5-Aug-2022: Digitalization of Anganwadi Services

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. Further, under Poshan Abhiyan, for the first time, a digital revolution was ushered in when the Anganwadi Centres were equipped with mobile devices. The mobile application has also facilitated digitization and automation of physical registers used by AWWs that helps in improving their quality of work.

Universal access to Anganwadi Services ensures that no beneficiary, who migrates or whose family migrates from one State to another or within a State is deprived of access to key services delivered through Anganwadis. To facilitate the same, a module on ‘migration’ is available and functional on Poshan Tracker. Using the same, beneficiary details can be accessed by the Anganwadi Centre, where the beneficiary migrated to, by using the beneficiary’s Aadhar details. The Anganwadi Worker at the Centre, where the beneficiary migrated to, can pull the data of the beneficiary to its own data-base by using the migration module. In this regard, Ministry has informed all States / UTs about the detailed flowchart of the migration module on the Poshan Tracker and advised them to undertake appropriate measures for wider dissemination of the availability of this facility among beneficiaries

Aadhaar Seeding of beneficiaries has been initiated to ensure last mile tracking and effective delivery of services to beneficiaries at Anganwadi centres. Further, a child's Aadhaar card shall not be mandatory for availing the benefits under the Scheme. The benefits under the scheme can be accessed using the mother's Aadhaar card. As on 31st July 2022, close to 53% of beneficiaries have been Aadhar seeded on the Poshan Tracker. The Ministry is constantly following up with the States/ UTs to complete the Aadhar seeding process. Funds for enrollment kits have been placed with the States/UTs to facilitate enrollment of beneficiaries at the AWC itself.

3-Aug-2022: Inclusion of Ayush Component in Ration Provided by Anganwadi Centres

Under Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0, time-tested traditional wisdom in community nutritional practices is sought to be leveraged through Ayush formulations and simple Ayurveda interventions to improve digestive capacity, absorption of nutrients, address anaemia and aid in management of malnutrition for the holistic nourishment of children, pregnant women and lactating mothers.

In the State of Gujarat, since January 2022, AYUSH component has been introduced in the current micro nutrient-enriched Take Home Ration for pregnant women, lactating mothers and children (6 months to 3 years) on pilot basis in 6 districts (Jamnagar, Devbhoomi Dwarka, Dang, Narmada, Bhavnagar and Dahod).

In order to assess the impact of addition of AYUSH formulations to the Take Home Ration, Government of Gujarat has given the project to Indian Institute of Public Health, Gandhinagar, for a baseline assessment and an end line survey.

Further, as per the information received from the State of Karnataka, AYUSH components have not been introduced to the ration provided by the Anganwadi Centers.

27-Jul-2022: Revamping of Anganwadis

Revamping of Anganwadis is a continuous process for which various steps have been taken from time to time for improving the condition of Anganwadi Centres (AWCs) across the country. To upgrade Anganwadi Centres, 2 lakh AWCs (40,000 AWCs per year) across the country have been approved to be upgraded as Saksham Anganwadi by providing better infrastructure including Poshan Vatikas for improved quality of services in health, nutrition and Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE).

Streamlined guidelines were issued on 13.01.2021, covering several aspects such as quality assurance, roles and responsibilities of duty holders, procedure for procurement, integrating AYUSH concepts and Data management and Monitoring through ‘Poshan Tracker’ for transparency, efficiency and accountability in delivery of Supplementary Nutrition.

Further, a robust ICT enabled platform named Poshan Tracker has been designed to capture real-time data on implementation and monitoring of AWCs across the country on defined indicators. The Poshan Tracker management application will generate data on activities at the AWC and service deliveries of Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) for complete beneficiary management.

