  of  service  delivery,  SMS  alerts  to beneficiaries  are  being  introduced  for  delivery  of  THR.  Further,  Poshan  Helpline operationalised in November 2022 has been made available for registering concerns.

Through the helpline, a beneficiary can raise a query or a concern about the services offered under Mission Poshan 2.0.

****

Annexure I

| Sl. States/UTs               |   FY 2020-21 |   FY 2021-22 |   FY 2022-23 |   in Rs. Lakh Total Central Funds released (FY 2020-21 till date) |
|------------------------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 1 A & N ISLANDS              |       100    |       518.97 |        47.45 |                                                            666.42 |
| 2 ANDHRA PRADESH             |       889.71 |         0    |      2707.69 |                                                           3597.4  |
| 3 ARUNACHAL PRADESH          |        99.6  |         0    |        14.7  |                                                            114.3  |
| 4 ASSAM                      |       987.04 |         0    |        34.5  |                                                           1021.54 |
| 5 BIHAR                      |      1835.48 |         0    |      3916.76 |                                                           5752.24 |
| 6 CHANDIGARH                 |       107.2  |       122.66 |       149.21 |                                                            379.07 |
| 7 CHHATTISGARH               |       839.58 |         0    |        33    |                                                            872.58 |
| D & N HAVELI and DAMAN & DIU |         0    |         0    |        18.22 |                                                             18.22 |
| 8 9 DELHI                    |       174.35 |         0    |        14.25 |                                                            188.6  |
| 10GOA                        |        20.19 |         0    |         1.65 |                                                             21.84 |
| 11GUJARAT                    |         0    |         0    |      1342.21 |                                                           1342.21 |
| 12HARYANA                    |       415.39 |         0    |        22.2  |                                                            437.59 |
| 13 HIMACHAL PRADESH          |         0    |         0    |       194.38 |                                                            194.38 |
| 14JAMMU & KASHMIR            |       492.24 |         0    |        19.2  |                                                            511.44 |
| 15JHARKHAND                  |         0    |         0    |        33.6  |                                                             33.6  |
| 16KARNATAKA                  |      1054.58 |         0    |      1746.6  |                                                           2801.18 |
| 17KERALA                     |      2679.61 |         0    |      2057.7  |                                                           4737.31 |
| 18LADAKH                     |        18.76 |         0    |         1.95 |                                                             20.71 |
| 19LAKSHADWEEP                |       100    |         0    |         1.35 |                                                            101.35 |
| 20MADHYA PRADESH             |      1554.16 |         0    |      2183.79 |                                                           3737.95 |
| 21MAHARASHTRA                |      1767.77 |         0    |        82.95 |                                                           1850.72 |
| 22 MANIPUR                   |       184.16 |         0    |         6.45 |                                                            190.61 |
| 23MEGHALAYA                  |        94.33 |         0    |       430.66 |                                                            524.99 |
| 24 MIZORAM                   |         0    |       753.48 |         0    |                                                            753.48 |
| 25NAGALAND                   |      1550.11 |       360.12 |      2340.56 |                                                           4250.79 |
| 26 ODISHA                    |         0    |     12842.4  |        50.7  |                                                          12893    |
| 27PUDUCHERRY                 |        13.68 |         0    |         0.75 |                                                             14.43 |
| 28 PUNJAB                    |         0    |         0    |        23.25 |                                                             23.25 |
| 29 RAJASTHAN                 |         0    |         0    |      1064.28 |                                                           1064.28 |
| 30 SIKKIM                    |        20.92 |         0    |         0    |                                                             20.92 |
| 31 TAMIL NADU                |         0    |         0    |     11787.6  |                                                          11787.6  |
| 32TELANGANA                  |       571.2  |         0    |      1735.95 |                                                           2307.15 |
| 33 TRIPURA                   |       162.32 |         0    |        97.32 |                                                            259.64 |
| 34 UTTAR PRADESH             |      2779.49 |         0    |       134.55 |                                                           2914.04 |
| 35UTTARAKHAND                |       321.07 |         0    |       943.09 |                                                           1264.16 |
| 36WEST BENGAL                |      1911.7  |         0    |        86.4  |                                                           1998.1  |
| Grand Total                  |     20744.6  |     14597.6  |     33324.9  |                                                          68667.1  |