Various steps undertaken to improve infrastructure facilities at Anganwadi Centres under Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0
Various steps undertaken to improve infrastructure facilities at Anganwadi Centres under Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0
Under Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0, various steps have been undertaken to improve the infrastructure facilities at Anganwadi Centres (AWCs). During 15th Finance Commission cycle, 50,000 Anganwadi Centres are being constructed @10000 AWCs per year in convergence with MGNREGS wherein Rs.8.00 Lakh is provided under MGNREGS, Rs.2.00 Lakh under 15th Finance Commission (FC) (or any other untied funds) and Rs.2.00 Lakh by MWCD per AWC shared between Centre and States/UTs in the prescribed cost sharing ratio.
Further, States/UTs have also been advised to continue to tap funds for construction of AWC buildings from various schemes such as Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS), Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF), Finance Commission Grants to Panchayati Raj Institutions, Multi- Sectoral Development Programme (MSDP) of Ministry of Minority Affairs, etc.
Various other initiatives have been undertaken for construction of AWCs under PM JANMAN and Dharti Abha Janjatiye Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan for the targeted development of Tribal population and VVP (Vibrant Village Programme) – Phase I, focusing on Northern border areas.
Also, in order to improve the infrastructure facilities at AWCs various steps have been undertaken by the Ministry that, inter alia, include increasing the funding for drinking water facilities and toilets at Anganwadi Centres from Rs.10,000/- to Rs.17,000/- and Rs.12,000/- to Rs.36,000/- respectively.
Under Mission Poshan 2.0, two lakh AWCs located in Government buildings @40,000 AWCs per year are being strengthened as Saksham Anganwadis for delivery of improved nutrition and for Early Childhood Care and Education in the 15th Finance Commission cycle. Saksham Anganwadis are provided with better infrastructure than the conventional Anganwadi centres with LED screens, water filtration system, Poshan Vatika, Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) material and Building as Learning Aid (BALA) paintings.
In convergence with Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education Guidelines for Co-locating AWCs within Government Primary Schools have been jointly launched on 3rd September, 2025 to strengthen ECCE and Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) services. In places where physical co-location is not possible, AWCs are to be mapped with the nearest primary school.
Under Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0, AWCs have been technologically empowered with the provision of smartphones and growth monitoring devices for efficient monitoring and delivery of services.
Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 is a Centrally Sponsored scheme. The implementation of the scheme falls under the ambit of State Governments and UTs administrations. The State and UT wise details of infrastructure is available at the link: https://www.poshantracker.in/statistics.
The details of budget allocation for the year 2020-21 to 2025-26 in respect of Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 are given as under:
(Rupees in crore)
Sl. No.
Financial Year
Budget Allocation (BE)
1
2022-23
20,294.58
2
2023-24
20,554.31
3
2024-25
21,200.00
4
2025-26
21,960.00
A third-party evaluation and impact assessments of Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 were conducted by NITI Aayog in 2020 and again in 2025. They have found its relevance to be satisfactory for tackling malnutrition in the country.
Poshan Tracker application has been rolled out as an important governance tool facilitating monitoring and tracking of all AWCs, Anganwadi workers and beneficiaries on defined indicators. Technology under Poshan Tracker is being leveraged for dynamic identification of stunting, wasting and under-weight prevalence among children. 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.
For last mile tracking of Service Delivery, Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) has developed Facial Recognition System (FRS) for distribution of Take-Home Ration to ensure that benefit is given only to the intended beneficiary registered in Poshan Tracker after establishing their identity.
The Nominee Module has been introduced in Poshan Tracker to ensure uninterrupted delivery of Take-Home Ration (THR) to all Pregnant Women, Lactating Mothers, and Adolescent Girls under Saksham Anganwadi and Mission Poshan 2.0. If due to any reason, the registered beneficiary (Pregnant Women, Lactating Mother and Adolescent girl) is unable to visit the Anganwadi Centre to receive their THR through FRS, she can nominate 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 receive the THR at the Anganwadi Center if the nominee has not received it already.
This information was given by the Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smt. Annpurna Devi in Rajya Sabha in reply to a question today.