Poshan data under wraps for ‘privacy’

What is the news?

The Minister of Women and Child Development has informed that the data recorded in the Poshan (Nutrition) Tracker has not been made public in the interest of privacy of women and children.

The details were provided by the Ministry to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports which tabled its report recently.

What is Poshan Tracker?

Launched by: Ministry of Women and Child Development

Purpose: It is one of the important pillars of the Poshan Abhiyan. It helps the Govt to monitor services delivered at anganwadi centres and record nutritional indicators of beneficiaries including children in the age of six months to six years as well as pregnant women and lactating mothers. 

What are the details provided by the Poshan tracker?

On the Poshan Tracker website, the government hosts a dashboard which provides only limited administrative details at national, State and district levels. This includes total attendance on a given day, vaccinations, take-home ration and hot cooked meals delivered. 

But the dashboard does not provide information on the nutrition status of the beneficiaries, such as stunting and wasting among children or prevalence of anaemia.

Why are nutrition recorded details not made public?

The nutritional details have not been made public in the interest of privacy of women and children.

What are the suggestions to improve Poshan Tracker?

The parliamentary committee in its report has raised several questions on the effective use of the Poshan Tracker. It has suggested that:

– Key performance indicators are constantly monitored and uploaded on Poshan Tracker and a State-wise progress report be maintained so that identification of those deprived of the benefits can be made on a real-time basis for timely remedial measures. 

– The Ministry should put in place a monitoring mechanism to ensure there were no gaps in distribution of food packets to anganwadi beneficiaries.

Source: This post is based on the article ‘Poshan data under wraps for privacy’ published in The Hindu on 20^th Dec 2021.