Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0:

The Mission aims at developing India’s human capital and integrates three existing schemes (Anganwadi Services, POSHAN Abhiyaan and Scheme for Adolescent Girls), adopting a lifecycle approach to malnutrition reduction. It shifts focus from calorific sufficiency alone to improved health, wellness and immunity through micronutrient sufficiency via a set of clearly defined strategies. It focuses on infant and young child feeding practices (including breastfeeding and complementary nutrition), maternal and adolescent nutrition, treatment of malnourished children, and promotion of AYUSH practices.

Policy Shift: Institutional Mechanisms for greater accountability

1. Streamlining Guidelines issued by MWCD in January 2021 set out the roles of duty holders such as District Magistrates (with a District Nutrition Committee under his or her aegis), DPOs and CDPOs. The guidelines also highlight the role of the community including Mothers’ Groups as well as the incorporation of AYUSH practices for greater accountability of local stakeholders in their Anganwadi eco-system.
2. Introduction of the Poshan Tracker ICT Application in March 2021 by the Ministry as a governance tool to support greater transparency for monitoring of key services. Key features are as below.
   • Facilitates monitoring and tracking of all AWCs, AWWs and beneficiaries on defined indicators.
   • Technology is being leveraged for dynamic identification of stunting, wasting, under-weight prevalence among children.
   • Bank upon the first such digital revolution in India that ushered in when the Anganwadi Centres were equipped with mobile devices, the Poshan Tracker has facilitated digitization and automation of 11 physical registers used by AWWs thereby improving their quality of work.
   • Available in 24 languages including Khasi and Garo.
   • Facilitates near real time data collection for Anganwadi Services such as, daily attendance, ECCE, Provision of Hot Cooked Meal (HCM)/ Take Home Ration (THR-not raw ration), Growth Measurement etc.
   • The App also offers counselling videos on key behaviours and services which help disseminate messages on birth preparedness, delivery, post-natal care, breastfeeding and complementary feeding.
   • Geo-mapping and onboarding of AWCs in PM Gati Shakti portal is being undertaken to enable focused interventions.
   • Further, to ensure last mile tracking of service delivery SMS alerts to beneficiaries have been introduced on delivery of THR.
   • Fetch Aadhaaar authenticated data.
3. Nutrition Norms under the National Food Security Act shifted towards micronutrient-rich Supplementary Nutrition, and clarity on macronutrient provision for different age groups. Locally produced foods, milk, nuts, eggs, where culturally appropriate, are advised to be suitably integrated in meals.

Robust Governance Tool: Poshan Tracker

Poshan Tracker application has been built on latest technology for ensuring real-time monitoring of supplementary nutrition and providing information for prompt supervision and management of services. Various new features have been added in Poshan tracker during 2023-24.

1. RCH functionality is live on Poshan Tracker for Pregnant Women & Lactating Mothers (PW&LM).
2. 10.01 crore beneficiaries (pregnant women, lactating mothers and children up to 6 years) registered under Poshan Tracker as on 30^th November 2023. 

3. 22.70 lakh adolescent girls (14-18 years) from North-east and Aspirational districts registered on the Poshan Tracker as part of the Scheme for Adolescent Girls.
4. 9.55 crore (or 95.39%) beneficiaries have been Aadhaar verified to ensure last mile tracking and delivery of services.
5. To ensure last mile tracking of service delivery SMS alerts to beneficiaries has been introduced for delivery of THR. Further, QR coding of THR packets is being made mandatory in an effort to ensure that supplementary nutrition reaches the targeted beneficiaries. Since the initiation of this service in May 2023, close to 5.82 crore SMS have been sent to beneficiaries.
6. Migration facility for pregnant women and lactating mothers from one AWC to another within and outside a State, and from one category to another category of beneficiary is also available on the Poshan Tracker
7. Beneficiary redressal mechanism introduced through Poshan Tracker and a Poshan Helpline (14408) operationalized in November 2022
8. Geo-mapping of approx 12 lakh AWCs has been carried out in partnership with BISAG-N

Improvement in Infrastructure

For strong and convergent actions that ensure that all essential services converge at the household/AWC, MWCD has taken the following measures:

