Lok Sabha Question No. 1063 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-07-25
Subject: POSHAN Tracker Data
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Shri Rahul Kaswan

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1063

TO BE ANSWERED ON 25.07.2025

## POSHAN TRACKER DATA

## 1063.  SHRI RAHUL KASWAN:

Will the Minister of Women and Child Development be pleased to state:

- (a) whether as per NFHS-5 and POSHAN Tracker data, India continues to record high levels of child malnutrition and anaemia in various States, specially in Rajasthan being among the worst-affected States;
- (b) if  so, the details thereof, providing the data for Rajasthan till May 2025, districtwise;
- (c) the manner in which the Government proposes to strengthen Anganwadi Services and nutrition delivery under Mission POSHAN 2.0 in high-burden districts;
- (d) whether Anganwadi Centres in Rajasthan lack functional infrastructure, weighing devices, or real-time digital tracking tools, if so, the details thereof;
- (e) whether the Government has initiated any targeted interventions for adolescent girls and children in said State, district-wise; and
- (f) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI SAVITRI THAKUR)

(a)  &  (b) : Various  rounds  of  the  National  Family  Health  Survey  (NFHS)  conducted  by Ministry of Health & Family Welfare since 1992-93 have shown improvement in malnutrition indicators in children across India. Details of these indicators for children since NFHS-1 to NFHS-5 are given below:

| NFHS Survey        |   Stunting |   %Underweight |   %Wasting% |
|--------------------|------------|----------------|-------------|
| NFHS-1 (1992-93)*  |       52   |           53.4 |        17.5 |
| NFHS-2 (1998-99)** |       45.5 |           47   |        15.5 |

| NFHS-3 (2005-6)***   |   48.0 |   42.5 |   19.8 |
|----------------------|--------|--------|--------|
| NFHS-4 (2015-16)***  |   38.4 |   35.8 |   21   |
| NFHS-5 (2019-21)***  |   35.5 |   32.1 |   19.3 |

* Under 4 years

** Under 3 years

*** Under 5 years

The above table gives a representative picture of malnutrition indicators among all children of 0-3 years, 0-4 years and 0-5 years age at the relevant time.

The projected population of all children up to 5 years in India for the year 2021 is 13.75 crores  approximately  (source:  Population  Projections  for  India  and  States  2011-2036, National Commission on Population, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare). However, only 7.36 crores children up to 5 years were enrolled in Anganwadis and registered on Poshan Tracker of the Ministry of Women & Child Development as per the June, 2025 data. 7 crores of these children were measured on growth parameters of height and weight. 37.07% of them have been found to be stunted, 15.93% have been found to be underweight and 5.46 percent wasted.

Further, the projected population of all children in India up to 6 years for the year 2021 is approximately 16.1 crores. As per the June, 2025 data of Poshan Tracker, 8.61 crores children (0-6 years) were enrolled in Anganwadis out of whom 8.19 crores were measured on growth parameters of height and weight. 35.91% of these children (0-6 years) have been found to be stunted and 16.50% children (0-6 years) have been found to be underweight.

| Name State/UT   | of Stunting (%)          | of Stunting (%)   | Wasting (%)              | Wasting (%)      | Underweight (%)          | Underweight (%)   |
|-----------------|--------------------------|-------------------|--------------------------|------------------|--------------------------|-------------------|
| Name State/UT   | Poshan Tracker June 2025 | NHFS 5 (2019-21)  | Poshan Tracker June 2025 | NHFS 5 (2019-21) | Poshan Tracker June 2025 | NHFS 5 (2019-21)  |
| Rajasthan       | 36.10                    | 31.8              | 6.49                     | 16.8             | 17.57                    | 27.6              |

The analysis of the above NFHS 5 data and the Poshan Tracker June 2025 data shows improvement in wasting and underweight children in the State of Rajasthan.

The district wise data on Stunting, wasting and underweight of May, 2025 for Rajasthan as per Poshan Tracker data is placed at Annexure I.

(c)  &  (d):  Under  the  15th  Finance  Commission,  various  components  like  Anganwadi services, Poshan Abhiyaan and Scheme for Adolescent girls (of 14-18 years in Aspirational Districts  and  North-Eastern  region)  have  been  subsumed  under  the  umbrella  Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 (Mission Poshan 2.0) to address the challenge of malnutrition. It is a Centrally Sponsored mission, where the responsibility for implementation of various activities lies with the States and UTs. This mission is a universal self-selecting umbrella scheme that is being implemented across all the States and UTs including in the State of Rajasthan.

