A total of 2 lakh Anganwadi Centres nationwide have been authorized for transformation into Saksham Anganwadis by December last year, as stated by Annpurna Devi, the Union Minister for Women and Child Development. These Saksham Anganwadis, part of Mission Poshan 2.0, are being equipped with enhanced nutrition and early childhood care and education. They feature improved infrastructure including LED screens, water filtration systems, Poshan Vatika, ECCE materials, and BALA paintings.
Under the initiative, IT systems have been integrated to enhance and ensure transparency in nutrition delivery support systems at these Anganwadi Centres. An application called ‘Poshan Tracker’ has been introduced to aid in monitoring and tracking all AWCs, Anganwadi Workers (AWWs), and beneficiaries based on specific indicators. This technology is also utilized for the real-time identification of malnutrition indicators among children, such as stunting, wasting, and under-weight prevalence.
Moreover, the ‘Poshan Tracker’ app enables efficient data collection for various Anganwadi Services, including growth monitoring of children, provision of hot cooked meals/take-home rations, growth measurement, and more. It also offers informative videos on essential behaviors and services like birth preparedness, breastfeeding, and complementary feeding. To ensure proper distribution, a Facial Recognition System (FRS) has been implemented in the app for the last-mile tracking of Take-Home Ration beneficiaries.
