Lok Sabha Question No. 1048 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-12-05
Subject: Holistic Development of Women and Children
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Smt. Shambhavi, Shri Rajesh Verma, Dr. D. Purandeswari, Dr. Lata Wankhede, Shri Atul Garg

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1048

TO BE ANSWERED ON 05.12.2025

## HOLISTIC DEVELOPMENT OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN

## 1048.   DR. LATA WANKHEDE:

DR. D. PURANDESWARI:

SHRI ATUL GARG:

SHRI RAJESH VERMA:

SMT. SHAMBHAVI:

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

- (a) whether the Government has assessed the current status of malnutrition, health/education among children, particularly girls, in the country, State/UT-wise, if so, the details thereof;
- (b) the  details  of  the  steps  being  taken  to  improve  nutrition,  healthcare/early  childhood development under schemes such as Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) and Poshan Abhiyaan during the last three years;
- (c) whether the Government has implemented any measures to prevent child marriage, ensure girl child education and reduce gender-based disparities, if so, the details thereof;
- (d) the details of initiatives undertaken to promote women's empowerment/safety/economic participation, particularly in rural and semi urban areas; and
- (e) whether  the  Government  has  formulated  any  long-term  strategies  to  ensure  holistic development, protection/welfare of women and children in the country, if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

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

(a) Various rounds of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) conducted by Ministry of Health  &  Family  Welfare  in  the  entire  country  on  sample  basis  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    |          42.5  |      19.8  |
| NFHS-4 (2015-16) ***              |       38.4  |          35.8  |      21    |
| NFHS-5 (2019-21) ***              |       35.5  |          32.1  |      19.3  |
| Poshan Tracker (October 2025) *** |       33.54 |          14.41 |       5.03 |

* Under 4 years
- ** Under 3 years
- *** Under 5 years

The  analysis  of  the  above  NFHS  data  and  the  Poshan  Tracker  data  shows  improvement  in malnutrition  indicators  in  children  across  the  country.  The  State/UT  wise  data  from  Poshan Tracker, on Stunting, wasting and underweight is available at the link: https://www.poshantracker.in/statistics.

(b) To  address  the  challenge  of  malnutrition,  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). 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. This Mission is being implemented across the country.

The objectives of Mission are as follows:

- To contribute to development of human capital in the country;
- Address challenge of malnutrition;
- Promote nutrition awareness and good eating habits for sustainable health and wellbeing

Nutrition  goes  beyond  mere  eating  of  food;  it  requires  proper  digestion,  absorption,  and metabolism  of  nutrients.  This  process  is  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  in  a  convergent  manner.  It  is  being  addressed  under  the  Mission  by establishing cross cutting convergence amongst more than 18 Ministries/Departments.

Under the Mission, 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, 2013. 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 (Calcium, Zinc, Iron, Dietary Folate, Vitamin-A, Vitamin-B6 and Vitamin B-12).

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.

Ministries of Women & Child Development and 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.

The Suposhit Gram Panchayat Abhiyaan was launched last year with an aim to improve nutritional outcomes and well-being through strengthened nutrition services, community participation, and multi-stakeholder convergence. The top 1000 Gram Panchayats will be awarded an incentive of 1 lakh.  These  incentives  will  be  utilized  to  motivate  the  Anganwadi  workers  &  helpers  to  help improve  service  delivery,  and  as  an  incentive  to  the  Gram  Panchayat  to  improve  community mobilization & increase enrollment and help nutrition related initiatives.

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 Andolans 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.

Under the Poshan Bhi Padhai Bhi (PBPB) initiative, the Ministry is imparting training to all the officials and field functionaries in the States/ UTs through a cascading model of training, wherein Master Trainers (namely, District Officers, Block Coordinators and Supervisors) are trained, and the master trainers further train all Anganwadi Workers in the field. As on 30 th  November 2025, 8,95,814 AWWs have been trained across the country.

Further, 2 lakh Anganwadi Centres have been approved to be upgraded as Saksham Anganwadis for improved nutrition delivery and for imparting early childhood care and development. 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.

Poshan Tracker an ICT tool has been implemented for 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,  Delivery  of  Hot  Cooked  Meal  (HCM)/Take  Home  Ration  (THR-not  raw ration), Growth Measurement etc. The App also offers counselling videos on key behaviours and services  which  help  disseminate  messages  on  birth  preparedness,  delivery,  post-natal  care, breastfeeding, and complementary feeding.

