29-Jul-2022: Enrolments under PMMVY

The Ministry of Women and Child Development is implementing Centrally Sponsored Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) with effect from 01.01.2017 with the objectives of (i) providing partial compensation for the wage loss in terms of cash incentive, so that the woman can take adequate rest before and after delivery of the first child; and (ii) to improve health seeking behaviour amongst the Pregnant Women & Lactating Mothers (PW&LM). PMMVY provides cash incentive of Rs. 5000/- directly to the bank/post office account of PW&LM. The eligible beneficiaries receive the remaining cash incentive, as per approved norms towards maternity benefit under Janani Suraksha Yojana after institutional delivery, so that on an average a woman gets Rs. 6000/-.

The PMMVY is a component under the sub-scheme 'Samarthya' of the newly launched 'Mission Shakti', an umbrella scheme for safety, security and empowerment of women. The revamped PMMVY under Mission Shakti now also aims to promote positive behavioral change towards girl child by providing additional cash incentive for the second child, if that is a girl child.

The following changes in the salient features of PMMVY have been introduced with effect from 01.04.2022 with the launch of new Mission Shakti:

1. The scheme is to provide maternity benefits to women belonging to socially and economically disadvantaged sections of society;
2. The maternity benefit is to be provided to a woman for the first two living children provided the second child is a girl;
3. For the first child the maternity benefit of ₹5000 is provided in two instalments under PMMVY and the beneficiary is also entitled to receive the cash incentive as per approved norms towards Maternity Benefit under Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) after institutional delivery so that on an average ,a women gets ₹6000
4. For the second child, the benefit of ₹6000 is to be provided subject to second child is a girl child, in one installment after the birth;
5. The beneficiary's husband’s Aadhaar is not mandatory for availing the benefits under the Scheme;
6. Cases of miscarriage/still births are to be treated as fresh cases for providing maternity benefit under the scheme.

Since inception of the Scheme, more than 2.89 crore PW&LM have been enrolled and ₹11,217.39 crore has been disbursed as on 15.07.2022.

The funds under PMMVY are released to States/UTs on the basis of indicative targets and utilisation of released funds. Thus, State/UT-wise and city-wise allocations are not made under PMMVY.

Salient features of the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY):

1. The maternity benefit is available to a woman for the first living child of family subject to fulfillment of conditionalities. All the pregnant women and lactating mothers in regular employment with Central Government or State Governments or Public Sector Undertakings or those who are in receipt of similar benefits under any law for the time being in force, are excluded.
2. The conditionalities and number of instalments under PMMVY are as under: 

Cash Transfer	Conditions	Amount in ₹
First Installment	Early Registration of Pregnancy	1,000/-
Second Installment	Received at least one antenatal Check-up (Payment after 6 months of pregnancy)	2,000/-
Third Installment	Child birth is registered Child has received first cycle of BCG, OPV, DPT and Hepatitis-B or its equivalent/substitute	2,000/-

1.  Mother and Child Protection (MCP) Card is the verification tool for verification of fulfillment of conditionalities.
2. Early registration of pregnancy has been considered as registration of pregnancy within 150 days from the date of her Last Menstrual Period (LMP) and duly recorded on MCP Card.
3. All Pregnant Women who have registered their pregnancy for the first child in family on or after 01.01.2017 are eligible for getting benefit under the programme.
4. The funds to the beneficiaries under PMMVY will be transferred directly to their Bank/Post Office account in Direct Benefit Transfer Mode.
5. If a beneficiary delivers twins/triplet/quadruplet, it will be counted as first living child in the family.
6. An eligible beneficiary can apply, at any point of time but not later than 730 days of pregnancy.
7. The grants-in-aid are transferred in ESCROW Bank Account as well as State/UT treasury for different components of the scheme. For the maternity benefit component (Conditional Cash Transfer of ₹ 5,000/-) is transferred to the Escrow Bank Account of the States/UTs and remaining components is through State/UT’s Treasury Account.
8. At the Centre, the scheme is being implemented by Ministry of Women and Child Development. The States/UTs have option to implement the scheme either through Women & Child Development Department/Social Welfare Department or through Health & Family Welfare Department.

30-Mar-2022: Benefit under the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana

Currently, the maternity benefit under the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) is available to the eligible beneficiaries for first living child. Normally, the first pregnancy of a woman exposes her to new kinds of challenges and stress factors. Hence, the scheme provides support to the mother for safe delivery and immunization of her first living child.