Nutrition goes beyond mere eating of food; it requires proper digestion, absorption, and metabolism which are influenced by factors like sanitation, education and access to safe drinking water. As malnutrition requires a multi-sectoral approach involving dimensions of food, health, water, sanitation and education, it is crucial to effectively address the issue of malnutrition. It is being addressed under Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 by establishing cross cutting convergence amongst 18 Ministries/Departments.

Under Mission Poshan 2.0 a new strategy has been made for reduction in malnutrition and for improved health, wellness and immunity through activities like community engagement, outreach, behavioral change, and advocacy. It focuses on Maternal Nutrition, Infant and Young Child Feeding Norms, treatment of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM)/ Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM) and wellness through AYUSH practices to reduce prevalence of wasting, stunting, anaemia and being underweight.

Under this mission, Supplementary Nutrition is provided to Children (6 months to 6 years), Pregnant Women, Lactating Mothers and Adolescent Girls to beat the intergenerational cycle of malnutrition by adopting a life cycle approach. Supplementary nutrition is provided in  accordance  with  the  nutrition  norms  contained  in  Schedule-II  of  the  National  Food Security Act. These norms have been revised in January, 2023. The old norms were largely calorie-specific;  however,  the  revised  norms are  more  comprehensive and balanced in terms of both quantity and quality of supplementary nutrition based on the principles of diet diversity that provides for quality protein, healthy fats and micronutrients.

Fortified rice is being supplied to AWCs to meet the requirement of micro-nutrients and to control anaemia among women and children. Greater emphasis is being laid on the use of millets at least once a week for preparation of Hot Cooked Meal and Take-Home Ration at Anganwadi centers.

M/o Women & Child Development and M/o Health & Family Welfare have jointly released the  protocol  for  Community  Management  of  Malnutrition  (CMAM)  to  prevent  and  treat severely acute malnutrition in children and for reducing associated morbidity and mortality.

Under this Mission, one of the major activities undertaken is Community Mobilization and Awareness Advocacy to educate people on nutritional aspects as adoption of good nutrition habit requires sustained efforts for behavioural change. State and UTs are conducting and reporting  regular  sensitisation  activities  under  Jan  Andolan  during  Poshan  Maahs  and Poshan Pakhwadas celebrated in the months of September and March-April respectively. Community  Based  Events  (CBEs)  have  served  as  a  significant  strategy  in  changing nutritional  practices  and  all  Anganwadi workers are required to conduct two Community Based Events every month.

(e) and (f) As on date, 2 lakh Anganwadi Centres have been approved to be upgraded as Saksham Anganwadis for improved nutrition delivery and for imparting early childhood care and  education.  Saksham  Anganwadis  are  provided  with  better  infrastructure  than  the conventional Anganwadi Centres which includes internet/Wi-Fi connectivity, LED screens, water purifier/installation of RO Machine and smart learning equipments. According to the data  received  from  the  State  Government  of  Rajasthan,  there  are  187  Saksham Anganwadis in the state

The Government has also taken a policy decision to upgrade all Mini AWCs to a full-fledged Anganwadi Centres with one worker and one helper each to help in carrying out various responsibilities under Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 including responsibilities related to Early Childhood Care & Education. Sanction for upgradation of 88,716 Mini-AWCs has been issued till date. As of June 2025, a total of 6204 Mini AWCs have been upgraded to Main AWCs in the State of Rajasthan.

Under Mission Poshan 2.0 smartphones are provided to Anganwadi workers, Supervisors and  Block  Coordinators.  Data  recharge  support  of  Rs.  2,000  per  annum  is  provided  to AWWs, Supervisors and Block Coordinators. Number of 65,943 smartphones are available in the State of Rajasthan.

Regular monitoring of growth parameters is done by Anganwadi workers.  All Anganwadi Centres across India including those in the State of Rajasthan have been equipped with Growth Monitoring devices like infantometer, stadiometer, weighing scale.

