Lok Sabha Question No. 1466 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-03-04
Subject: Rapid Survey of Children
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: GAURAV GOGOI

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEPELOVEMENT

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1466

TO BE ANSWERED ON 04.03.2016

## RAPID SURVEY OF CHILDREN

## 1466. SHRI GAURAV GOGOI:

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

- (a) whether  the  Government  has  commissioned  the  Rapid  Survey  on  Children with  the  support  of  United  Nations  Children's  Fund  (UNICEF)  and  if  so,  the details and findings thereof along with the methodology adopted therefor;
- (b) whether the Government has released the complete report of survey in public domain, if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;
- (c) whether  the  Government  has  constituted  a  Committee/panel  to  re-examine /look into the findings of the said report including the methodology used in compiling the data, if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor;
- (d) whether the said Committee has submitted its report to the Government, if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor along with the time by which the said Committee is likely to submit its report;
- (e) the  details  of  the  positive  and  negative  trends  observed  in  various  key indicators used in this survey; and
- (f) the  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  improve  the  indicators  in  which negative trends are observed?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI MANEKA SANJAY GANDHI)

- (a) Rapid Survey on Children (RSOC) was commissioned by the Ministry of Women and Child Development across 29 States during 2013-14 with technical assistance from UNICEF India. Key objective of the survey was to assess the situation of

children and women with a special emphasis on access and utilization of services under the ICDS Scheme and to provide baseline data for the restructured ICDS Scheme.

Methodology used for RSOC is a multi-stage stratified random sampling survey, catering to provide national and state estimates by residence (rural/urban).

Summary of key findings of RSOC 2013-14 is at Annexure -I.

- (b) to  (d)  The  National  and  State  level  fact  sheets  in  respect  of  key  indicators  on maternal and child health and nutrition, and access and usage of ICDS services were made available by UNICEF to the Ministry during August 2014. The national fact sheet was disseminated by uploading on the Ministry's website on 2nd July 2015. On request of Ministry of Women and Child Development, a Technical SubGroup  led  by  MoSPI  with  Members  from  MoHFW,  NITI  Aayog  and  MWCD reviewed the state level data with regards to validity of the sampling design and the  methodology  and  submitted  its  report  on  RSOC  on  7th  August  2015, following which the State level fact sheets on RSOC and National level fact sheets with  details  of  sample  sizes,  design  effect,  standard  errors,  number  of  primary sampling  units  (PSUs)  were  disseminated  by  uploading  on  the  website  of  the Ministry of Women & Child Development (wcd.nic.in) on 12 th August 2015.

A positive trend has been observed in respect of improvement in key health and nutrition indicators (child nutrition and maternal health) at the national level, in comparison to the last held national survey viz., NFHS-III during 2005-06. As per the  findings  of  the  survey,  stunting  has  reduced  to  38.7%  (NFHS-III  :  48%), while  and  underweight  and  wasting  reduced  to  29.4%  (NFHS-III:  42.5%)  and 15.1%   (NFHS-III : 19.8%) respectively.

Specific  recommendations  of  the  Technical  Sub-Group  were  to  make  unit  level data available in public domain for use by academicians, researchers and others with a caution to the users against making comparison of estimates of RSOC with estimates of other surveys; Metadata for each of the indicators should be made available  to  the  users  for  appropriate  usage.  Further,  committee  recommended that for each of the States, a sheet containing population of the State, number of PSUs selected, number of households surveyed, duration of the field work and other relevant details like number of Ever Married Women (EMW), total number of children in the age group 12-23 months, number of children 0-59 months from whom  anthropometric  measurements  were  taken,  etc.  should  be  given  along with their respective sources. Design effect and standard error on core indicators for each of the States should be given along with the results was also part of the recommendations.

- (e)  Summary  of  trends  observed  in  various  indicators  used  in  the  survey  is  at Annexure-II.
- (f) With a view to address malnutrition and strengthen ICDS, the scheme was restructured and  strengthened  during  2012.  A  number  of  new  components  including  revision  of financial  norms  of  SNP  and  sensitising  the  community  about  nutrition  and  healthy practices were introduced. The goal of restructured ICDS is to (i) Prevent and reduce young child under-nutrition (% underweight children 0-3 years) by 10 percentage point; (ii) Enhance early development and learning outcomes in all children 0-6 years of age; and (iii) Improve care and nutrition of girls and women and reduce anaemia prevalence in young children, girls and women by one fifth.