22-Jul-2022: Saksham Anganwadis

Government of India has approved upgradation of 2 lakh Anganwadi Centres (AWCs) as Saksham Anganwadis @ 40,000 per year during Financial Year 2021-22 to 2025-26. Government owned AWC building with space for Poshanvatika/nutri-garden are proposed to be upgraded into Saksham Anganwadi @ 40,000 Anganwadis per year from 2022-23. Saksham Anganwadi shall have RO machine, Rainwater harvesting system, Learning & Playing material for ECCE, audio-visual aids/multi-purpose LED, Wi-Fi connectivity, boundary wall, etc. For the purpose, States have been asked to identify AWCs for upgradation during financial year 2022-23 as Saksham Anganwadis in Aspirational Districts across the country.

20-Jul-2022: Linking of Aadhaar Card for Supplementary Nutrition Programme

Supplementary Nutrition Program offered at Anganwadi Centres involves recurring expenditure incurred from the Consolidated Fund of India. Therefore, in pursuance of the provisions of Section-7 of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 (18 of 2016), the Ministry has notified the Supplementary Nutrition Programme vide Notification No.S.O-348(E) dated 06.02.2017. Anganwadi Services scheme is being digitized by the Ministry through the POSHAN Tracker App. Digitization of the scheme will enable the Ministry to identify the beneficiaries as a part of the programme as a whole.

No child is deprived of supplementary nutrition due to absence of Aadhaar number. The benefits under the scheme can be accessed using the mother's Aadhaar card.

As per the information received from UIDAI, the age wise data is compiled by UIDAI in the following age-groups:

1. 0-5 years
2. 5-18 years
3. > 18 years
4. Overall

As on 30th June, 2022, Aadhaar numbers have been assigned to 3,16,70,612 children in the age of 0-5 years out of the total projected population (2022) of 11,47,12,650 in the age group of 0-5 years.

Ministry has been re-calibrating Data to maximize nutritional out comes for genuine beneficiaries.

1-Dec-2021: Welfare of Anganwadi and Asha Workers

Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP) Insurance Scheme for Health Care Workers Fighting COVID-19 was launched to provide comprehensive personal accident cover of Rs.50 Lakh to 22.12 lakh health care providers and the same has been extended to ASHA as well as Anganwadi Workers who may have been in direct contact and care of COVID-19 patients and may be at risk of being impacted by this subject to fulfillment of the certain conditions.

Public Health and Hospitals being a State Subject, all the administrative and personnel matters of health human resource lie with the respective State Government/UT Administration. Under National Health Mission (NHM) support is provided to States/UTs to strengthen their healthcare systems including support for remuneration of health human resources including incentives for ASHA workers, based on the requirements posed by the States/UTs in their Programme Implementation Plans (PIPs) subject to availability of resources. Under National Health Mission, ASHAs are envisaged to be community health volunteer and are entitled to task/activity based incentives.

In FY 2018-19 the Union Cabinet approved the revised amount of routine recurrent incentive for ASHAs from Rs.1000/month to Rs.2000/month. States /UTs have been requested to continue full payment of the existing routine & recurring incentive of Rs. 2000/- per month to ASHA during COVID-19 to ensure delivery of healthcare services during the pandemic. Additionally, performance-based incentives is provided for a varied set of activities under various National Health Programmes. After the launch of the Ayushman Bharat Scheme with operationalisation of Ayushman Bharat - Health and Wellness Centres (AB-HWCs), ASHAs are now additionally eligible for Team Based Incentives (TBIs) along with ANMs based on monitored performance indicators (up to Rs.1000 per month).

With effect from 01.10.2018, Government of India has enhanced the honorarium of AWWs at main AWCs from ₹ 3,000/- to ₹ 4,500/- per month; AWWs at mini-AWCs from ₹ 2,250/- to ₹ 3,500/- per month; AWHs from ₹ 1,500/- to ₹ 2,250/- per month; and introduced performance linked incentive of ₹ 250/- per month to AWHs effective from 1st October, 2018. Further, Performance linked incentive of Rs.500/- to AWWs has also been approved w.e.f. 1st April, 2021 under POSHAN Abhiyaan.

