In the 15^th Finance Commission, components of nutritional support for children below the age of 6 years, pregnant women and lactating mothers, Adolescent Girls (14 – 18 years); Early Childhood Care and Education [3-6 years]; Anganwadi infrastructure including modern, upgraded Saksham Anganwadi, Poshan Abhiyaan and Scheme for Adolescent Girls were reorganised under Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0.

Under Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0, a package of six services i.e., Supplementary Nutrition (SNP), Pre-school Non-formal Education, Nutrition & Health Education, Immunization, Health Check-up, and Referral Services are provided to the eligible beneficiaries through Anganwadi Centres across the country including State of Uttar Pradesh. Three of the six services, viz., Immunization, Health check-up and Referral Services are related to health and are provided through National Health Mission (NHM) & Public Health Infrastructure. These services are provided to the eligible registered beneficiaries i.e. children up to the age of 6 years, Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers across the country and Adolescent Girls in the age group of 14 to 18 years in Aspirational Districts of States and all districts of North Eastern Region by through the platform of Anganwadi Centre.

The district wise details of beneficiaries, infrastructure facilities, service delivery at Anganwadi Centres etc. across the country including state of Uttar Pradesh can be accessed from Poshan Tracker at https://www.poshantracker.in/statistics.

Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) and Anganwadi Helpers (AWHs) are honorary workers drawn from the local community who voluntarily come forward to render their services in the area of child care and development to help the local community for which they are paid honorarium. This honorarium is increased from time to time. From 1^st October, 2018, Government of India has enhanced the honorarium of AWWs at Anganwadi centres (AWCs) from Rs.3,000/- to Rs.4,500/- per month and AWHs from Rs.1,500/- to Rs.2,250/- per month as per the defined cost sharing ratio between the Centre and States and UTs. In addition, States and UTs are also paying additional monetary incentives and top ups to these functionaries from their own resources which vary from State to State. Besides, performance linked incentive of Rs.500/- per month is provided to AWWs and Rs.250/- per month to AWHs.

The Ministry has introduced ‘Poshan Tracker’ digital application as an important governance tool for real time monitoring and tracking of all Anganwadi Centres (AWCs), Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) and beneficiaries on defined indicators under Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0. Poshan Tracker app has enabled the Ministry to review the implementation of the scheme on various parameters and to make course correction. It has facilitated near real time data collection for Anganwadi Services such as, opening of AWCs, daily attendance of children, ECCE activities, Growth Monitoring of children, Provision of Hot Cooked Meal (HCM) and Take-Home Ration (THR), Growth Measurement etc.

This Mission is a universal umbrella scheme where there are no entry barriers for any beneficiary to register and receive services. Every beneficiary who is willing to undergo the eKYC procedure for Facial Recognition System (FRS), is fully entitled to receive the benefits of the scheme. This Aadhaar based tracking has enabled proper identification of beneficiaries, prevention of leakages and eliminating ghost entries. As per the data available on the Poshan Tracker dashboard, 99.88% registered beneficiaries are Aadhaar verified. For last mile tracking of Service Delivery, Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) has developed Facial Recognition System (FRS) in Poshan Tracker Application for distribution of Take-Home Ration (THR) to ensure that benefit is given only to the intended beneficiary registered in Poshan Tracker.

The Nominee Module has also been introduced in Poshan Tracker to ensure uninterrupted delivery of Take-Home Ration (THR) to the beneficiaries. If due to any reason, the registered beneficiary is unable to visit the Anganwadi Centre to receive their THR through FRS, she can choose a nominee on her behalf to receive her THR. Nominee has to undergo e-KYC only ONCE, but face matching will be done every time for receiving THR on behalf of the beneficiary. Even after addition of the nominee, beneficiary can still continue to receive THR, if they so wish to. This has improved ease of living for the beneficiaries.

Ministry has launched Pankhudi Portal to facilitate collaboration with organizations, individuals, corporates etc for carrying out different activities under the three Missions namely Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0, Mission Shakti and Mission Vatsalya. Details are available on the link https://pankhudi.wcd.gov.in/web/home.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Women and Child Development Smt. Savitri Thakur in Lok Sabha in reply to a question.

*****

SS