PMMVY covers all Pregnant Woman & Lactating Mothers (PW&LM), excluding PW&LM who are in regular employment with the Central Government or the State Governments or the Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) or those who are in receipt of similar benefits under any law for the time being in force.

Mission Shakti Scheme has been launched recently to provide integrated benefits of safety, security and empowerment to women. PMMVY has been revamped and included as a sub-scheme under Mission Shakti. In the revamped PMMVY maternity benefit amounting to Rs. 6000/- is also to be provided for the second child, but only if, the second child a girl child, to discourage pre-birth sex selection and to promote and celebrate the girl child.

The operational difficulties faced by the States/UTs in implementation of the scheme, as and when reported, are addressed through mutual/ technical discussions. To further reduce the compliance burden on the beneficiary, the number of installments under the scheme has also been reduced from 3 to 2 in the revamped scheme.

PMMVY envisages payment of maternity benefits of ₹5,000/- in beneficiary’s bank/ post office account linked to her Aadhaar Number in Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode. The eligible beneficiary is entitled to receive the remaining cash incentive as per approved norms towards Maternity Benefit under Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) after institutional delivery so that on an average, a woman gets ₹6000/-

The objective of the scheme is to provide partial compensation for the wage loss in terms of cash incentive so that the woman can take adequate rest before and after delivery of the first child and the cash incentive provided would lead to improved health seeking behaviour amongst the Pregnant Women & Lactating Mothers (PW&LM).

25-Mar-2022: Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana

The Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) is a Centrally Sponsored Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) compliant scheme. The scheme is implemented transparently and efficiently through a web-based Management Information System (MIS) Software, viz. Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana-Common Application Software (PMMVY-CAS). The maternity benefits under the scheme are directly transferred to the bank/ post office account of the beneficiaries from the Escrow bank account maintained at State/ Union Territory level in a transparent manner.

There have been demands from some quarters to universalize PMMVY. Mission Shakti has been launched recently to provide integrated benefits of safety, security and empowerment to women. Under the revamped PMMVY under Mission Shakti, written consent and the Aadhaar of husband is not a mandatory criteria, and this change will make the scheme more inclusive for single and abandoned mothers. Furthermore, the maternity benefit amounting to Rs.6,000/- is also to be provided for the second child, but only if the second child is a girl child, to discourage pre-birth sex selection and to promote the girl child.

Samarthya is an integrated sub-scheme under Mission Shakti for empowerment of women which includes Ujjawala, Swadhar Greh, Working Women Hostel, National Creche Scheme for Children of Working Mothers and PMMVY. Specific allocation is made for each component of Samarthya. Sufficient budgetary provision has been made under Samarthya for implementation of PMMVY.

11-Feb-2022: Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana

The details of funds sanctioned and amount of maternity benefits disbursed to eligible beneficiaries under PMMVY during the financial year 2021-22 and till 25.01.2022 is as under:

* This includes Central share only.

** This includes both Central and State share.

In order to facilitate inclusion of single mothers and abandoned wives, Government has envisaged that the written consent and the Aadhaar of husband is not to be a mandatory criteria in the modified guidelines of PMMVY component under recently launched Mission Shakti.

Further, the Ministry also celebrates ‘Matru Vandana Saptah’ every year to intensify implementation of the scheme and create a healthy competition amongst States/UTs. States/UTs undertake various IEC and Behaviour Change Communication (BCC) activities such as, Prabhat pheri, Nukkad Natak, newspaper advertisement, airing radio jingles, selfie campaign, door to door campaign, community programmes at field functionary levels to ensure maximum outreach.

4-Feb-2022: Achievements under Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY)

The Ministry of Women and Child Development is implementing Centrally Sponsored Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) w.e.f. 01.01.2017.  The funds are released to the States/UTs on the basis of indicative targets and utilisation of released funds.

The scheme Implementation Guidelines provide for setting up of Steering and Monitoring Committees at National, State and District levels. These Committees review the progress of implementation of the scheme periodically to strengthen the coordination and convergence between concerned departments and suggest modifications required for improving the implementation. Further, PMMVY is implemented through web-based Management and Information System (MIS) Software, viz. Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana-Common Application Software (PMMVY-CAS) which is used as an effective tool for regular monitoring of the scheme. The PMMVY-CAS is enabled to monitor key indicators like number of beneficiaries enrolled, number of beneficiaries paid maternity benefits, total maternity benefits disbursed to eligible beneficiaries etc. on near-real time basis. The PMMVY is a component under Mission Shakti launched recently to provide integrated benefits of safety, security and empowerment to women.