States/UTs have been asked to ensure provision of safety tools like masks, gloves, soaps and sanitizers etc. for ASHAs as well as Anganwadi Workers.

6-Aug-2021: Impact of Covid on Anganwadi Services

Anganwadi Centres are closed due to Covid-19 pandemic. No survey has been planned on ground, as human interaction has been minimised to control the spread of virus. However, to ensure continuous nutritional support to Anganwadi beneficiaries, Anganwadi Workers and Helpers are distributing Supplementary Nutrition at the doorsteps of beneficiaries once in 15 days.

This Ministry has launched "Poshan Tracker” in March, 2021, a robust ICT enabled digital platform, to ensure real time monitoring of supplementary nutrition by use of data analytics for prompt supervision and management of services, tracking of all AWCs, AWWs and beneficiaries on defined indicators.

The Poshan tracker has provision for an integrated helpline for taking feedback of beneficiaries, frontline functionaries & from States/UTs. More than 50,000 feedback /queries have been received on Poshan Tracker since March 2021, which have been resolved. Support System has been established at National Level to facilitate adoption challenges faced by States.

Further, Ministry has sent a communication to States/UTs regarding appointment of nodal person for provide technical support to States/UTs and resolution of issues of downloading/functioning of the new Poshan Tracker.

5-Aug-2021: Smart Anganwadi Project

Anganwadi Services under Umbrella ICDS Scheme is one of the ongoing flagship programmes of the Government of India for early childhood care and development. The beneficiaries under this scheme are children in the age group of 0-6 years, pregnant women and lactating mothers.

Under Anganwadi Services, a package of six services, namely, (i) Supplementary Nutrition; (ii) Pre-school Non-formal Education; (iii) Nutrition & Health Education; (iv) Immunization; (v) Health Check-up; and (vi) Referral Services is being provided to all eligible beneficiaries. Three of the six services, viz., immunization, health check-up and referral services, are related to health and are provided by NRHM & Public Health Infrastructure.

The Scheme operates through a network of 7075 fully operational Projects and 13.87 lakh AWCs as on March, 2021.

The list of non- functional Anganwadi Kendras State/ UT-wise is at Annexure-1. From time to time Ministry advises States/UTs to operationalize the Anganwadi centres which are nonoperational. Further, in various meetings, States/ UTs have been advised to expedite the operationalization of the non-functional AWCs for the benefit of the people.

Smart Anganwadi Project is an initiative of Government of Kerala for improving the service delivered at Anganwadi Centre for overall physical and mental development of children. The State has finalized 6 types of plans and estimates for the construction of Anganwadi Buildings on the basis of availability of land. It provides space for class rooms, dining hall, kitchen, store room, creative zone, indoor and outdoor play area. The funds have been provided by the State Government and LSGD Institutions.

The first Smart Anganwadi building in the State of Kerala is under construction in Thiruvananthapuram District under Thiruvananthapuram Urban II ICDS Project. The project cost for the same is Rs.44,94,518/-, for which sufficient funds have been provided by the State Government of Kerala. 80% of the construction of Anganwadi Building has been completed.

5-Aug-2021: Additional Nutrition to Children Through Anganwadis

In order to improve the nutritional status of women and children, Government is providing additional nutrition through Supplementary Nutrition Programme (SNP) under Anganwadi Services (AWS) and Scheme for Adolescent Girls (SAG) under the Umbrella Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme to children (6 months to 6 years), Pregnant Women, Lactating Mothers and out-of-school Adolescent Girls (11-14 years).

Further, POSHAN Abhiyaan has been launched on 8th March, 2018, with an objective to reduce malnutrition from the country in a phased manner and achieve improvement in nutritional status.

Mission Poshan 2.0 (Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0) has been announced in budget 2021-2022 as an integrated nutrition support programme, to strengthen nutritional content, delivery, outreach and outcomes with focus on developing practices that nurture health, wellness and immunity to disease and malnutrition.

