AgriNation News Network

New Delhi. 20 April 2018

In second phase of  Poshan Abhiyaan, the Central government has extended it to 235 additional districts taking the total of districts covered by the national nutrition mission so far to 550 districts, an official release said.

The additional districts to be covered during the current financial year were decided on the basis of the level of stunting prevalent in district as well as to ensure those districts affected by left wing extremism and those declared inspirational districts by NITI Aayog left out in the first phase covered, according to a decision arrived at the first meeting of National Council on India’s Nutrition Challenges (NCINC) chaired by NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar. NCINC is the apex body to formulate policies, guide and monitor all nutrition based schemes.

The ₹9,000-crore mission will strive to reduce stunting, under-nutrition, and low birth weight by 2 per cent and anaemia (among young children, women and adolescent girls) by 3 per cent annually over the three-year mission period.

The meeting also decided to provide smartphones instead of tablets to Anganwadi supervisors who are roped in for the mission. This is because some States implementing the mission highlighted problems associated with the procurement of tablets. Similarly, there would direct transfer of funds to States/Union Territories for paying frontline functionaries rather than creating corpus funds, the release said.

The districts that have been left out so far will be covered when the third phase is launched in the next financial year, it said.

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