In addition, t he Food and Nutrition Board of the Ministry, through its 43 regional field units, is engaged in conducting training programme in nutrition, in addition to advocacy towards generating awareness through Nutrition Education Programmes on the importance of healthy balanced diets especially through the use of locally available foods, mass awareness campaigns and use of electronic and  print  media.  The  main  aim  of  all  these  activities  is  to  improve  nutritional outcomes  and  bring  down  the  level  of  malnutrition  in  the  country  especially among women and children.

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## Annexure-I

## (LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1466 REGARDING 'Rapid Survey of Children' TO BE ANSWERED ON 04.03.2016)

## Summary of Key Findings of RSOC 2013-14

1. 29.4% children aged 0-59 months are underweight (weight for age).
2. 38.7% children aged 0-59 months are stunted (height for age).
3. 15.1% children aged 0-59 months are wasted (weight for height).
4. 64.9% children aged 0-5 months are exclusively breastfed.
5. 50.5% children aged 6-8 months are fed complementary foods.
6. 44.6% children aged 0-23 months are breasted immediately/within an hour of birth.
7. 85.2% women who had live births in 35 months prior to survey received at least one ante-natal checkup (ANC).
8. 63.4% women received three or more ANCs.
9. 89.8% women received two or more Tetanus Toxoid (TT) injections.
10. 78.7% women had institutional delivery.
11. 68.7% children 0-35 months were weighed with 24 hours of birth.
12. 65.3% children 12-23 months were fully immunized.
13. 74.8% children 12-23 months received DPT-3 injection.
14. 91% surveyed households have access to improved source of drinking water.
15. 40.5%  surveyed  AnganwadiCentres  (AWCs)  are  functioning  in  own  ICDS buildings and 21.3% in rented building.
16. 44.7% AWCs have access to drinking water within the premises.
17. 93.1% AWCs opened for at least 4 hours per day.
18. 37.9%  children aged  3-6 years attended preschool education (PSE) in AnganwadiCentres (AWCs) and 30.7% children in this age group attend private preschool facilities.
19. 96.7% of surveyed AWCs were found to be providing supplementary nutrition and 90.6% of AWCs reported providing preschool education.
20. 84.8%  Anganwadi  Workers  (AWWs)  were  having  10  or  more  years  of schooling.

## Annexure-II

## (LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1466 REGARDING 'Rapid Survey of Children' TO BE ANSWERED ON 04.03.2016)

## Trends in various key Indicators

| Indicators (%)                                                                     |   RSOC (2013-14) |   DLHS-3 (2007-08)/NFHS-III (2005-06) |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------|---------------------------------------|
| Received at least one ante- natal check-up (ANC)                                   |             85.2 |                                  75.1 |
| Received three or more ANCs                                                        |             63.4 |                                  49.7 |
| Institutional delivery                                                             |             78.7 |                                  46.9 |
| Delivered by skilled health provider                                               |             81.1 |                                  52.3 |
| With birth weight less than 2500 grams (out of those weighed)                      |             18.6 |                                  21.5 |
| Fully Immunised ( Children 12- 23 months)                                          |             65.3 |                                  53.5 |
| Received DPT 3 injection ( Children 12-23 months)                                  |             74.8 |                                  63.4 |
| Received first dose of Measles vaccine (Children 12-23 months)                     |             78.9 |                                  69.1 |
| Had diarrhoea in 15 days prior to survey (0-59 months)                             |              6.5 |                                   9   |
| Suffering from diarrhoea and for whom advice or treatment was sought (0-59 months) |             77.9 |                                  59.8 |
| Currently Married Women aged 20-24 married before age 18                           |             30.1 |                                  42.9 |
| Households practicing open defecation                                              |             45.5 |                                  50.7 |

| Indicator                                                           |   RSOC (2013-14) |   NFHS-III (2005-06) |
|---------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------|----------------------|
| Stunting                                                            |             38.7 |                 48   |
| Wasting                                                             |             15.1 |                 19.8 |
| Underweight                                                         |             29.4 |                 42.5 |
| Breastfeeding within 1 hr                                           |             44.6 |                 24.5 |
| Exclusive Breastfeeding                                             |             64.9 |                 46.4 |
| Children 6-8 given complementary foods                              |             50.5 |                 52.7 |
| Minimum Frequency children 6-23 months (Breastfed children)         |             36.3 |                 41.5 |
| Minimum dietary diversity children 6-23 months (Breastfed children) |             19.9 |                 35.3 |
| VA in last 6 months                                                 |             45.2 |                 18.1 |
| De-worming                                                          |             27.6 |                 11.9 |
| Girls 15-18 BMI, <18.5                                              |             44.7 |                 44.6 |
| HH using iodized salt                                               |             67.4 |                 51.1 |