Since the launch of POSHAN Abhiyaan in March 2018, the nation has embarked on nationwide Jan Andolans focused on nutrition for the very first time. These annual Jan Andolans under POSHAN Abhiyaan are carefully curated to promote behavioural changes, particularly as regards consumption of essential nutritious foods extending to the grassroots level. They are designed to target specific beneficiaries, namely, Pregnant Women, Lactating Mothers, Adolescent Girls, and Children up to 6 years of age.

The Jan Andolans are celebrated twice annually, during Poshan Maah in September and Poshan Pakhwada in March-April. To date, 10 Jan Andolans have been successfully celebrated (5 for each Maah and Pakhwada), recording more than 60 crore sensitization activities. This demonstrates the increasing and sustained participation across the country, since 2018.

Currently, the nation is observing the 6th Rashtriya Poshan Maah, organized under the auspices of the Ministry of Women and Child Development. This event is demonstrating the strength of collaboration with various key Ministries and Departments for maximum outreach. In the first 12 days of these ongoing celebrations, over 6 crore activities have been registered on the Jan Andolan dashboard across the country.

Throughout this month-long event, diverse stakeholders are actively participating to improve ground-level nutrition outcomes and encourage behavioural changes. Ministries such as Rural Development, Health & Family Welfare and Panchayati Raj are leading with the Ministry of Rural Development alone recording more than 6 lakh activities under Rashritya Poshan Maah 2023.

Numerous activities are being conducted under various themes across all regions of India. Few examples are as follows:

• More than 1 crore activities have been reported on the theme 'Exclusive Breastfeeding and Complementary Feeding'
• In Arunachal Pradesh, a series of activities were carried out under the theme 'Improving Nutrition Through Mission LiFE,' aimed at creating awareness about rainwater harvesting, cleaning, and desilting of community water bodies like ponds, wells and water tanks.
• In State of Bihar, a 'Poshan Rath' with LED lighting was launched by the Minister of Social Welfare & Justice to celebrate Poshan Maah.
• Poshan Mela was held with great enthusiasm in Basgo village, Leh, in the presence of Sarpanch, health staff, parents, and children.
• Karnataka celebrated Rashtriya Poshan Maah 2023 with large number of activities such as baby showers, Annaprashan ceremonies and Poshan Melas in various districts like Kolar, Hassan, and Chikmagalur.
• To promote dietary diversity and the consumption of millets, several states including Goa, Gujarat, Arunachal Pradesh, and Assam organized recipe competitions at block offices and at Aanganwadi centers.
• Food resource mapping activities were organized in different parts of Mizoram.
• Trainings and sensitization sessions on Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) engaging parents and communities, under the Poshan Bhi Padhai Bhi (PBPB) initiative, are in full swing.
• Similar initiatives like Growth Measurement (Swasth Balak Spardha) have been reported from various parts of the country.

The current campaign is focusing on key themes, including Exclusive Breastfeeding and Complementary Feeding, Swasth Balak Spardha/Growth measurement and sensitization of tribal communities on Millet/Local food/Traditional Food for addressing malnutrition challenges like anemia, among others.

In terms of specific sensitization activities, the Swasth Balak Spardha/Growth measurement drive has registered the highest number of activities at 15 lakh, followed by sensitization activities on growth monitoring and "Food Resource Mapping" within the village boundaries, which stand at close to 14 lakh activities. Additionally, anaemia camps for children, adolescent girls and women in tribal districts recorded more than 12 lakh activities, with 11 lakh home visits focusing on ECCE, especially engaging parents.

Collectively, through each Jan Andolan and its unique participatory sensitization activities, steady progress is being made for making nutrition a part of Jan Bhagidari.

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SS/TFK