1. In convergence with MNREGS, the cost for AWC building has been enhanced from Rs 7 lakh to Rs 12 lakh.
   • The MGNREGA aims to provide unskilled manual work to any rural household on demand and employing them on construction of productive assets. Among the list of works that can be taken up for the same, construction of AWCs is one. The initiative, esp. with the increase in cost is beneficial in the following ways:
     1. ln order to ensure that the focus of these works would remain on creation of wage employment, the construction cost of each AWC has now been increased to ₹12 lakh, out of which ₹8 lakh will be provided under MGNREGA. As a result, almost three in four of the new AWCs to be constructed will be built in convergence with the MGNREGA scheme hence increase in guaranteed wage employment in rural areas.
     2. Ensure that every AWC is provided a pucca building under MGNREGA.
     3. Serve the objectives of pre-school, nutrition centre, semi-formal public health unit, community centre located in the heart of settlements.
     4. Support generation of human and social capital at the micro level.
     5. Create durable assets in rural areas and improve the infrastructure at village level.
     6. Also helps providing adequate creche facility to MGNREGA workers.
2. 2 lakh AWCs are being upgraded to Saksham Anganwadis @40,000 per year up to 2025-26 for improved delivery of nutrition and Early Childhood Care and Education services. In FY 2022-23, 41,192 AWCs in Aspirational Districts have been identified to be made into Saksham Anganwadis, enhanced with LED screens,), smart audio-visual teaching aids, PoshanVatikas, Rainwater Harvesting Structures, Wi-fi through BharatNet (where available etc. Of these, Rainwater Harvesting Structures have been sanctioned for 38,188 AWCs.
3. Keeping in view the importance of the Early Childhood Care & Education (ECCE), an exclusive training programme namedPoshan Bhi, Padhai Bhi (PBPB) launched in May 2023, through which the Ministry aims to develop the world’s largest, universal, high-quality pre-school network at AWCs, in alignment with the new National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. In this regard, a policy decision has been taken to upgrade the 1.16 lakh mini AWCs to main AWCs to ensure the availability of the Anganwadi Helper to assist the AWW at all AWCs. Till date, around 42000 AWCs have been approved for upgradation from mini- to main AWCs. 
   • The objectives of the training program PBPB include i). promoting early stimulation for the first 1000 days and ECCE for children 3-6 years of age, ii). developing ECCE understanding of AWWs, iii). emphasizing developmental domains (socio-emotional-ethical, physical and motor, cognitive, etc.), and the development of Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN), along with iv). reinforcing nutrition knowledge of AWWs.
4. To support WaSH practices and focus on accessibility of Drinking Water and Sanitation, through Mission Saksham Anganwadi and POSHAN 2.0 the unit costs approved for Toilet has since been revised to Rs.36000 per AWC from Rs.12000. Cost for providing drinking water facilities has also been revised to Rs.17000 from Rs.10000. Approximately, 88% of AWCs have sanitation facilities and 90% have drinking water facilities as of now.

Dietary Diversity and Micro-nutrient Focus

Mission Poshan 2.0 has explicit emphasis on micro-nutrients and dietary diversity Micronutrient-rich diverse diets. The importance of micro-nutrient consumption and diverse diets has been introduced into the Mission.