2-Feb-2022: Women benefitted under PMMVY

The Ministry of Women and Child Development is implementing Centrally Sponsored Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) under which maternity benefits of ₹5,000/- is being provided in three installments to Pregnant Women & Lactating Mothers (PW&LM) for the first living child of the family upon fulfillment of certain conditionalities. The maternity benefit under PMMVY is available to all PW&LM, excluding those who are in regular employment with the Central Government or the State Governments or Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) or those who are in receipt of similar benefits under any law for the time being in force. The PMMVY is a component under Mission Shakti launched recently to provide integrated benefits to women. As per the recommendations of the Expenditure Finance Committee’s minutes on Mission Shakti, benefits for second child may be provided only if the second child is the girl child to discourage pre-birth-sex selection and promote the girl child.

2-Feb-2022: Aadhaar of husband is not mandatory in modified PMMVY

The Ministry of Women and Child Development is implementing Centrally Sponsored Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) under which maternity benefits of ₹5,000/- is being provided in three instalments to Pregnant Women & Lactating Mothers (PW&LM) for the first child upon fulfilment of certain conditionalities. In order to receive the maternity benefit under PMMVY, a beneficiary is required to provide her and her husband’s Aadhaar details which are captured in the database.

There is no such requirement under other schemes meant for mother or pregnant women being implemented by the Ministry of Women and Child Development.

The PMMVY is implemented in all States/Union Territories, except Odisha and Telangana. The seasonal migrants can avail the benefits of the scheme from any of the State/Union Territory implementing the scheme.

Further, for registration under the scheme, the beneficiary is, inter-alia, required to submit her and her husband's written consent for availing the maternity benefits.

The Development & Monitoring Evaluation Office of NITI Aayog has evaluated the centrally sponsored schemes of Ministry of Women & Child Development including PMMVY and its recommendations have been considered. Accordingly, it is envisaged that the written consent and the Aadhaar of husband not to be a mandatory criteria in the modified guidelines of PMMVY component under Mission Shakti in order to facilitate inclusion of single mother and abandoned mother.

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29-Jul-2022: Fortified Rice under ICDS

Under Wheat based Nutrition Programme of Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 (erstwhile Integrated Child Development scheme), fortified rice is allocated to all States/UTs across the country.

Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN) (erstwhile Mid-Day Meal) is an on-going Centrally-Sponsored Scheme which covers all school children studying in Balvatika and classes I-VIII of Government and Government-aided schools. Government of India has approved Centrally sponsored pilot scheme on “Fortification of Rice & its Distribution under Public Distribution System on 14.02.2019 for a period of three years beginning 2019-20. M/o Consumer Affairs and Food and Public Distribution is the Nodal Ministry in the matter. DoSE&L issued instructions to all the States/UTs to use fortified rice wherever supplied by Food Corporation of India (FCI). As per information received, fortified rice is distributed/consumed in all districts across the country subject to availability of fortified rice.

A robust ICT enabled platform named as “Poshan Tracker” management application has been launched which provides a view of the activities at the Anganwadi Centre (AWC), service deliveries of Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) and beneficiary management for pregnant women, lactating mothers and children. The application aims to improve governance with regard to real time monitoring and provisioning of supplementary nutrition for prompt supervisions and management of services. Further, for the first time, Anganwadi workers have been provided with 11.30 lakh smart phones. Besides, to promote regular growth monitoring, 11.94 lakh Growth Monitoring Devices (Infantometer, Stadiometer, Weighing Scale for Infants and Weighing Scale for Mother and Child) have been procured by States/UTs under the Abhiyaan.

Under Wheat based Nutrition Programme of Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 (erstwhile Integrated Child Development scheme), from the third quarter onwards of FY 2021-22, 100 percent fortified Rice is being distributed to all the States/UTs across the country which also includes aspirational and heavy burdened districts as well.

22-Dec-2021: Aims and Objectives of ICDS Scheme

Anganwadi Services (Umbrella Integrated Child Development Services Scheme) is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme implemented by States/UTs with the following objectives:-

1. To improve the nutritional and health status of children in the age-group of 0-6 years;
2. To lay the foundation for proper psychological, physical and social development of the child;
3. To reduce the incidence of mortality, morbidity, malnutrition and school dropouts;
4. To achieve effective co-ordination of policy and implementation amongst the various departments to promote child development; and
5. To enhance the capability of the mother to look after the normal health and nutritional needs of the child through proper nutrition and health education.