No survey has been conducted by the Ministry of Women and Child Development to collect data on the requirement for finalisation of supply, nor the Ministry has appointed any agency for the purchase and supply of food. However, streamlining guidelines were issued to all States/ UTs on 13.01.2021, covering several aspects such as quality assurance, supply chain management, roles and responsibilities of duty holders, procedure for procurement, integrating AYUSH concepts, Data management and Monitoring through ‘Poshan Tracker’ for transparency, efficiency and accountability in delivery of supplementary nutrition.

The Poshan Tracker application rolled out in March 2021 is a digital enabler for both beneficiaries and Government functionaries including Anganwadi workers (AWWs). On the one hand, on boarding of citizens/beneficiaries on Poshan Tracker application would enable them to demand for their entitlements and on the other hand, it will act as an effective governance tool to strengthen and bring about transparency in nutrition delivery support systems for improving maternal and child under nutrition. The POSHAN Tracker management application provides a 360-degree view of the activities of the Anganwadi Centre (AWC), service deliveries of Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) and complete beneficiary management for pregnant women, lactating mothers and children.

Poshan Tracker application has been built on latest technology for ensuring real time monitoring of provisioning supplementary nutrition for improving nutritional status of beneficiaries and providing real time information for prompt supervision and management of services. It has a real time monitoring dashboard available for all level department users, i.e. National, State, District, Project and Sector levels. Dashboard for Government officials and public are available separately.

23-Jul-2021: Revamping of Anganwadis

Revamping of Anganwadis is a continuous process for which various steps have been taken from time to time by the Ministry of Women & Child Development for improving the condition of Anganwadi centres across the country. Following measures have been taken for upgradation of facilities at Anganwadi Centres (AWCs):

1. Revised joint guidelines were issued by Ministries of Women & Child Development, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj for construction of 4 lakh AWC buildings across the country under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in convergence with Anganwadi Services (ICDS Scheme).
2. Under Swachhta Action Plan, Rs. 10,000/-per AWC is provided for drinking water facilities and Rs.12,000/-per AWC for toilet facilities.
3. Grants are sanctioned for purchase of water filter, furniture, equipment, etc.
4. Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) have been provided with Smart Phones for efficient service delivery.
5. Streamlined guidelines were issued on 13.01.2021, covering several aspects such as quality assurance, roles and responsibilities of duty holders, procedure for procurement, integrating AYUSH concepts and Data management and Monitoring through ‘Poshan Tracker’ for transparency, efficiency and accountability in delivery of Supplementary Nutrition.

Training is a crucial element in the Anganwadi Services Scheme as the achievement of the Programme goals largely depend upon the effectiveness of frontline workers in improving service delivery. Since the inception of the Scheme, the Ministry has formulated a comprehensive training strategy for the functionaries of Anganwadi Services. Training is imparted to the functionaries on a regular basis.

Anganwadi Workers are provided job training for 26 working days. During this job training, the knowledge, understanding and skills of Anganwadi Workers on various Acts, Policies, Programmes related to women and children, setting up vibrant Anganwadi Centres, conducting Early Childhood Care and Education activities, health & nutrition care of children and women, Community Mobilisation, Awareness, Advocacy & IEC, Management of AWC and hands on experience through supervised practice to work in Anganwadi Centres are developed.

Moreover, a robust ICT enabled platform named Poshan tracker has been designed to capture real-time data on implementation and monitoring of Anganwadi Services across the country. The Poshan Tracker management application provides a 360 - degree view of the activities of the Anganwadi Centre (AWC), service deliveries of Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) and complete beneficiary management.

Common services Centres (CSC) SPV under Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has been entrusted with providing technical support to States/ UTs and to resolve issue regarding downloading the new Poshan Tracker app and its functioning as well as imparting inputs based training to the field functionaries. State- wise nodal person from CSC-SPV have been identified for smooth functioning of the application.