1. Under Mission Poshan 2.0, Supplementary nutrition is provided to beneficiaries 300 days in a year through the network of 13.97 lakh AWC located across the country for bridging the gap in the intake as compared to the recommended dietary intake.
2. Only fortified rice is being supplied to AWCs to meet the requirement of micro-nutrient and control anemia among women and children. In FY 2022-23, 12,26,115 MT of fortified rice was allocated. Following are a few studies that points out how it is beneficial for the target beneficiaries.
   • A pilot scheme for rice- fortification and its distribution under Public Distribution System in fifteen districts was started for a period of 3 years (2019–2022). To examine effect of fortified rice on nutritional status of population, its supplementation studies in Indian government’s social safety programmes were reviewed. The reviewed studies showed that supplementation of fortified rice was significantly effective in reducing prevalence of anaemia, increase in haemoglobin level, and improvement in cognitive scores. However, all the reviewed studies were limited only to supplementation of fortified rice at mid-day meal programme.
   • Few other scientific evidence that talks on the effectiveness of same are as below:
     1. In 2021 a study conducted by Mahapatra S. et. al. in Gujarat on 973 children of aged 6-12 years based on the intervention that was implemented for 8 months through mid-day meal. Intervention significantly increased hemoglobin by 0.4g/dL, reduced anaemia prevalence by 10% and improved cognitive scores. 
     2. In 2020 a study was conducted at Gadchiroli, Maharashtra with 104 Women, adolescent girls and children based on the intervention that was implemented for one year through PDS. Result showed reduction of 21.4% in prevalence of anaemia.
     3. In 2015, a pilot study conducted by Paithankar et. al. In Odisha on 945 School children (6-14 years) based providing fortified rice in Mid-day meal. Statistically significant increase in hemoglobin and reduction in anemia prevalence has been observed.
     4. In 2014 a study conducted by Hussain et. al. in Bangalore on School children based on 6 months of study on the efficacy of fortified rice. Study revealed that there is a significant increase in hemoglobin and serum ferritin.
     5. Other relevant international studies may also be referred at https://ijcrt.org/papers/IJCRT2207044.pdf
3. Greater emphasis is being given on the use of millets for preparation of Hot Cooked Meal and Take Home rations (THR) at Anganwadi centres for Children below 6 years of age, Pregnant Women, Lactating Mothers. In last two Jan Andolans viz. PoshanPakhwada and PoshanMaah 2023, more than 5 crore activities on Millet promotion and popularisation have been reported.
4. 6.42 lakh PoshanVatikas or nutri-gardens have been planted at Anganwadi Centres for access to local, fresh vegetables, fruits and herbs. Besides, 1.1 lakh medicinal plants have been planted across six States.
   • Development of PoshanVatikas are aimed to meet the important dietary diversity gap that has been repeatedly revealed in different surveys by providing different green vegetables, fruits, nuts, herbs/medicinal herbs and vegetables round the year. What is more important is that these can be easily retrofitted with backyard poultry and fishery units.
   • PoshanVatika can also help in introducing healthy eating practices and diet diversity to address malnutrition. This will promote ‘AatmaNirbhar Bharat’ and ‘Vocal for Local.’
   • The garden also acts as an activity site to demonstrate agricultural technique to the community members and for delivering nutrition messages to pregnant women, lactating mothers, and the wider community.
   • Through initiatives like these, the Ministry is steadily inculcating the importance of collective ownership, collective responsibility, and community co-operation, which may soon cover all the operational AWCs across the country.
5. Six region-wise diet charts have been developed for pregnant women, viz., North, North-East, West, South, East and Central.

Facilities provided to Anganwadi Workers:

1. Empowered with smartphones, the burden of manually maintaining 11 physical registers has been reduced and also made Anganwadi workers well versed in fetching quality data. As of now, more than 11 lakh smartphones have been provided to Anganwadi Centres across the country.
2. Growth Monitoring Devices- GMD (Infantometer, Stadiometer, Child weighing scale and Adult weighing scale) have also been provided to monitor the growth of children every month. As on date around 12.5 lakh AWCs are equipped with GMDs.
   • Regular Growth Monitoring of target children is one of the key intervention areas of Poshan 2.0. It helps tracking a child's growth pattern over time with which child's measurement against average values for age and sex is compared, ‘to track the deviations from the expected growth pattern’ that can be indicative of underlying health conditions or nutritional deficiencies.
   • With continued betterment of measuring efficiency with the help of Growth Monitoring Devices (GMD) available at each AWC, and correct and timely entry of data on the Poshan Tracker, Poshan 2.0 aims to reach each and every MAM/ SAM child for needed support, timely.
3. The minimum educational qualification for Anganwadi Workers/ Anganwadi Helpers has been prescribed as 12th Standard.
4. The Ministry has issued directions to adopt a uniform retirement date i.e. 30^th April of the calendar year for all AWWs/AWHs. This helps in the following ways.
   • States/ UTs are encouraged not to engage AWWs/ AWHs beyond the age of 65 years now.
   • Ensures planned human resource planning for the field functionaries across India.
   • Not only help in assessing the requirement of AWWs and AWHs in advance on account of falling vacant posts but will also enable department to recruit new AWWs and AWHs in a proper manner instead of doing the same throughout the year in a disaggregate manner.
   • May also facilitate timely promotion of eligible functionaries i.e. 50% posts of AWWs shall be filled by promotion of AWHs with 5 years of experience, similarly 50% posts of Supervisors shall be filled by promotion of AWWs with 5 years of experience.

