POSHAN Abhiyaan and Poshan Tracker Application

News: The Poshan Tracker Application is monitoring over 14 lakh Anganwadi Centres and nearly nine crore beneficiaries under the POSHAN Abhiyaan.

About POSHAN Abhiyaan and Poshan Tracker Application

• POSHAN Abhiyaan is a flagship, multi-ministerial mission to improve nutritional outcomes across the country.
• Launch Year: It was launched on March 8, 2018.
• Aim: It aims to improve human capital and support the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Women and Child Development (MoWCD)
• Type: It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme.
• Focus: The mission focuses on the convergence of schemes, the use of digital technology, and active community participation.
• Coverage: It brings together more than 26 ministries and departments under a unified framework.
  • It recognizes that improving nutrition requires coordinated efforts across health, sanitation, education, water, and women’s empowerment.
• About Mission Poshan 2.0: It was introduced in the Union Budget 2021–22 to integrate various nutrition schemes.
  • It combined Anganwadi Services, Scheme for Adolescent Girls, and POSHAN Abhiyaan into a single framework.
  • The mission focuses on reducing stunting, wasting, anaemia, and undernutrition.
• Core Components of the Mission
  • Nutrition Support for children, pregnant women &lactating mothers and adolescent girls: Supplementary nutrition is provided to children aged 6 months to 6 years, pregnant women, lactating mothers, and adolescent girls. 
  • Early Childhood Care and Education (3-6 years) and early stimulation for (0-3 years): Early Childhood Care and Education is provided to children below six years of age. The approach emphasizes play-based and activity-based learning for overall development.
  • Anganwadi Infrastructure, including upgradation of centres into Saksham Anganwadi: The upgraded centres include modern facilities such as smart learning tools, LED screens, and clean drinking water. Nutri-gardens are also developed to support nutrition education.

About Poshan Tracker Application

• The ‘Poshan Tracker’ is a mobile-based application under Saksham Anganwadi and Mission Poshan 2.0. 
• It was launched in 2021 to monitor the progress of Mission Poshan 2.0 on a near-real-time basis.
• How it works: It uses Aadhaar-based identification and the Facial Recognition System to ensure transparency and reduce leakages.
• Features:
  • It is being utilised to dynamically identify cases of stunting, wasting, and underweight among children, and also enabling last-mile monitoring of nutrition service delivery.
  • It is available in 24 languages, including Hindi and English. 
  • It also digitises and automates the physical registers used by Anganwadi Workers, which helps improve their quality of work.
  • It provides digital content such as videos, audio messages, and activity guides.
  • It also includes a home visit scheduler to guide Anganwadi workers.
  • The system enables data-driven decision-making and timely interventions.