Question : National Nutrition Mission

(a) whether the Government has proposed to provide Rs. 35,600 crore for nutrition related programmes for the year 2020-21, if so, the details thereof;
(b) whether the Government has taken note that the funds in National Nutrition Mission have been lying grossly under-utilized since 2016-17, if so, the reasons therefor;
(c) the actual expenditure of the Ministry in 2018-19, against the allocation made;
(d) the details of schemes being implemented to improve the nutritional status of children, adolescent girls, pregnant women and lactating mothers;
(e) whether the Government has proposed to appoint a Task Force to recommend steps to lower down MMR and ways to improve nutrition levels, if so, the details thereof; and
(f) whether the Government has proposed an outlay of about Rs. 28,600 crore for programmes that were specific to women, if so, the details thereof?

ANSWER

MINISTER OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
(SHRIMATI SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)

(a) Yes Sir, Government has proposed to provide Rs. 35,600 crore for nutrition related programmes for the year 2020-21 for all concerned Ministries including Ministry of Women and Child Development.

(b) Government is regularly reviewing with the States/UTs for ensuring utilization of funds and expeditious roll-out of the POSHAN Abhiyaan. The reasons for low utilization of funds under POSHAN Abhiyaan earlier known as National Nutrition Mission are mainly as under :

(i) POSHAN Abhiyaan was approved by the Government on 18.12.2017. The States could not make provisions in their Budget of the financial year 2017-18 for incurring expenditure under various components of POSHAN Abhiyaan.
(ii) Odisha has recently approved implementation of POSHAN Abhiyaan in the State and West Bengal is yet to implement the Abhiyaan.
(iii) Delay in procurement of smart phones and Growth Monitoring Devices (GMDs) in most of States/UTs.



(c) Actual expenditure of the Ministry of Women and Child Development in 2018-19 was Rs. 22534.33 crore against the Budget Estimates of Rs. 24,700 crore.

(d) The Government is implementing several schemes/programmes of different Ministries/Departments through States/UTs to address various aspects related to nutrition for improving the nutritional status of children, adolescent girls, pregnant women and lactating mothers. This Ministry is implementing POSHAN Abhiyaan, Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana, Anganwadi Services and Scheme for Adolescent Girls under the Umbrella Integrated Child Development Services Scheme (ICDS) to address the problem of malnutrition in the country.

(e) It has been proposed in the Budget 2020-21 Speech of the Union Finance Minister that a Special Task Force will be set up to recommend steps to lower down MMR and ways to improve nutrition levels.

(f) Gender Budget Statement (Statement 13) published by the Ministry of Finance every year along with the Union Budget provides information about the budget allocated for the welfare of women and girls across all sectors by different Ministries/Departments. Allocation in this statement are made in two parts viz. Part A for 100% women specific programmes; Part B for 30-99% women specific programmes.As per Gender Budget Statement of FY 2020-21, the allocation made in Part A for 100% women specific programmes is Rs. 28,568.32 Cr.