Transformation of Early Childhood Care & Education as per NEP 2020: Poshan Bhi Padhai Bhi (PBPB):

1. PBPB, launched on 10^th May, 2023, is a pathbreaking ECCE program to help India develop the world’s largest, universal, high-quality pre-school network at Anganwadi Centres, in alignment with the new National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
2. The programme is being conducted by NIPCCD and State Level Master Trainers with special focus on pre-school education (play- and activity-based with a focus on the development of cognitive, motor, socio-emotional and aesthetic domains).
3. 3735 State Level Master Trainers have been trained through 95 training programmes thus far covering 25 States and 182 Districts. Anganwadi Workers will be provided with hands-on learning opportunities and acquire fun- and play-based skills to facilitate the holistic development of each child.

Protocols for Management of Malnutrition in Children and Anganwadi Protocol for Divyang Children:

1. Anganwadi Protocol for Management of Malnutrition at the Community Level (CMAM Protocol): For the first time, a standardised national Protocol has been drafted by MoWCD with inputs from MoHFW, providing detailed steps for identification and management of malnourished children at the Anganwadi level, including decision-making for referral, nutritional management and follow-up care. The protocol was launched on 10^thOctober, 2023.
2. Anganwadi Protocol for DivyangChildren:MoWCD has released a Protocol for Divyang Children on 28^thNovember, 2023. This protocol is a first of its kind that has been released for Anganwadi Workers to screen, include and refer Divyang Children. Under this protocol, all children will be assessed for delays in their developmental milestones and screened for early signs and symptoms, their families will receive support and referrals, and their Anganwadi workers will work with them every day to do new activities that stimulate all their senses and help them grow.

Jan Andolans for Behavioural Change:

Under Poshan 2.0, one of the major activities undertaken is Community Mobilization and Awareness Advocacy leading to Jan Andolan to educate the people on nutritional aspects. IEC material in the form of videos, pamphlets, flyers etc., in regional languages have also been developed around critical themes. Social &Behavioural Changes have been inculcated through conducting Community Based Events, PoshanMaah and PoshanPakhwada in convergence with various Ministries/ Departments and other stakeholders.

1. Over 3.7 crore Community Based Events have been carried out for behaviour change amongst women, husbands and families
2. Regular Home Visits by Anganwadi Workers as per a home visit scheduler (2.14 crore home visits in October 2023 alone)
3. Jan Andolans (or mass movements for behaviour change) through annual PoshanMaah and PoshanPakhwada celebrations have been institutionalised with over 90 crore activities having been carried out from September 2018 onwards. A Jan Andolan Dashboard has mapped activities across States/UTs.

Support towards saturation of centrally sponsored schemes: Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra (VBSY):

1. Ministry of WCD is actively involved in the ongoing Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra throughout the country. MoWCD is participating under the “Meri Kahani Meri Zubani (MKMZ)” initiative under which the beneficiaries speak of their experiences and the impact that Poshan Abhiyaan and Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) schemes of WCD have had on their lives.
2. As per the VBSY dashboard, under MKMZ, more than 64 thousand beneficiaries of POSHAN Abhiyaan and PMMVY have narrated their experiences.
3. Additionally, “On-spot registrations” of eligible beneficiaries is also being undertaken during the Yatra for saturation of scheme under MoWCD.More than 92 thousand on-spot registrations have been reported under various schemes of WCD.
4. For sustained community involvement, it is imperative that the nutrition issues should be highlighted with a positive orientation, emphasizing on identification and celebration of a “Healthy Child.” To encourage this aspect SwasthBalakSpardha (SBS) is also being undertaken during these Yatras where healthy children are felicitated. More than 80 thousand Healthy Children have been felicitated so far.

Mission Shakti : Mission Shakti comprises of two sub-schemes ‘Sambal’ and ‘Samarthya’ for safety and security of women and empowerment of women respectively. The existing schemes of One Stop Centres (OSC), Women Helplines (181-WHL) and Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) have been made part of Sambal sub- scheme; while the existing schemes of Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY), Ujjwala, SwadharGreh and Working Women Hostel and National Creche Scheme have been subsumed in ‘Samarthya’.

Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY): PMMVY provides cash incentives for wage loss compensation before and after a woman's first childbirth, offering a ₹5,000 maternity benefit through DBT linked to Aadhaar. The scheme seeks to promote positive behavioral change towards girl child by providing additional incentive for the second child, if that is a girl child. Thus, for the second child, the benefit of Rs 6,000 is to be provided in one installment post birth. This would contribute towards improving Sex Ratio at Birth by discouraging female foeticide. In line with the Prime Minister's vision to promote 'Digital India,' 'Make in India,' and 'AtmaNirbhar Bharat,' the application process has been digitized with the introduction of a mobile app and a dedicated portal (PMMVY soft MIS) making the process of application paperless. Online forms are simple and easy to understand, ensuring a consistent and straightforward process. The portal enables first-time self-registration for citizens, facilitated by field functionaries like Anganwadi Workers and ASHA workers who can submit online applications for beneficiaries in their jurisdiction. Since inception, over 3.59 crore beneficiaries have been enrolled, with total of more than Rs 14,428.36 crore disbursed until December 2, 2023.

National Event on Pradhan Mantri Vandana Yojana (PMMVY): A new user-friendly PMMVY Portal and Mobile App were developed to align with 'Digital India' and 'AtmaNirbhar Bharat.' The National Event on PMMVY held in Mumbai on October 27, 2023, highlighted PMMVY's aspects and achievements and the features of the PMMVY Portal and Mobile App along which Rs 321.57 crore has been released for 8,14,612 beneficiaries.

Hub for Empowerment of Women: A component of HUB for Empowerment of Women at the National, State and District level has been introduced to guide, link and hand-hold women to various institutional and schematic set ups for their empowerment and development including equal access to healthcare, quality education, career and vocational counselling/ training, financial inclusion, entrepreneurship, backward and forward linkages, health and safety for workers, social security and digital literacy at districts/ Blocks/ Gram Panchayats level across the country. Till date, HEW is functional in 31 states and 650 districts.

National Girl Child Day: The Ministry of Women & Child Development celebrated the National Girl Child Day on 24^th January 2023. National Girl Child Day is celebrated with a view to promote awareness about the rights of the girl child to bridge the gender divide and to lay emphasis on the importance of girl’s education, health and nutrition.

Celebration of Rashtriya Ekta Diwas on 31.10.2023- Yashaswini bike expedition: The Central Reserve Police Force, in collaboration with the Ministry of Women and Child Development, organized a cross-country bike expedition with "Yashaswini" a group of CRPF women bikers to celebrate women power or Nari Shakti of the country from 3^rd October 2023 to 31^st October 2023 wherein 150 women CRPF officers, organized into three teams, initiated a cross-country rally riding 75 Royal Enfield (350cc) motorbikes. The team commenced their journeys from Srinagar, Shillong, and Kanyakumari, converging at the Statue of Unity in Ekta Nagar, Gujarat covering about 10,000 km through 15 states and 2 Union Territories.

The rally included planned events in various districts. These events involved interactions with target groups of "Beti Bachao Beti Padhao" (BBBP), such as school children, college girls, women self-help groups, NCC cadets, children of CCIs, NYKS members, and others, along with the felicitation of BBBP Champions.

International Women’s Day: The International Women’s Day was celebrated throughout the country with great zeal and fervor. On this occasion, several programmes, events, functions, quizzes were organized by various Central and State Government as well as other organizations. The theme of International Women’s Day 2023 was #EmbraceEquity.

Launch of "Guide on Gender Inclusive Communication": On 28^th of November 2023, WCD launched a "Guide on Gender Inclusive Communication" on 28th of November 2023 at Vigyan, New Delhi in collaboration with National Gender and Child Centre (NGCC), LBSNAA, International Organizations viz. BMGF and UN Women.The Guide is an endeavor to promote gender equality and tackle the pervasive gender bias through appropriate use of language in English, Hindi, and vernacular languages.

Launch of Anganwadi-cum-Creche (Palna): The Anganwadi-cum-Crèche (Palna) scheme aims to address the gap that exists particularly in urban areas where support for childcare from family members is not available and there is a need for institutional support to facilitate contribution of women in the economy. On 21^st December 2023, the National Level Programme on Anganwadi-Cum-Crèche released the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the scheme in New Delhi, which outlines a comprehensive framework for the administration and implementation of the scheme, including administrative hierarchy, roles and responsibilities of the workers and monitoring checklist. The SOP will serve as a vital tool in ensuring the successful and efficient operation of Anganwadi-cum- Crèches, contributing to the overall well-being of the community.

