POSHAN Abhiyaan

There are over 14 lakh severely malnourished children in the country as per the government's Poshan Tracker, the Women and Child Development Ministry said on Wednesday. Children who are severely malnourished have very low weight for their height, and are nine times more likely to die in case of diseases due to their weakened immune system. Responding to a question in Rajya Sabha, Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani said under Poshan Tracker, the ICT application for monitoring service delivery under Mission Poshan 2.0, out of approximately 5.6 crore children measured in the month of February 2023, the percentage of severely malnourished children is 2.6 per cent. The number comes to be 14,56,000. The percentage of malnourished children was found to be 7.7 per cent which comes to around 43 lakh, the ministry said.

The Centre should include more millets and coarse grains in diets of school-going children under the PM POSHAN scheme, a parliamentary panel has recommended. It noted that there is an increase in student enrolment in schools and recommended that the Ministry of Education should ensure that the increased number of students are covered under the PM POSHAN scheme by making necessary augmentation in the budget allocation. "It is encouragingly evident that there is increment in enrolment of children from 11.80 crores to 12.21 crores in 2021-22. "The committee, accordingly, recommends that the department should make sure even the increased number of enrolled students are covered under the blanket of PM POSHAN scheme and make necessary augmentations in the budget allocation, student data and policy ambit," the panel said in its report. The panel has suggested that the department should conduct a fresh survey or evaluation in coordination with an independent agency, especially in view of .

About 43 lakh or 7.7 per cent children were found malnourished out of approximately 5.6 crore children measured by 'Poshan Tracker' in the month of February, the Ministry of Women and Child Development said on Friday. Responding to a question in Lok Sabha, Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani said Meghalaya reported the highest number of stunting at 46.5 per cent, while Puducherry recorded the lowest at 20 per cent. Maharashtra reported the highest level of wasted children at 25.6 per cent, while Chandigarh reported the minimum at 8.4 per cent, according to the data shared in a written response. Child wasting refers to a child who is too thin for his or her height and is the result of recent rapid weight loss or the failure to gain weight. A child who is moderately or severely wasted has an increased risk of death, but treatment is possible. The data also said that Bihar reported the maximum percentage of children who are underweight, while Mizoram reported the minimum

The joint review mission comprises nutrition experts and officers from the Centre and the state government

Increasing investment on all schemes for children, particularly on PM-POSHAN and raising health budget are among the demands in 'Budget For Children' charter presented to Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary. This charter is a result of numerous local to state and national consultations with over 3,500 of their peers across the country. The interaction was led by 15-year-old Ruksar Rehman, president, National Inclusive Children's Parliament, a statement said. The children's charter of demands stemmed from a report they had submitted to the United Nations as part of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process at Geneva and the Charter on Environmental Rights of Children in the lead up to COP 27 in Egypt. The demands include that the 6 per cent promise for education (GDP public spending) and 2.5 per cent on health be reflected in the upcoming Union and state budgets for 2023-24 in India. They have also sought an increase in the investment on all schemes for children, ...

The Women and Child Development Ministry has clarified that a child's Aadhaar card is not mandatory for availing the benefits of nutrition scheme scheme

Over 1.405 million anganwadi workers have downloaded Poshan, the Women and Child Development Ministry's app to track nutrition delivery services which was launched in March this year

Poshan Abhiyan is a three-year nutritional programme for children and women

POSHAN Abhiyaan is a multi-ministerial, multi-sectoral and comprehensive approach to reducing malnutrition by ensuring convergence of various nutrition-related schemes