(a) whether the Government has decided to introduce a revised national
implementation framework for Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme;
(b) if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor;
(c) whether it has been planned in collaboration with the World Bank directions; and
(d) if so, the details of the main features of this programme and the main
differences with the present ICDS?
MINISTER OF STATE OF THE MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI KRISHNA TIRATH)
(a) to (d): The ICDS Scheme is a Centrally sponsored Scheme implemented by the States/UTs
on a sharing pattern of 90 : 10 for all components including Supplementary Nutrition
Programme (SNP) for North East and 50 : 50 for SNP and 90 : 10 for all other components
for all States other than North East. The Scheme offers a package of six services
viz. supplementary nutrition, pre-school non-formal education, nutrition & health
education, immunization, health check-up and referral services. The latter 3 services
are provided through the Public health Infrastructure and system of the Ministry of
Health & Family Welfare.
Currently, the scheme is being implemented through a network of 12.64 lakh operational
Anganwadi centres (AWCs), against 13.67 lakh sanctioned AWCs as on May, 2011, across
the country.
It has been constant endeavor of the Government to continuously improve the ICDS Scheme. To address the programmatic and operational gaps in ICDS, it is proposed to strengthen and restructure the ICDS with (a) special focus on pregnant and lactating mothers and children under 3 years, (b) forging strong institutional convergence with National Rural Health Mission and total sanitation campaign, particularly, at the district and village levels and (c) models providing flexibility at local levels for community participation etc. Separately, an IDA (World Bank) assisted “ICDS Systems Strengthening and Nutrition Improvement Project (ISSNIP)†Programme in select 8 states and 160 districts has also been formulated for undertaking pilots and innovations, experimentation of good practices development of protocols/standards etc. for systems improvement in ICDS Programme.