POSHAN Abhiyaan and Mission Poshan 2.0: India’s Nutrition Mission

POSHAN Abhiyaan is India’s national nutrition mission. It aims to cut stunting, under-nutrition, anaemia and low birth weight. The Ministry of Women and Child Development runs it. Think of it as a plan to make sure mothers and young children eat well and grow well.

1.1 What does the name stand for?

POSHAN stands for Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nourishment. It is India’s flagship National Nutrition Mission. At the launch, the Prime Minister said the letters PM should remind everyone of “Poshan Mission”.

1.2 What are stunting, wasting and underweight?

Malnutrition means the body does not get the right food or nutrients. WHO splits undernutrition into three kinds.

• Stunting is low height for age.
• Wasting is low weight for height.
• Underweight is low weight for age.

A child who is much shorter than other children of the same age is stunted. Wasting usually shows recent and severe weight loss. Do not mix up wasting and underweight. Wasting compares weight with height. Underweight compares weight with age.

1.3 What are the five objectives?

A PIB explainer lists five objectives. Four are about children and women. One is about birth weight.

• Prevent and reduce stunting in children aged 0 to 6 years.
• Prevent and reduce under-nutrition (underweight) in children aged 0 to 6 years.
• Reduce anaemia among young children aged 6 to 59 months.
• Reduce anaemia among women and adolescent girls aged 15 to 49 years.
• Reduce low birth weight.

1.4 What numbers did the Mission promise?

The 2017-18 Cabinet release set yearly targets. It aimed to cut stunting by 2% a year and under-nutrition by 2% a year. It aimed to cut anaemia by 3% a year and low birth weight by 2% a year.

The Mission also had a headline goal, “Mission 25 by 2022”. It aimed to bring stunting down from 38.4% in NFHS-4 to 25% by 2022. A later survey, NFHS-6 (2023-24), recorded stunting at 29.3%.

The Mission came in two steps. The Cabinet approved it in late 2017. The Prime Minister launched it in March 2018.

2.1 When was it approved, and how was it paid for?

The Union Cabinet approved the National Nutrition Mission. PIB reported this on 1 December 2017. The budget was ₹9,046.17 crore for three years from 2017-18.

Half of the money came from Government budget support. The other half came from the World Bank (IBRD) or another multilateral development bank. That is a bank owned by many countries. Government support was shared 60:40 between the Centre and States. For the North East and Himalayan States it was 90:10.

2.2 When and where was it launched?

The Prime Minister launched it on 8 March 2018 at Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan. The date was International Women’s Day. On the same day he launched the pan India expansion of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao.

Do not mix up the two dates. December 2017 is the Cabinet approval. 8 March 2018 is the launch, and exams ask for the launch date.

2.3 Which districts came first?

The Mission was rolled out in three phases.

• 315 districts in 2017-18.
• 235 districts in 2018-19.
• The remaining districts in 2019-20.

2.4 What made the Mission different?

The Mission tried to join up the many schemes that touch nutrition. The Cabinet release lists these features:

• Mapping the schemes that fight malnutrition, and a strong convergence mechanism.
• An ICT-based real-time monitoring system.
• Incentives for Anganwadi workers who use IT tools, and an end to paper registers.
• Height measurement of children at Anganwadi Centres.
• Social audits, Nutrition Resource Centres and a Jan Andolan, which means a people’s movement.

2.5 What are the four pillars?

A 2025 PIB explainer says the Abhiyaan works through four strategic pillars.

• Access to Quality Services, such as ICDS, the National Health Mission and PMMVY.
• Cross-Sectoral Convergence, which joins ministries such as water and sanitation.
• Leveraging Technology, such as the Poshan Tracker.
• Jan Andolan, which means community action to change habits.

A National Council on India’s Nutrition Challenges guides the work. The Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog chairs it. It reviews convergence between ministries every quarter. The Abhiyaan also stresses the first 1,000 days, from conception to a child’s second birthday.

Mission Poshan 2.0 is the next stage. Under Budget 2021-22, three schemes were joined into one mission. It is also called Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0.

3.1 Which schemes were merged?

Three schemes came under one roof.

• Anganwadi Services, earlier known as the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), launched in 1975.
• Poshan Abhiyaan.
• The Scheme for Adolescent Girls.

Poshan Abhiyaan did not end. It became one part of the larger mission.

3.2 How long does it run, and who pays?

The Cabinet approved three umbrella schemes: Mission Poshan 2.0, Mission Shakti and Mission Vatsalya. They were meant to run in the 15th Finance Commission period, 2021-22 to 2025-26. A Finance Commission period is the five-year span for which the Commission advises on tax sharing.

Mission Poshan 2.0 is a Centrally Sponsored mission. The States and UTs carry out the activities on the ground. It runs in all States and UTs.

3.3 What are its main parts?

The 2022 guidelines re-organised the schemes into these verticals.

• Nutrition Support through the Supplementary Nutrition Programme (SNP). It serves children aged 6 months to 6 years, pregnant women and lactating mothers. It also serves girls aged 14 to 18 in Aspirational Districts and the North East.
• Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) for ages 3 to 6, and early stimulation for ages 0 to 3.
• Anganwadi Infrastructure, including modern Saksham Anganwadis.
• Poshan Abhiyaan.

