Mission Poshan 2.0 Scheme

Mission Poshan 2.0 was launched in February 2021, with an aim to devote attention and resources towards integrating numerous nutrition schemes in the country. Mission Poshan 2.0 amalgamates the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS)—Anganwadi Services, Supplementary Nutrition Programme, Poshan Abhiyaan, Scheme for Adolescent Girls and National Crèche Scheme.

Objective

• It aims to implement a comprehensive and unified strategy, for strengthening nutritional content, delivery, outreach and outcome. It will be achieved with renewed focus on developing practices that nurture health, wellness and immunity to disease and malnutrition in the country. There will be a collaborative effort in executing these programmes to counter the regression in the health and nutrition index.
• Outreach and Implementation: The government has identified 112 aspirational districts for the initial phase. Implementation will be done by the Ministry of Women and Child Development in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Ministry of Education under the aegis of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) within the National Education Policy (NEP).

Way Forward

• The scheme has been welcomed as a positive step that will address inequity and social injustice in nutrition. It will help tackle the complex issue of malnutrition. Yet, its success depends largely on the way it is implemented. For successful implementation of the scheme, there must be clarity in roles, objectives and targets for all stakeholders involved.