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 has been provided to all eligible beneficiaries, namely, children in the age group of 0-6 years, pregnant women and lactating mothers through the platform of Anganwadi Centres across the country. Three of the services viz. Immunization, Health Check-up and Referral Services are related to health and are provided through NRHM & Public Health Infrastructure.

From time to time Government has taken many steps for strengthening Anganwadi Services. These include revision of cost norms of supplementary nutrition, provision of construction of Anganwadi Centres under Convergence with Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), provision of drinking water and sanitation facilities under Swachhta Action Plan (SAP) etc. There have been sustained engagements with State Governments for review and improvement including recent interactions to discuss different implementation related issues to strengthen services. Further, 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 has been issued.

1-Dec-2021: Status of ICDS

Presently, the Anganwadi Services Scheme is implemented through 7075 Projects and 1389110 operational Anganwadi Centres (as on 30.6.2021) across the country covering 9.06 crore beneficiaries.

In order to improve nutritional outcomes in children to address the issue of malnutrition across the country the Government is taking the following measures:

1. Government has accorded high priority to the issue of malnutrition and is implementing several schemes like Anganwadi Services, Scheme for Adolescent Girls and Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) under the Umbrella Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme as direct targeted interventions; Supplementary Nutrition is provided under the Anganwadi Services Scheme in the form of Hot Cooked Meal, Morning Snack and Take Home Ration;
2. POSHAN Abhiyaan launched on 8th March 2018, aims to reduce malnutrition in the country in a phased manner, through a synergised and result oriented approach;
3. Government has taken measures to strengthen nutritional content, delivery, outreach and outcomes with focus on developing practices that nurture health, wellness and immunity to disease and malnutrition under Poshan 2.0 announced in Budget 2021-22. Steps have also been taken to improve nutritional quality and testing, strengthen delivery and leverage technology under Poshan Tracker, a robust ICT platform to improve governance. Government has advised States/UTs to ensure that the quality of supplementary nutrition conforms to prescribed standards laid down under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and regulations made thereunder. States/UTs have also been advised to promote use of AYUSH systems for prevention of malnutrition and related diseases. A programme to support development of Poshan Vatikas at Anganwadi centers to meet dietary diversity gap leveraging traditional knowledge in nutritional practices has also been taken up;
4. Streamlined Guidelines were issued for transparency and accountability in delivery of supplementary nutrition and to track nutritional outcomes on 13.01.2021;
5. Government of India under the Universal Immunization Program (UIP), is providing immunization services through outreach and facility based immunization sessions. Periodic intensification of routine immunization activities – Mission Indradhanush and Intensified Mission Indradhanush are undertaken from time to time to vaccinate the partially vaccinated and unvaccinated children. Further, various activities for demand generation are undertaken through electronic and print media like radio, television, posters, hoardings, social media platforms etc. and Inter personal communication by front line health workers and other community workers like Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANMs) and Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs).

5-Aug-2021: Supplementary Nutrition Under ICDS

During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) and Anganwadi Helpers (AWHs) have been engaged in COVID-19 awareness drive in the community as per the directions of this Ministry. To ensure continuous support to Anganwadi beneficiaries, this Ministry, vide letters dated 16.04.2020 and 26.04.2021, requested the States/UTs to distribute Take Home Ration (THR) once in 15 days at the doorsteps of the beneficiaries through AWWs/AWHs and also medicines as per requirement and special attention be given to timely medical interventions for SAM children. Further, weekly monitoring reports are also obtained from States/UTs with regard to distribution of Take Home Ration to the beneficiaries. 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 Centres, Service delivery of Anganwadi Workers and complete beneficiary management.

During the pandemic, as per MHA guidelines, all Anganwadi Centres across the country were closed to limit the impact of COVID-19 and no survey has been planned on ground, as human interaction has been minimised to control the spread of virus.

To address Nutritional Gap for women and Children, funds are provided to all States/UTs under Supplementary Nutrition Programme. Additional funds, if required, would be sought at R.E stage from Ministry of Finance.

30-Jul-2021: Supplementary Nutrition Under ICDS

The Ministry of Women and Child Development, video communication dated 13.01.2021 to all States/Union Territories, have issued Streamlining Guidelines on 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.

As per the above guidelines, States/UTs must introduce transparent processes for procurement as per GFR and vigilance guidelines and ensure that Take Home Ration (THR) procured conforms to technical and nutritional standards set by Ministry of Women and Child Development. All the States/Union Territories are required to adhere to these guidelines scrupulously.