(c) to (e): The details of initiatives undertaken to promote women's empowerment/safety/economic participation by Ministry of Women and Child Development are as under:

The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 (PCMA) has been enacted to prevent and curb child marriages  and  to  take  punitive  action  against  those  associated  with  the  solemnisation  of  child marriages. Since, the enactment of The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA) 2006, the prevalence of child marriage in the country has reduced to almost half from 47 % in National Family Health Survey (NFHS)- 3 (2005- 06) to 23.3% in NFHS-5 (2019-21). This shows that the law has a strong effect in prevention of child marriages in the country.

Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) implements the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) component under the umbrella scheme of 'Mission Shakti', wherein creation of awareness on matters pertaining to gender equality and discouraging child marriage is an important focus area.

The  National  Commission  for  Protection  of  Child  Rights  (NCPCR)  under  the  Ministry  also undertakes  awareness  programs  and  consultations  with  stakeholders  from  time  to  time  in  this regard.  The  National  Legal  Services  Authority  with  its  States  and  District  arms  also  creates awareness about the ill- effects of child marriage.

The  National  Legal  Services  Authority  (NALSA)  has  issued  a  Standard  Operating  Procedure (SOP) to its  functionaries  for  effective  prevention  of  child  marriages  in  coordination  with  the statutory officers and other authorities. It also has a dedicated helpline 15100 which provides free legal aid to the specified sections of citizens including women and children.

The Ministry launched 'Bal Vivah Mukt Bharat' campaign on last year which focuses on making India child marriage free. It is one of the most important imperatives to promote education, skilling, enterprise and entrepreneurship among girls and women to real ise the vision of a 'Viksit Bharat' through  'whole  of  government'  and  'whole  of  society'  approach,  including  the  civil  society organisations.  Under  the  campaign,  a  portal  'https://stopchildmarriage.wcd.gov.in'  has  been launched  to  support  the  States  and  UTs  in  raising  awareness  against  child  marriage  and  for effective reporting and prevention of incidences of child marriage. The portal also has facility to provide information to citizens about Child Marriage Prohibition Officers (CMPOs) of all States/ UTs. The portal has information of more than 38000 CMPOs which is accessible by the public.

In addition, the Ministry has introduced Child Helpline with short code 1098, a toll-free 24*7*365 telephone emergency outreach service for children in crisis.

Shakti Sadan Scheme under the overarching Mission Shakti, erstwhile Schemes of Swadhar Greh for women in difficult circumstances and Ujjawala Home for Prevention of Trafficking have been merged and known as Shakti Sadan which is an Integrated Relief and Rehabilitation Home for women  in  distress  situations  including  trafficked  women.  The  Scheme  is  a  demand  driven Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme,  under  which  funds  are  released  directly  to  the  States/UTs  for implementation of the scheme. It aims at creating a safe and enabling environment for the women in distress situations, to enable them to overcome the difficult circumstances. Presently, 407 Shakti Sadans are functional across the country.

Sakhi  Niwas  Scheme  (Working  Women  Hostel)  under  the  overarching  Mission  Shakti,  is  a demand  driven  Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme,  under  which  funds  are  released  directly  to  the States/UTs for implementation of the scheme. The scheme aims to promote availability of safe and conveniently located accommodation for working women in urban, semi-urban and also in rural areas where employment opportunity for women exists. Under the Scheme, financial assistance is provided for running of Sakhi Niwas in rented premises for working women and for those women who are under training for job. Provision of Day Care Centre for children of the residents of the Sakhi Niwas is an important aspect of the scheme. Presently, 531 Sakhi Niwas are functional across the country.

The SANKALP: HEW (Hub for Empowerment of Women), has been introduced on 1st April 2022, under the umbrella Mission Shakti, which functions as a Project Monitoring Unit (PMU) for all components of Mission Shakti. It serves as a single window system to bridge the information and knowledge gap regarding schemes and facilities available for women as well as guide them to avail the benefits and entitlements.

Hub  for  Empowerment  of  Women  (HEW),  a  component  under  Samarthya,  sub-scheme  of 'Mission  Shakti'  is  functioning  as  a  Project  Management  Unit  (PMU)  for  monitoring  and supervisory unit of Mission Shakti Scheme. The HEW centres also engage in widespread outreach and  awareness  through  organising  awareness  activities,  camps,  and  campaigns  to  disseminate information related to women centric schemes, programmes, policies and legislations. SANKALP: HEW is being implemented in all States/UTs except the State of West Bengal. State SANKALP: HEWs are functional  in  35  States/UTs  and  District  SANKALP:  HEWs  are  functional  in  742 districts.

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