3.4 Which six services reach families?

An Anganwadi Centre gives six services.

• Supplementary Nutrition.
• Pre-school non-formal education.
• Nutrition and health education.
• Immunization.
• Health check-up.
• Referral services.

3.5 How much money is involved?

PIB gave the total cost in 2023. The figure covers Mission Poshan 2.0 including Poshan Abhiyaan.

• Total: ₹1,81,703 crore.
• Central share: ₹1,02,031 crore.
• State share: ₹79,672 crore.

The Union Budget 2026-27 lists Saksham Anganwadi and POSHAN 2.0 under Centrally Sponsored Schemes. Its budget estimate for 2026-27 is ₹23,100 crore. The 2025-26 budget estimate was ₹21,960 crore. The revised estimate was ₹20,949.47 crore.

The Poshan Tracker is a mobile app for Anganwadi workers. It is the digital backbone of the Mission. It lets the Ministry watch nutrition services in near real time.

4.1 When did it start, and what did it replace?

The Ministry of Women and Child Development rolled it out on 1 March 2021. The National e-Governance Division (NeGD) helped. Before the app, Anganwadi workers kept 11 manual registers. That slowed decisions and left service gaps.

Home visits also depended on each worker’s own knowledge. This led to uneven checks. There was no way to confirm who got benefits.

4.2 What can the app do?

The factsheet lists these features.

• Aadhaar-based verification stops leakages and ghost entries. A ghost entry is a made-up or duplicate beneficiary.
• A Facial Recognition System helps confirm service delivery on the ground.
• A home visit scheduler supports 23 structured visits. These are 4 in pregnancy and 4 in the first month after birth. Then come 7 from 2 months to 1 year, 5 from 1 to 2 years and 3 from 2 to 3 years.
• ECCE content for ages 3 to 6, based on Aadharshila.
• It is available in 24 languages.

Where internet is weak, the app works offline. Data entered offline has 5 days to sync once the network returns.

4.3 How big is it?

PIB’s factsheet gives these figures. They are dated May 2026.

• It covers all 28 States and 8 Union Territories.
• It has registered over 8.93 crore beneficiaries.
• Over 6.3 crore children aged 0 to 5 had growth monitoring. That is nearly 94% of registered beneficiaries.
• 5.17 crore beneficiaries received supplementary nutrition for at least 21 days.

An older PIB note gives 9,14,75,640 registered beneficiaries on 17 September 2025. The two counts are from different dates, so quote the date with the number. PIB also says 99.88% of registered beneficiaries are Aadhaar verified.

4.4 What recognition has it won?

• The National Award for e-Governance 2024 (Gold), received on 3 September 2024.
• The Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration 2024, in the Innovation category (centre), reported by PIB on 21 April 2025.
• The factsheet says WHO cited it as an “exemplary nutrition data ecosystem”. It says UNICEF appreciated its simplicity.

The Anganwadi Centre is where the Mission reaches a family. A worker and a helper run it. The upgrade plan, the food rules and the learning programme all work through this one centre.

5.1 What is a Saksham Anganwadi?

A Saksham Anganwadi is an upgraded centre. It has better building and tools. Examples are LED screens, a water filtration system, ECCE material and a Poshan Vatika, which is a nutrition garden.

• 2 lakh centres were approved for upgrade (PIB, 24 Jul 2026).
• 1,29,415 centres were upgraded in the last five years (PIB, 5 Aug 2026).
• PIB says each centre is to have a set of 4 growth monitoring devices. They measure length, height and weight.

5.2 What food rules apply?

Supplementary nutrition is given for a minimum of 300 days a year. That is about 25 days a month. It comes as morning snacks, hot cooked meals and Take-Home Ration.

The food follows Schedule II of the National Food Security Act, 2013. These norms were revised in January 2023. The old norms were mostly about calories. The revised norms are more balanced.

5.3 How are very thin children treated?

SAM means Severe Acute Malnutrition. It is a severe form of wasting. MAM means Moderate Acute Malnutrition. In July 2026 PIB described a joint protocol. The Ministry of Women and Child Development and the Ministry of Health released it together. It is called the Protocol for Management of Malnutrition in Children, and it aims to prevent and treat severe acute malnutrition.

5.4 What is Aadharshila?

Aadharshila is the national curriculum for Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) for children aged 3 to 6. It is used through Anganwadi Centres and is based on play. The PIB factsheet says it was launched in March 2024. One PIB summary of the Economic Survey says April 2024. Use March 2024 unless a question says otherwise.

By July 2026 the Poshan Tracker hosted 249 ECCE videos and 190 audio messages. It also had over 130 activity-based learning resources.

5.5 Who are the workers, and how are people involved?

Anganwadi workers and helpers get an honorarium. From 1 October 2018 the Centre raised a worker’s honorarium from ₹3,000 to ₹4,500 a month. A helper’s rose from ₹1,500 to ₹2,250. States may add more.

Community action runs through two Jan Andolans. Poshan Maah is held in September. Poshan Pakhwada is held in March-April.