11-Feb-2021: Plan to grow vegetables in Anganwadi Centres

A programme to support development of Poshan Vatikas at Anganwadi centers to meet dietary diversity gap by leveraging traditional knowledge in nutritional practices has been put in place to encourage community members to cultivate local food crops for regular supply of fresh fruits, vegetables and important herbs and medicinal plants that are basic to good nutrition. As part of an outreach plan, seasonal and topical vegetable seeds were distributed to Anganwadi Centres.

5-Feb-2021: Assessment of Integrated Child Development Schemes

Anganwadi Services Scheme has an in-built monitoring system to track progress under the scheme through a standardized Management Information System (MIS).

In order to improve nutritional status in the country, sustained engagements have taken place with State Governments over the last one year. Steps have been taken to improve nutritional quality and testing in accredited labs, strengthen delivery and leverage technology under the Poshan Tracker to improve governance. Government has advised States/UTs to ensure that the quality of supplementary nutrition conforms to prescribed standards laid down under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and regulations made thereunder. A programme to support development of Poshan Vatikas at Anganwadi centers to meet dietary diversity gap leveraging traditional wisdom in nutritional practices has also been taken up.

4-Feb-2020: Only 7 in 100 anganwadi beneficiaries are in cities

According to the government’s response to a Right to Information (RTI) query, for every 100 anganwadi beneficiaries in the country, only seven are in urban areas. The disparity is primarily because of a severe lack of anganwadis in cities, leading to poor coverage of the government’s flagship programme in early childhood development.

Anganwadis or day-care centres are set up under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) by the Women and Child Development Ministry to provide a package of six services. The services include supplementary nutrition; pre-school non-formal education; immunisation, nutrition and health education; as well as referral services. The aim of the scheme is to reduce infant mortality and child malnutrition. Beneficiaries include children in the age group of six months to six years, and pregnant women and lactating mothers.

While there were a total 7.95 crore beneficiaries of the anganwadi scheme in the country as on September 30, 2019, only 55 lakh were registered at urban anganwadis. This is primarily because of an acute paucity of anganwadi centres in urban areas.

There are as many as 13.79 lakh anganwadis operational across the country, out of which 9.31 lakh centres are linked to the government’s web-enabled data entry system called Rapid Reporting System. Of those anganwadis that can be monitored online, 1.09 lakh centres are in urban areas and the remaining 8.22 lakh were in rural areas of the country.

As per Census 2011, 32% of India’s 1.2 billion population live in cities, though experts have said that if the definition of an urban settlement was broadened, the share of urban population will be much higher. A recent first-of-its-kind pan-India study on nutrition status, the Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey 2016-18, found that 35% of children under five were stunted and 17% were wasted. It also said 22% of children in the age group of 5-9 years were stunted and 23% were thin for their age. Also, 20% of those in the 10-19 years age group were thin for their age.

At the same time, 2% of under four-year-olds, 8% of children in the 5-9 years age group, and 6% of adolescents, were overweight. Data also showed that children in urban areas showed two to three times higher prevalence of obesity as compared to their peers in rural areas.

With these facts before it, the NITI Aayog has prepared a draft working paper to strengthen the ICDS programme in urban areas, keeping in mind challenges such as migration, population density and the long commute involved for workers and beneficiaries.

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3-Aug-2018: Of the 14 lakh sanctioned  Anganwadi Centres(AWCs ) in the country about 1.36 lakh AWCs are located in the urban areas

In the Anganwadi Services scheme, opening of Anganwadi Centres (AWCs) is permitted in the urban areas also. Establishment of AWCs is based on population norms as per the details given below:

Anganwadi Centres:

For Rural/Urban Projects:

400-800	1 AWC
800-1600	2 AWCs
1600-2400	3 AWCs
Thereafter in multiples of 800	1 AWC

For Mini-AWC                                         

150-400 - 1 Mini-AWC

For Tribal /Riverine/Desert, Hilly and other difficult areas/ Projects                                           

300-800 - 1 AWC            

For Mini- AWC

 150-300 - 1 Mini AWC

A total of 14 lakh AWCs have been sanctioned to various States/UTs across the country which consists of about 1.36 lakh AWCs located in the urban areas.  As on 01.06.2018, 13.63 lakh AWCs (rural and urban) are operational.

