About
Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 is an integrated nutrition support program of the Indian government, focused on combating malnutrition among children (0–6 years), adolescent girls (14–18 years), pregnant women, and lactating mothers, while strengthening Anganwadi infrastructure and service delivery.
 
Core Features and Objectives

• The scheme seeks to address malnutrition through supplementary nutrition, early childhood care and education, and infrastructure upgradation of Anganwadi centres, renamed as Saksham Anganwadis.
• Poshan 2.0 integrates and converges earlier nutrition and care programs, including ICDS (Anganwadi Services), POSHAN Abhiyaan, the Scheme for Adolescent Girls (SAG), and the National Creche Scheme, streamlining interventions for improved impact.
• The objectives include addressing wasting, stunting, underweight, and anemia; promoting maternal nutrition; adolescent nutrition; and infant and child-feeding practices. There is also emphasis on community engagement, behavior change, and fostering ecosystem convergence across ministries.

Key Components

• Supplementary Nutrition Programme (SNP): Delivers fortified food to beneficiaries, promoting the use of millets, jaggery, and indigenous plants.
• Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE): Focuses on early stimulation (0–3 years), preschool (3–6 years), and foundational learning in line with the NEP.
• Modern Anganwadi Infrastructure: Upgrades centers with better facilities—classrooms, digital tools, kitchen gardens (Poshan Vatikas), and safer environments.

Implementation and Monitoring

• Services are delivered through Anganwadi centres; a key innovation is the "Poshan Tracker" for ICT-based real-time monitoring and data management.
• Significant focus is placed on life-cycle nutrition, increased transparency, use of Aadhaar integration, growth monitoring devices, and the promotion of local, culturally acceptable food solutions.

Challenges and Way Forward

• The program faces challenges in last-mile delivery, regional disparities, infra-structure gaps in remote locations, community participation, and workforce capacity.
• The recommended way forward stresses stronger monitoring, better inter-ministerial coordination, local food promotion, universal coverage, and sustained capacity-building for Anganwadi workers.

Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 is described as one of the world’s largest nutrition support initiatives and is central to India’s strategy for advancing human capital and long-term health outcomes.

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