Lok Sabha Question No. 74 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-02-02
Subject: Poshan Bhi, Padhai Bhi
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Pritam Gopinath Munde, Chandra Sekhar Sahu, Rahul Ramesh Shewale

## GOVERNMENT OF INIDA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 74 TO BE ANSWERED ON 02.02.2024

## POSHAN BHI, PADHAI BHI

74.     DR. PRITAM GOPINATHRAO MUNDE: SHRI CHANDRA SEKHAR SAHU: SHRI RAHUL RAMESH SHEWALE:

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

- (a) whether  the  Union  Government  has  launched  the  Poshan  Bhi,  Padhai  Bhi (PBPB)  initiative  to  prioritize  education  and  nutrition,  especially  for  children under the age of six particularly in Odisha, if so, the details thereof;
- (b) the details of the steps so far taken by the Government for the success of the Mission;
- (c) the contribution of the Ministry to Mission Lifestyle for Environment;
- (d) whether the Government proposes to focus on raising awareness about the health benefits of millets and include it under the schemes of the Ministry and if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) the reasons for non-availability of the data from the POSHAN Tracker in the public domain?

## ANSWER

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

(a) & (b): Poshan Bhi Padhai Bhi (PBPB) specifically targets upskilling of 13.1 lakh Anganwadi  workers,  to  build  their  capacity  to  provide  early  childhood  care  and education, together with ongoing nutrition service provision. It also aims to create State Level  Master  Trainers  (CDPOs,  DPOs  and  Supervisors)  who  in  turn  would  train anganwadi  workers.  The  timeframe  under  Poshan  Bhi  Padhai  Bhi  is  training  of Anganwadi Workers in two phases during 2023-2026 covering all Anganwadi Workers in the country twice.

Poshan Bhi Padhai Bhi is for holistic development of all children under the age of 6, with a focus on building their skills in the key development domains identified under the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP) i.e. physical/motor, cognitive, socio emotional-ethical, cultural/artistic, and the development of communication and early language, literacy  and  numeracy  through State  Level  Master  Training  which  gives improved knowledge levels among Anganwadi workers for delivering early childhood care and education, improved capacity among Anganwadi workers, supervisors and CDPOs  and  effective  training  for  frontline  workers  on  education  and  nutrition  for children aged 0-6 years. As on 29.01.2024, a total of 4525 State Level Master Trainers (SLMT) including 69 from Odisha have been trained by National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development.

(c):    Ministry  of  Women  and  Child  Development  has been conducting a variety of outreach  activities  to  propagate  relevant  LiFE  actions  covered  under  the  themes namely Water saved, Single use plastic reduced, Sustainable food systems adopted, and Healthy lifestyles adopted respectively.  Under 'Water Conservation,' with 13.97 lakh operational AWCs, MoWCD recognized the potential of these centers in raising awareness  about  water  conservation  and  advised  all  States/UTs  to  work  on  Rain Water Harvesting Systems (RWHS) suitable for respective climatic conditions within the premises of AWCs. Ministry has approved the upgradation of 41,192 AWCs into Saksham AWCs in 2022-23. Out of these, RWHS have been sanctioned for 38,188 AWCs.  In  last  few  Jan  Andolans,  the  Ministry  has  conducted  more  than  2  crore activities  related  to  rainwater  harvesting  and  water  conservation,  which  include sensitization and promotion, celebrations at existing RWHSs, webinars, ensuring safe drinking  water  in  AWCs,  and  providing  water  to  toilets.  Under  'Single  Use  Plastic Reduced,'  during  last  few  Jan  Andolans,  more  than  60  lakh  activities/  campaigns related to Cleaning/ de-silting at community water bodies like lake/ pond/ well/ water tank etc., were conducted. To promote adoption of 'Sustainable food systems' and 'Healthy lifestyles,' initiatives taken up are as follows:

(d):      Under Mission Saksham Anganwadi & Poshan 2.0, focus is on diet diversity, food fortification, leveraging traditional systems of knowledge and popularizing use of millets for diet diversity. In 2022 and 2023 around 5.5 crore sensitization activities on Millet-promotion have been reported by States/ UTs, out of which more than 4 crore have been reported in Poshan Maah September 2023 itself. Also, greater emphasis is being given on the use of millets for preparation of Hot Cooked Meal and Take Home rations  (THR)  at  Anganwadi  centres  for  Children  below  6  years  of  age,  Pregnant Women, and Lactating Mothers. Further, Mission Saksham Anganwadi & Poshan 2.0 also mandates supply of millets at least once a week Under Supplementary Nutrition Programme (SNP) component in addition to suitable integration of millet in THR and HCM in a palatable form.

(e): Data of Poshan Tracker is available in public domain and can be accessed via https://www.poshantracker.in/statistics

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