Scheme  for  Adolescent  Girls  (SAG)  has  been  subsumed  under  Mission  Saksham Anganwadi  and  Poshan  2.0.   The  Scheme  aims  at  providing  nutritional  support  to Adolescent Girls (AGs) [14-18 years] for improving their health and nutritional status under the  nutrition  component  and  providing  them  IFA  supplementation,  Health  check-up  and Referral  Service,  Nutrition  &  Health  Education  and  Skilling  etc.  under  non-nutrition component of the Scheme. The targeted beneficiaries under the Scheme are AGs in the age group of 14 to 18 years in Aspirational Districts and all Northeastern State.

Status of release of funds to the State of Rajasthan during last 5 years under SAG is as follows:

(Rs in Lakhs)

| Name of the   |    |    |   State2021-222022-232023-24 |   2024-5 |   2025-26* |
|---------------|----|----|------------------------------|----------|------------|
| Rajasthan     |  0 |  0 |                            0 |   988.66 |     137.93 |

*As on 30.06.2025

*****

## ANNEXURE-I

## ANNEXURE REFERRED IN REPLY TO PART (b) OF LOK SABHA QUESTION NO. 1063 FOR 25.07.2025 REGARDING 'POSHAN TRACKER DATA' ASKED BY SHRI RAHUL KASWAN

District wise details of malnutrition indicators of children (0-5 years) in Rajasthan for May, 25 from Poshan Tracker data are as follows:

| District         |   Stunted (%) |   Wasted (%) |   Underweight (%) |
|------------------|---------------|--------------|-------------------|
| AJMER            |         38.25 |         7.42 |             18.04 |
| ALWAR            |         42.31 |         6.98 |             19.77 |
| BALOTRA          |         41.31 |         5.07 |             14.68 |
| BANSWARA         |         38.45 |        10.92 |             20.38 |
| BARAN            |         50.9  |         6.26 |             24.47 |
| BARMER           |         42.04 |         5.31 |             12.82 |
| BEAWAR           |         36    |         8.55 |             20.69 |
| BHARATPUR        |         27.89 |         5    |             12.87 |
| BHILWARA         |         43.46 |         9.47 |             22.6  |
| BIKANER          |         36.78 |         3.5  |             12.97 |
| BUNDI            |         39.82 |         7.88 |             23.83 |
| CHITTORGARH      |         33.04 |         7.98 |             16.97 |
| CHURU            |         32.81 |         3.76 |             12.76 |
| DAUSA            |         25.44 |         8.42 |             17.99 |
| DEEG             |         34.6  |         5.79 |             14.7  |
| DHOLPUR          |         36.78 |         3.78 |             12.12 |
| DIDWANA-KUCHAMAN |         26.53 |         4.73 |             11.5  |
| DUNGARPUR        |         49.56 |         8.29 |             34.72 |
| HANUMANGARH      |         34.97 |         5.98 |             14.52 |
| JAIPUR           |         20.64 |         1.81 |              7.04 |
| JAISALMER        |         39.9  |         7.49 |             18.28 |
| JALORE           |         44.76 |         7.38 |             16.12 |
| JHALAWAR         |         40.04 |        11.68 |             27.23 |
| JHUNJHUNU        |         27.71 |         4.03 |             10.72 |
| JODHPUR          |         37.31 |         6.08 |             16.62 |
| KAROULI          |         31.36 |         5.2  |             15.46 |
| KHAIRTHAL-TIJARA |         42.44 |         6.57 |             17.84 |
| KOTA             |         35.5  |         4.83 |             16.83 |
| KOTPUTLI-BEHROR  |         31.52 |         3.28 |              9.71 |
| NAGAUR           |         21.01 |         3.75 |              8.29 |
| PALI             |         38.14 |         8.07 |             17.02 |
| PHALODI          |         44.73 |         6.6  |             18    |

| PRATAPGARH     |   46.69 |   6.82 |   27.89 |
|----------------|---------|--------|---------|
| RAJSAMAND      |   42.25 |  11.08 |   22.24 |
| SALUMBAR       |   53.44 |  10.98 |   34.25 |
| SAWAI MADHOPUR |   42.73 |   5.91 |   22.49 |
| SIKAR          |   38.44 |   6.11 |   18.73 |
| SIROHI         |   53.47 |   6.21 |   26.9  |
| SRI GANGANAGAR |   23.58 |   2.62 |    8.63 |
| TONK           |   38.23 |   5.14 |   20.13 |
| UDAIPUR        |   36.51 |   8.9  |   22.55 |

*****