Lok Sabha Question No. 3267 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-08-08
Subject: Poshan 2.0 Tracker App
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Shri Prabhakar Reddy Vemireddy, Shri Gurjeet Singh Aujla

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3267

TO BE ANSWERED ON 08.08.2025

## POSHAN 2.0 TRACKER APP

## 3267. SHRI PRABHAKAR REDDY VEMIREDDY: SHRI GURJEET SINGH AUJLA:

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

- (a) The current status of the implementation of Poshan 2.0;
- (b) whether Ministry has started facial recognition system/biometric authentication for Poshan 2.0  beneficiaries  through  Poshan  2.0  tracker  application,  if  so,  details thereof;
- (c) the details of the constrains Government  is facing from Aadhaar-based authentication  in  the  Poshan  tracker  App  including  lack  of  Smart  phones,  4G connectivity, network issue in rural/tribal areas, Anganwadi Centers;
- (d) whether privacy of children not compromised as photos are uploaded and are in the database of Government, if so, the details thereof;
- (e) whether two-factor authentication (photograph/OTP linked to Aadhar) is mandatory to receive Take Home Ration (THR), if so, the details thereof;
- (f) whether denial of THR without said authentication is in violation of National Food Security  Act  at  Supreme  Court  judgement  regarding  right  to  pregnant  women lactating mothers and children;
- (g) whether  the  Face  Recognition  System  (FRS)  has  been  implemented  without adequate infrastructure, if so, the details thereof; and
- (h) whether  Government  intend  to  suspend/review  the  implementation  of  FRS requirement, if so, the details thereof along with the step being taken to protect Anganwadi Workers from any harassment and uphold beneficiaries right under Food Security Act?

## ANSWER

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

(a)  to  (h):  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  where  there  are  no  entry  barriers  for  any  beneficiary  to  register  and receive services.

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.

Face Recognition System (FRS) Module was initially implemented as a pilot in the month of  August  2024.  It  was  implemented  on  an  optional  basis  pan  India  in  the  month  of December 2024. Since  then,  duty  holders  in  the  States  and  UTs  have  been  trained  to perform facial recognition and verify beneficiaries with Aadhaar database. It is implemented  since July 1, 2025 for ensuring last mile delivery of take-home ration to the rightful  beneficiary.   The  FRS  module  has  been  developed  as  part  of  Poshan  Tracker application. To verify a beneficiary through Aadhar identification, eKYC is performed along with capturing of liveliness image of the beneficiary. This onboarding process is performed once in the lifetime of the beneficiary on Poshan Tracker. For availing benefits of take-home ration on monthly basis, face matching can be performed both in online and offline mode and no repeated eKYC is required. The offline mode feature has been developed keeping in consideration the areas with low digital connectivity. The Facial Recognition feature has been made compatible for low end version phones as well.  Bal Aadhar for children under 5 years of age doesn't contain any biometric data; therefore, for children aged upto 6 years, the FRS of the mother/father/guardian is being done and not that of the child.

As on 5th August 2025, face capturing and e-KYC of 3.69 crore THR beneficiaries out of the 4.91 crore eligible beneficiaries registered for Take Home Ration(THR), which is almost 75.12%, have already been completed.

Regular  training  and  handholding  sessions  have  been  conducted  by  NeGD  State Coordinators.  Further,  field  visits  by  officials  of  the  Ministry  of  Women  and  Child Development, GoI. and regular meetings with State officials have also been conducted to understand and redress technical difficulties.

Various  Data  Protection  Safeguards  exist  in  the  system.  Some  of  them  are  mentioned below:

-  The data of the beneficiary, which is collected, is subject to all existing data protection protocols,  which  mandates  purpose  limitation,  informed  consent,  and  access restrictions.

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-  All requests and responses related to Face Verification are encrypted during transit, ensuring data is protected from interception or tampering.

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-  No  images  or  data  are  stored  permanently  on  the  device.  As  a  precautionary measure, all cached or temporary data is wiped automatically when the Anganwadi worker logs out of the application.
-  The private data is not publicly accessible; it is only available to authorized personnel solely for verification purposes.
-  The Poshan Tracker application is typically used by Anganwadi Workers and it is not open  to  the  public  or  any  unauthorized  party.  Access  is  role-based,  logged  and monitored to prevent misuse.
-  Further,  the  application's  internal  database  is  encrypted,  preventing  access  to sensitive information outside the app environment
-  Face images are handled in encoded format within the app to ensure safe processing and transmission.

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