29-Jul-2022: Scheme for Promotion of Menstrual Hygiene

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare implements the Scheme for Promotion of Menstrual Hygiene among adolescent girls in the age group of 10-19 years since 2011. The scheme is supported by the National Health Mission through State Programme Implementation Plan (PIP) route based on the proposals received from the States / UTs. The major objectives of the scheme are (i) to increase awareness among adolescent girls on menstrual hygiene; (ii) to increase access to and use of high quality sanitary napkins by adolescent girls, and (iii) to ensure safe disposal of sanitary napkins in an environment friendly manner. Under the scheme, a pack of sanitary napkins are provided to adolescent girls by the Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) at subsidized rate of Rs. 6 per pack.

In addition, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan has developed National Guidelines on Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) for creating awareness on Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) in rural areas as part of its overall interventions related to behaviour change on sanitation hygiene aspect.

Further, to ensure access to sanitary napkins and good quality medicines at affordable price, Department of Pharmaceuticals under Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers implements the Pradhan Mantri Bharatiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP), an important step in ensuring the health security for women. Under the project, over 8700 Janaushadhi Kendras have been set up across the country that provides Oxo-biodegradable sanitary napkins named Suvidha at Rs. 1/- per pad only.

30-Jul-2021: Menstrual Hygiene Among Adolescent Girls

Government is working to improve menstrual hygiene practices through various Ministries. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MHFW) has been implementing the Scheme for Promotion of Menstrual Hygiene among adolescent girls in the age group of 10-19 years as part of the Reproductive Child Health programme since 2011 and later under the Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram. The major objectives of the scheme are to increase awareness among adolescent girls on menstrual hygiene, to increase access to and use of high quality sanitary napkins by adolescent girls and to ensure safe disposal of sanitary napkins in an environmentally friendly manner. Since 2015-16, the procurement of sanitary napkins and IEC/ BCC activities for menstrual hygiene are being supported by National Health Mission through the State Programme Implementation Plans (PIPs) route based on the proposals received from States and UTs. States/ UTs have decentralized procurement of sanitary napkins for ensuring quality standards. The details of funds allocated for promotion of menstrual hygiene under the National Health Mission by MHFW State/ UT wise, including Odisha, is placed at Annexure.

Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan has developed National Guidelines on Menstrual Hygiene Management (NHM) with focus on ensuring provision of functional toilets and availability of safe water.

Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers of Government of India under the Pradhan Mantri Bharatiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP), provides low cost hygienic oxy-biodegradable sanitary napkins named as Suvidha. The price of the sanitary pads has been reduced from Rs. 4.00 per pad on launch to Rs 1.00 per pad, which is available for sale in more than 7,900 PMBJP Kendras across the country to ensure ‘Swachhta, Swasthya and Suvidha for the underprivileged women of India.

4-Jan-2019: Menstrual Hygiene for Adolescent girls Schemes

To address the need of menstrual hygiene among adolescent girls residing primarily in rural areas, Government of India is supporting the Menstrual Hygiene Scheme, under which, funds are provided to States/UTs through National Health Mission for decentralized procurement of sanitary napkins packs for provision primarily to rural adolescent girls at subsidized rates as per proposals received from the States and UTs in their Programme Implementation Plans.

This scheme encompasses the following:

• Increasing awareness among adolescent girls on Menstrual Hygiene
• Improving access to and use of high quality sanitary napkins by adolescent girls in rural areas.
• Ensuring safe disposal of Sanitary Napkins in an environmentally friendly manner.
• Provision of funds to ASHAs to hold monthly meeting with adolescents to discuss issues related to menstrual hygiene.

A range of IEC material has been developed around Menstrual hygiene Scheme, using a 360 degree approach to create awareness among adolescent girls about safe & hygienic menstrual health practices which includes audio, video and reading materials for adolescent girls and job-aids for ASHAs and other field level functionaries for communicating with adolescent girls.

ASHAs across the country are trained and play a significant role in promotion of use and distribution of the sanitary napkins.

Department of Health Research, under the Ministry of Health, is involved in assessment of all newer, alternative, environment friendly menstrual hygiene products to look into their safety and acceptability features.