As per the data captured through the ICDS Monitoring Information System, about 24.3% AWCs out of 13.63 lakh operational AWCs (rural and urban) are running in rented buildings.

Under revised Anganwadi Services, there is a provision of construction of new AWCs under convergence with MGNREGS @ 1 lakh Anganwadis per year upto 30.11.2018. Central share for construction of AWC building is Rs.1 lakh per AWC building for all States/UTs. The amount for construction of Anganwadi buildings @ Rs.1 lakh per Anganwadi building as central share is reimbursed to States/UTs on completion of construction work.

Although there are difficulties faced by the States/UTs in providing land for construction of AWC buildings especially in the urban areas but to ensure continued implementation of the scheme, Government has made provision for taking the AWC buildings on rent for which the monthly rentals has been increased to Rs. 1000/- in the rural areas, Rs. 4000/- in urban areas and Rs. 6000/- in the metropolitan cities.    

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16-Nov-2017: CCEA approves continuation of sub-schemes under ICDS till November, 2018.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has given its approval for continuation of Anganwadi Services, Scheme for Adolescent Girls, Child Protection Services and National Crèche Scheme  from 1.4.2017 to 30.11.2018 with an outlay of over Rs.41,000 crore. These are the sub-schemes under Umbrella Scheme “Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS)”

The approved Schemes include:

1. Anganwadi Services
2. Scheme for Adolescent Girls
3. Child Protection Services
4. National Crèche Scheme

The Cabinet has also approved:

1. implementation of Scheme for Adolescent Girls for out of school girls in the age group of 11-14 years, its phased expansion
2. phasing out of the on–going Kishori Shakti Yojana for out of school girls in the age group of 11-14 years.

The decision also provides for conversion of National Crèche Scheme from Central Sector to Centrally Sponsored Scheme with the revised cost sharing between Centre and States as 60:40 for all States and UTs with legislature, 90:10 for NER and Himalayan States and 100% for UTs without legislature and implementation of the Scheme through States/UTs instead of existing implementation agencies.

 Impact: The sub-schemes listed above are not new schemes but are continuing from the XII Five Year Plan. The programme through targeted interventions will strive to reduce the level of malnutrition, anaemia and low birth weight babies, ensure empowerment of adolescent girls, provide protection to the children who are in conflict with law, provide safe place for day-care to the children of working mothers, create synergy, ensure better monitoring, issue negative alerts for timely action, encourage States/UTs to perform, guide and supervise the line Ministries and States/UTs to achieve the targeted goals and bring more transparency.

Beneficiaries: More than 11 crore children, pregnant women & Lactating Mothers and the Adolescent Girls will be benefited through this scheme.

Implementation Strategy and Targets: Anganwadi Services (ICDS) and Child Protection Services are already in operation in the entire country. The Scheme for Adolescent Girls will be expanded in a phased manner. National Creche Scheme will continue to be implemented in 23,555 creches.  Approval for National Nutrition Mission shall be obtained separately.

States/districts covered: Anganwadi Services (ICDS) and Child Protection Services are already in operation in the entire country. National Nutrition Mission will be rolled out in a phased manner. Similarly, Scheme for Adolescent Girls will be expanded in a phased manner.

Background: The ongoing schemes have been rationalized by the Government in financial year 2016-17 and have been brought under Umbrella ICDS as its sub-schemes. These sub-schemes need to be continued for delivering the child related services to the intended beneficiaries. The aims of these schemes are as under:

1. Anganwadi Services (ICDS) aims at holistic development of children under the age of six years and its beneficiaries are children of this age group and Pregnant Women & Lactating Mothers.
2. The objective of the Scheme for Adolescent Girls is to facilitate, educate and empower Adolescent Girls so as to enable them to become self-reliant and aware citizens through improved nutrition and health status, promoting awareness about health, hygiene, nutrition, mainstreaming out of school AGs into formal/non formal education and providing information/guidance about existing public services.
3. The objectives of Child Protection Services are to provide safe and secure environment for children in conflict with law and children in need of care and protection, reduce vulnerabilities through a wide range of social protection measures, prevent actions that lead to abuse, neglect, exploitation, abandonment and separation of children from families etc., bring focus on non-institutional care, develop a platform for partnership between Government & Civil Society and establish convergence of child related social protection services.
4. National Creche Scheme aims at providing a safe place for mothers to leave their children while they are at work, and thus, is a measure for empowering women as it enables them to take up employment. At the same time, it is also an intervention towards protection and development of children in the age group of 6 months to 6 years.