The best check is a national survey. NFHS-6 was done in 2023-24 and released in May 2026. It can be compared with NFHS-5 (2019-21). Several studies also looked at the Mission.

6.1 What did NFHS-6 find for children under five?

The NFHS-6 India fact sheet compares the two surveys.

Stunting fell by about six points. Wasting and underweight barely moved. Do not say that every nutrition number improved a lot.

6.2 Can we say the Mission caused this?

No. The surveys show what changed. They do not prove why. Food, health care, clean water and sanitation all changed over these years. NITI Aayog and the World Bank studied the Mission itself.

6.3 What did the evaluations say?

• NITI Aayog evaluated Poshan Abhiyaan in 2020 and found its relevance “satisfactory” (PIB, 24 Jul 2026). A separate NITI report is titled “Preserving Progress on Nutrition in India: Poshan Abhiyaan In Pandemic Times” (PIB, 8 Feb 2023).
• A World Bank survey in 2021 covered 11 States. It found nutrition messages reached more than 80% of women. It found 81% of women practised exclusive breastfeeding for six months.
• NITI Aayog’s DMEO did an outcome evaluation of Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 in 2025.
• PIB says anaemia among children aged 6 to 59 months declined by 8.5 percentage points. The reply gives no survey or period for this fall.

6.4 What about anaemia in NFHS-6?

The NFHS-6 fact sheets carry no anaemia estimate. The Health Ministry said anaemia figures will come from an ICMR survey that uses a blood test from a vein. Until then, do not quote an NFHS-6 anaemia number.

6.5 Which related schemes should I link up?

Anaemia Mukt Bharat is a related health strategy. PIB describes it as a 7X7X7 strategy with seven age groups and seven interventions. PMMVY gives a cash incentive to pregnant and lactating women, to partly make up for wage loss. Poshan Vatikas help families eat varied local food. PIB also notes the Cause of Death report does not list malnutrition as a direct cause of child death. It says malnutrition can raise illness and death by lowering resistance to infection.

Parliament replies in July and August 2026 added several updates. Each point below has its date.

7.1 What did the 24 July 2026 replies say?

• Ministry launched the Pankhudi Portal. It helps organisations, individuals and corporates join activities under three missions: Poshan 2.0, Mission Shakti and Mission Vatsalya.
• A Nominee Module lets a beneficiary name someone to collect Take-Home Ration.
• ₹21,960 crore was allocated to Mission Poshan 2.0 in 2025-26.

7.2 What did the 5 August 2026 reply say?

A new Supportive Supervision module now runs inside the Poshan Tracker. It helps Supervisors, CDPOs and DPOs monitor work in real time. A CDPO is a Child Development Project Officer. A DPO is a District Programme Officer. PIB also reports 1,29,415 Anganwadi Centres upgraded in five years.

7.3 What did the 7 August 2026 replies say?

PIB’s 7 August releases cite the 2021 World Bank survey and the 2025 DMEO evaluation. They also describe the offline mode, with 5 days to sync. They add that the Ministry gives continuous training and support to Anganwadi workers on using the Poshan Tracker.

Two official papers asked about this Mission. Both are below in the official wording. Read each key before you read the notes.

8.1 UPSC CSP 2017, GS Paper I

UPSC CSP 2017, GS Paper I, Q23.
Which of the following are the objectives of ‘National Nutrition Mission’?
1. To create awareness relating to malnutrition among pregnant women and lactating mothers.
2. To reduce the incidence of anaemia among young children, adolescent girls and women.
3. To promote the consumption of millets, coarse cereals and unpolished rice.
4. To promote the consumption of poultry eggs.
Select the correct answer using the code given below: (a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 1, 2 and 3 only
(c) 1, 2 and 4 only
(d) 3 and 4 only

Official paper: UPSC question paper. Series A key from UPSC for this paper: answer key. Answer: (a).

The official Series A key gives (a) 1 and 2 only. Statement 1 is about awareness among pregnant women and lactating mothers. Statement 2 is about anaemia. Statements 3 and 4 name millets and eggs. The PIB notes on the Mission list stunting, under-nutrition, anaemia and low birth weight as targets. They do not mention millets or eggs.

8.2 CDS I 2023, General Knowledge

CDS I 2023, General Knowledge, Q26.
Which of the following strategies is/are adopted for implementing the POSHAN Abhiyaan?
1. Inter-sectoral convergence for better service delivery
2. Use of technology (ICT) for real-time growth monitoring of women and children.
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Official paper: UPSC question paper. Official answer key (Series A): UPSC key. Key: (c).

The official Series A key gives (c) Both 1 and 2. Convergence between sectors is a pillar. ICT-based real-time monitoring is a feature of the Mission.

8.3 What traps should I avoid?

• Launch date: 8 March 2018, not the December 2017 Cabinet date.
• Merger: Poshan 2.0 joined three schemes, and Poshan Abhiyaan is one of them.
• Registers: 11 old registers, not 23. Twenty-three is the number of home visits.
• Anaemia Mukt Bharat is 7X7X7 in the latest PIB text.
• Stunting is height for age. Wasting is weight for height.