Mission Vatsalya

1. Digital interface for improving the governance in the adoption system and helping early deinstitutionalization of children (CARINGS)

(i) Child Adoption Resource Information and Guidance System (CARINGS) has been digitized and is paperless.

(ii) Policy pertaining to adoption under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 (as amended in 2021), the JJ Rules, 2022 and the Adoption Regulations, 2022 has been simplified. Now District Magistrate (DM) is empowered to issue adoption orders instead of Court resulting in reduction in pendency in issue of adoption orders drastically as all DMs are registered on Child Adoption Resource Information & Guidance System (CARINGS). Post notification of Adoption Regulations, 2022 the adoption order pendency has come down. 3836 adoption orders have been issued since 23^rdSeptember, 2022. While most of the adoption orders have been issued by DM, some of the orders have also been issued by the Courts.

CARINGS, an online platform, has been developed for building bridges and creating links through a robust web-based management system designed to bring transparency in the adoption system and also curtailing delays at various level.

(iii) Enhanced accountability through child protection service as District Child Protection Unit (DCPU) has been assigned to conduct Home Study Report of the Prospective Adoptive Parents (PAPs), post-adoption follow-ups and for scrutiny of the adoption applications for perusal of DMs concerned. After notification of the Regulations 2022, DCPUs have completed 812 Home Study Reports and assisted District Magistrates in scrutinizing adoption applications in 2538 cases. As far as, post adoption follow-up reports are concerned, it has been observed through CARINGS that DCPUs are involved.

(iv) Prospective Foster Parents have started registering in CARINGS in the new online module which will promote non-institutional care of older children. As on date, 40 Prospective Foster Parents are registered on CARINGS. As soon as decision is taken by competent authority, institutionalized older children would be placed with foster family after completion of procedural requirements.

(iv) Foster Adoption has been provisioned for older children benefitting more than 35 children. As on date, 53 children are registered on CARINGS for foster adoption. These cases are in different stages of progress. Further, 7 cases of foster adoption have already been completed during 2023.

(v) Upper age limit for Prospective Adoptive Parents (PAPs) reduced to 85 years for couple and 40 years for a single PAP in case they are adopting a child below 2 years. Less number of PAPs are registered for 0-2 years of age child as compared to previous years. The change in PAPs age has been made in the best interest of the child considering a younger child for younger PAPs. Now PAPs can opt for their home states/region. This has been mandated to ensure that the child and the family adjust well with each other, belonging to the same socio-cultural milieu.

(vi) 7-day adoption effort launched by Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) for Resident Indian (RI), Non- Resident Indian (NRI), and Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) PAPs. Adoption through 7 days tab in CARINGS portal was made operational w.e.f. 14.11.2022 and since then 151 children have been adopted.

(vii) Where the child has remained with a foster family for a minimum of five years other than in pre-adoption foster care, the term has been reduced to two years for adoption of the child. It is too early to make impact analysis while 53 cases are registered in the foster adoption module in CARINGS.

Non-Institutional Care Support Increased to Rs.4000/- per Child per month from Rs.2000/-: The guiding principles of the Act provide for institutionalization as a measure of last resort and acknowledge that family-based care play an important role in the overall development of children. Children develop a sense of belonging and self-esteem, get religious and cultural identity, learn values, and grow up in a safe and secure environment under familial care. 62,675 Children covered under Non-Institutional Care during FY 2022-23 which increased from 29,331 children during FY 2021-22 showing an increase of 113.6%. During current FY 2023-24, tentatively 1,21,861 Children have been proposed to support. The allocation of children to the State Government/UT Administrations for Non-Institutional Care (i.e. Sponsorship, Foster care and Aftercare) including children who are Orphans, children covered under PM CARES for Children Scheme, Children in Conflict with law, Child Labour, Child trafficking Child marriage and POCSO victims under Mission Vatsalya Scheme for FY.2023-24 has increased which reflects the commitment of Government for extending family based care to all children in difficult circumstances.

Child Helpline: As per Mission Vatsalya guidelines, the Child Helpline is running in coordination with State and District functionaries and integrated with the Emergency Response Support System 112 (ERSS-112) helpline of MHA. Ministry has also issued the Standard Operating Procedures (SoPs) of Child Helpline on 31.03.2023. Child Helpline Services are now functional in all 36 States/UTs.

