POSHAN Vatika

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About

According to the Union Women and Child Development Ministry’s estimated that there are nearly 1.8 million severely acute malnourished children in India.
Tribal Children suffer the most compared to any other socio-economically disadvantaged group. Around 40 % of the 5 million undernourished tribal children have stunted growth, underweight and have severe undernourishment.
- Malnourished children do not attain their optimum potential in terms of growth, learning, performance in school and physical development to work later in life.
The Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nourishment (POSHAN Abhiyaan) to improve nutritional outcomes for children, pregnant women and lactating mothers.
- The focus is on holistically addressing the multiple determinants of malnutrition through intervention and services targeted in the first 1,000 days of a child’s life. POSHAN Abhiyaan aims to achieve these goals through the convergence of multiple programmes and schemes.

Poshan Abhiyaan

POSHAN (Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition) Abhiyaan was launched by the Prime Minister of India in 2018 to improve nutritional outcomes for children under 6 years of age, pregnant women and lactating mothers.
- Recently Mission Poshan 2.0 (Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0) has been launched as an integrated nutrition support program to strengthen nutritional content, delivery and outcomes with a principle of expanding practices that facilitate health, wellness and immunity and malnutrition.
The name of the Midday Meal Scheme was changed to PM-POSHAN (Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman) Scheme, in September 2021, by the Ministry of Education.
- The Central Government also announced that an additional 24 lakh students receiving pre-primary education at government & government-aided schools would also be included under the scheme by 2022.
The Midday Meal Scheme is a school meal programme in India designed to better the nutritional standing of school-age children nationwide, the Ministry of Education.
- The programme supplies free lunches on working days for children in primary and upper primary classes in government, government-aided, local body, Education Guarantee Scheme, and alternate innovative education centres, Madarsa and Maqtabs supported under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, and National Child Labour Project schools run by the ministry of labour.
- Serving 120 million children in over 1.27 million schools and Education Guarantee Scheme centres, the Midday Meal Scheme is the largest of its kind in the world.

Poshan Vatikas

The Union Ministry of Women and Child Development with the Union Ministry of Ayush have set up Poshan Vatikas in nearly 4.37 lakh Anganwadi Centres.
- More than 1.10 lakh medicinal saplings have been planted in the selected districts of 6 States.
Under Poshan Maah 2022, Nutri-gardens or Poshan Vatikas are set up with poultry/fishery units across the country.
Poshan Vatikas or Nutri-gardens provide easy and affordable access to fruits, vegetables, medicinal plants and herbs. It ensures a regular supply of fresh fruits, vegetables and medicinal plants to women and children.
- It can play an important role in improving dietary variety by supplying key micronutrients through local fruits and vegetables.
The Union Ministry of Women and Child Development with the Union Ministry of Ayush have set up Poshan Vatikas in nearly 4.37 lakh Anganwadi Centres.
- More than 1.10 lakh medicinal saplings have been planted in the selected districts of 6 States.
- Nutri gardens or Poshan Vatikas are set up with poultry/fishery units across the country.