Question : Development-Strengthening of Anganwadi Centres

(a) whether the Government proposes to develop/ strengthen the Anganwadi System and to provide each Anganwadi centre with a tablet device to track their work which would help them to alleviate malnutrition in the country and if so, the details thereof along with the steps taken or proposed to be taken by the Government in this regard;
(b) whether complaints regarding the quality of Take Home Ration (THR) have been received by the Government and if so, the details thereof, State/UT-wise and the action taken thereon;
(c) whether the Government proposes to make conditional cash transfer in place of THR in selected districts as a pilot project and if so, the details thereof indicating the identified districts in this regard, State/UT-wise; and
(d) the present status of the scheme and the time by which final decision is likely to be taken in this regard?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
(SHRIMATI KRISHNA RAJ)

(a) Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) is the flagship program of Government of India for the holistic development of children. The beneficiaries of the programme are children below six years of age and pregnant women & lactating mothers. With a view to bridge the gaps in the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) delivery, Ministry of Women & Child Development is implementing ICDS Systems Strengthening and Nutrition Improvement Project (ISSNIP), in 162 high malnutrition burden districts of 8 States viz. Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh covering 3.68 lakh Aanganwadi Centres. Information and Communication Technology enabled Real Time Monitoring (ICT-RTM) of ICDS has been instituted in the Restructured ISSNIP for improving the service delivery in ICDS and ensuring better monitoring and supervision of ICDS implementation at 1,00,000 Anganwadi Centres. It is based on ICDS-Common Application Software (ICDS-CAS) developed especially for this program thereby equipping Aanganwadi Workers with a Smart Phone preinstalled with ICDS-CAS and Sector Supervisors with a Tablet preinstalled with ICDS-CAS. ICT-RTM would help strengthen the ICDS capacity to deliver nutrition services in a better way.

(b) During 2016-17, 6 complaints (three from State of Uttar Pradesh, one from State of Uttarakhand, one from State of Chandigarh and one from State of Orissa) concerning quality of Take Home Ration (THR) were received by Government. Since Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS) is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme and the overall management & monitoring of the implementation of the ICDS Scheme is done by the concerned State Government, the complaints have been forwarded to the concerned State Governments for necessary action.

(c) & (d) No such proposal has been finalised.

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