Lok Sabha Question No. 840 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-02-07
Subject: Reforms in Anganwadi Centres
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Shri Eswarasamy K

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO 840

TO BE ANSWERED ON 07.02.2025

## REFORMS IN ANGANWADI CENTRES

840.    SHRI ESWARASAMY K:

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

- (a)        whether it is a fact that extensive reforms are needed in Anganwadi Centres being run for the welfare of children in the rural and under developed areas;
- (b) if so, the steps taken and proposed to be taken by the Government in this regard;
- (c) whether it is also a fact that Anganwadi Centres are not getting desired results in the  absence of systemic mechanism for physical verification; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof and the response of the Government thereon?

## ANSWER

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

(a)  to  (d):  During  the  period  of  15th  Finance  Commission,  components  of  nutritional support for children below the age of 6 years, pregnant women and lactating mothers and Adolescent  Girls;  Early  Childhood  Care  and  Education  [3-6  years]  and  Anganwadi infrastructure including modern, upgraded Saksham Anganwadi have been reorganised under  the  umbrella  Mission  Saksham  Anganwadi  and  Poshan  2.0  for  effective implementation of the scheme and for better nutritional delivery to end beneficiaries. A package  of  the  following  six  services  is  provided  under  Mission  Poshan  2.0  scheme through a network of Anganwadi centres (AWCs) across the country:

- i. Supplementary Nutrition (SNP),
- ii. Pre-school Non-formal Education,
- iii. Nutrition & Health Education,
- iv. Immunization,
- v. Health Check-up,
- vi. Referral Services

Three of the six services, viz., Immunization, Health Check-up and Referral Services are related to health and are provided through NHM & Public Health Infrastructure.

Supplementary Nutrition is provided at AWC to registered beneficiaries. Supplementary Nutrition under the Scheme is provided for a minimum of 300 days in a calendar year, i.e., on an average 25 days in a month in the form of Hot Cooked Meals (HCM) and Take-

Home  Ration  (THR  -Not  Raw  Ration).  All  pregnant  women  and  lactating  mothers (PW&LM), children in the age group of 6-36 months, Severe Acute Malnourished (SAM) children and adolescent girls in the age group of 14-18 years (in Aspirational districts of all  States  and  all  districts  of  North  Eastern  Region)  are  entitled  to  receive  THR  and children in the age group of 3-6 years are entitled to receive HCM and Morning Snacks under the Anganwadi Services from the AWC where they are registered.

During the 15th Finance Commission cycle, 2 lakh Anganwadi Centres @ 40,000 AWCs per year are to be upgraded as Saksham Anganwadis for improved nutrition delivery and for  early  childhood  care  and  development  under  Mission  Saksham  Anganwadi  and Poshan  2.0.  Saksham  Anganwadis  are  equipped  with  infrastructure  better  than  the conventional Anganwadi Centres by providing LED screens, water purifier/installation of RO Machine, Poshan Vatika, ECCE and BALA Paintings.

Under Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0, beginning from FY 2021-22, 50000 AWCs building are to be constructed over a period of five years @10000 AWCs per year. The cost norms for construction of Anganwadi Centres in convergence with Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) is Rs.12 Lakh per AWC wherein Rs.8.00 Lakh would be provided under MGNREGS, Rs.2.00 Lakh under 15th FC (or any other untied funds) and Rs.2.00 Lakh by Ministry of Women and Child Development per AWC to be shared between Centre and States/UTs in the prescribed cost sharing ratio.

The unit cost approved for construction of toilet is Rs.36000/- per AWC and for drinking water provisioning the approved cost is Rs. 17000/- per AWC to be shared by Centre and States/UTs as per the cost sharing ratio.

Further, Government has also decided to upgrade all Mini AWCs with one worker to fullfledged Anganwadi Centres with one worker and one helper each.

Directions have been issued to States/UTs to co-locate Anganwadi Centres, which are running on rent without sufficient infrastructure, at nearby Primary Schools, where space is available.

Under  Mission  Poshan  2.0,  Anganwadi  workers  (AWWs)  have  been  technologically empowered with the provision of smartphones for efficient monitoring of activities and better service delivery for beneficiaries. The mobile application Poshan Tracker digitizes physical registers used by Anganwadi workers. It improves the quality of their work while simultaneously allowing them more time for monitoring of all activities going on in the anganwadi.

In  addition  to  AWWs,  Smartphones  are  also  provided  to  Supervisors  and  Block Coordinators. Similarly, data recharge support is provided to AWWs, Supervisors and Block Coordinators.

Regular monitoring of growth parameters is essential for identifying children who may be malnourished and for making timely interventions. Therefore, Anganwadi centres have been equipped with Growth Monitoring devices like infantometer, stadiometer, weighing scale-infant, weighing scale - Mother & Child.

IT systems have been leveraged to strengthen and bring about transparency in nutrition delivery support systems at the Anganwadi centres. The 'Poshan Tracker' application was rolled out on 1st March 2021 as an important governance tool.

The  Poshan  Tracker  facilitates  monitoring  and  tracking  of  all  AWCs,  AWWs  and beneficiaries on defined indicators. Technology under Poshan Tracker is being leveraged for dynamic identification of stunting, wasting, under-weight prevalence among children. It  has  facilitated  near  real  time  data  collection  for  Anganwadi  Services  such  as,  daily attendance, ECCE, Provision of Hot Cooked Meal (HCM)/Take Home Ration (THR-not raw ration), Growth Measurement etc.

Various rounds of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) conducted by Ministry of Health & Family Welfare since 1992-93 have also 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             | Underweight%   | Wasting%   |   Stunting% |
|-------------------------|----------------|------------|-------------|
| NFHS-1 (1992-93)* 53.4  | 17.5           |            |        52   |
| NFHS-2 (1998-99)**      | 47             | 15.5       |        45.5 |
| NFHS-3 (2005-6)***      | 42.5           | 19.8       |        48   |
| NFHS-4 (2015-16)***35.8 |                | 21.0       |        38.4 |
| NFHS-5 (2019-21)***32.1 |                | 19.3       |        35.5 |

* 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 7.50 crores children up to 5 years are enrolled in Anganwadis and registered on Poshan Tracker of the Ministry of Women & Child Development as per the December 2024 data. 7.18 crores of these children were measured on growth parameters of height and weight. 39.68% of these children have been found to be stunted, 17.22% children have been found to be underweight and 5.5% 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 December 2024 data of Poshan Tracker, 8.82 crores children (0-6 years) are enrolled in Anganwadis out of whom 8.43 crores were measured on growth parameters of height and weight. 38.32% of these children (0-6 years) have been found to be stunted and 17.82% children (0-6 years) have been found to be underweight.

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