Improvement of Anganwadi Centres

Under Anganwadi Services, the following initiatives have been taken for improving the condition of Anganwadi Centres across the country:

1. Under Saksham Anganwadi, infrastructure in 2 lakh AWCs @ 40,000 AWCs per year shall be strengthened and upgraded across the country for improving nutrition delivery and early childhood care and development services. 40,000 AWCs have been identified in FY 2022-23 for upgradation as Saksham Anganwadi.
2. Under Swachhta Action Plan, the provision of drinking water facilities and toilet facilities has been made. The cost norm for toilet/sanitation facilities has been revised from Rs.12,000/- to Rs.36,000/- per unit while for drinking water facilities, the cost norm has been revised from Rs.10,000/- to Rs.17,000/- per unit.
3. Provision has been made for the construction of 50,000 AWCs (with toilet and water facilities) under Saksham Anganwdi and Poshan 2.0 during 2021-22 to 2025-26, to target those AWCs which are running in rented premises or in open spaces.
4. Anganwadi Centres across the country have been provided with Growth Monitoring Devices and Smart Phones for efficient service delivery.
5. Streamlined Guidelines were issued on 13.01.2021, covering several aspects such as quality assurance, roles and responsibilities of duty holders, the procedure for procurement, integrating AYUSH concepts and Data management and Monitoring through ‘Poshan Tracker’ for transparency, efficiency and accountability in the delivery of Supplementary Nutrition.

These measures have resulted in improvements in infrastructural facilities and service delivery at Anganwadi Centres. As per the report of NFHS-5 conducted in 2019-21, 32.1% of children under 5 years of age are underweight, 19.3% are wasted and 35.5% are stunted indicating a reduction from the previous NFHS – 4 conducted in 2015-16, which reported 35.8% children under 5 years of age as underweight, 21% wasted and 38.4% stunted respectively.

The State/UT-wise statement of Anganwadi Centres having toilet facilities is at Annexure.

Information on Toilet Facilities in Anganwadi Centres as per APIP Proposal of 2021-22

* Data has been taken for June 2021 as APIP data is not available

This information was given by the Union Minister for Women & Child Development, Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.

Disclaimer: This is an official press release by PIB.