Zonal conferences and sensitization/dissemination workshops under Mission Vatsalya Scheme:

(i) Zonal Conferences: Outreach with State Governments/UT Administrations and Stakeholders through Zonal Conferences on Strategic Interventions for addressing Malnutrition Concerns and for theDevelopment, Empowerment and Protection of Women and Children including Mission Vatsalya scheme during the last financial year.

(ii) Dissemination Workshops: National Dissemination Workshop on Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children ) Act, 2015, Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 and the rules there under and the Adoption Regulations, 2017 including Mission Vatsalya Scheme on 17.08.2022 and 29.08.2022 with all States/UTs, line Ministries/ Departments, representatives from Police, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), Child Protection functionaries including members of Child Welfare Committees(CWCs)/Juvenile Justice Boards(JJBs) and other stakeholders.

(iii) Workshops: Workshops on Sensitization/ Training Programme for representatives of Panchayati Raj Representatives (PRIs), Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) and Police on Child Rights & Protection including Mission Vatsalya Scheme at Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) on 16.11.2022 and 14-15.09.2023 in collaboration with UT Administration. This workshop was attended by officers from Ministry, NCPCR, UT of J&K, Administrative and Police Training. Institutes, District Child Protection Officers (DCPOs), CWCs, JJBs, Special Juvenile Police Units (SJPUs), representative from UNICEF and other Stakeholders.

(iv) Training conducted by National Institute of Public Co-operation and Child Development (NIPCCD): Under Mission Vatsalya Scheme, NIPCCD has conducted 129 training programmes during the financial year 2022-23 and 82 training programmes during the current financial year (as on 01.12.2023).

A three-day consultation was organized by the Ministry from 22.03.2023 to 24.03.2023 at NIPCCD to improve adoptability of Mission Vatsalya portal by its user/stakeholders.

A virtual technical training Session on the Modules of Institutional and Non-Institutional Care in the Mission Vatsalya Portal for North-Eastern States (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura) was organized by the Ministry on 15.11.2023.

(v) Vatsal Bharat: Regional Symposiums on ‘Child Protection, Child Safety and Child Welfare’ including Mission Vatsalya were organized, starting from 02.07.2023 to 18.08.2023 at Delhi, Bhopal, Mumbai, Ranchi, Guwahati and Varanasi. In the Regional Symposiums, representatives from States/UTs including members of Child Welfare Committees (CWCs), Juvenile Justice Boards (JJBs), Members of Village Child Protection Committee (VCPC) and Anganwadi Workers had participated.

The programme was an aspect of a nationwide series of regional symposiums intended to increase awareness of child protection, child safety, and child welfare issues. The focus of the programme was on the amendments in the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 (as amended in 2021) and Rules thereunder. Its impact on adoption processes were highlighted in the experiences shared by Prospective Adoptive Parents, who received a quick resolution post the amendment in September, 2022

Launch of Mission Vatsalya Portal: Mission Vatsalya Portal of the Ministry of WCD has been launched on 27.06.2023. This Portal would function as a robust Management Information System (MIS) as a Data Entry tool to digitize and facilitate the work of Child Protection Functionaries thereby enabling greater transparency, dashboards for evidence-based planning and monitoring and identification of early warnings of problem areas through data analytics for all its stakeholders i.e. Ministry of Women and Child Development and State Governments/ UT Administrations.

Scheme for Care and Support to Victims under Section 4 & 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012: The Ministry has issued “Scheme for Care and Support to Victims under Section 4 & 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012” on 30^thNovember, 2023 for rehabilitation of girl child victims under POCSO Act, 2012 (as amended in 2019).

The objectives of the Scheme are to provide integrated support and assistance to minor pregnant girl child victims under one roof; and to facilitate immediate, emergency and non-emergency access to a range of services for long term rehabilitation in terms of access to education, police assistance, medical (also comprising maternity, neo-natal and infant care), psychological, mental health counselling, legal support, Non-Institutional Care monthly support up to 18 years of age and can be extended up to 23 years of age in exceptional circumstances by the concerned Child Welfare Committee, place of stay in CCI/Aftercare facilities and health insurance cover for the girl child victim and her new-born under one roof to enable access to justice and empowerment of such girl child victims.

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