The women and child development (WCD) ministry signed an agreement with the ministry of ayurveda, yoga & naturopathy, unani, siddha and homoeopathy (AYUSH) on September 20 to work together to control the menace of malnutrition through integration of AYUSH systems with ongoing nutrition interventions.

The AYUSH ministry will provide support to beneficiaries of the umbrella Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programme of the wcd ministry. 

Highlights of the agreement:

Convergence between the WCD ministry and the ministry of AYUSH will help address malnutrition through the principles and practices of ayurveda, yoga and other AYUSH systems, and provide context specific solutions for holistic well-being of women and children.

While the AYUSH ministry will provide technical guidance and support for the implementation of various interventions for addressing malnutrition, including developing nutritious recipes based on regional and climatic preferences, principles and practices under AYUSH systems, the WCD ministry will enable outreach of AYUSH systems through anganwadi centres (AWCs).

Initially, a pilot project will be conducted in 1,000 AWCs each in a few states, which can be up-scaled later in a phased manner.

Yoga sessions will be conducted in AWCs for women and children.

Along with the target of having a nutri-garden in each anganwadi centre, medicinal gardens will also be developed in identified anganwadi centres. 

The collaborative efforts will also include setting up of herbal gardens with live demonstration to beneficiaries on how to use them through various home-based preparations. 

Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme

According to the 2011 Census, the child population in the age group of 0-6 years is 15.8 crore. 

The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme, which is also known as the Anganwadi Services Scheme, is one of the flagship programmes of the government and represents one of the world’s largest and unique programmes for early childhood care and development.

It is the foremost symbol of the country’s commitment to its children and nursing mothers, as a response to the challenge of providing pre-school non-formal education on one hand and breaking the vicious cycle of malnutrition, morbidity, reduced learning capacity and mortality on the other. 

The beneficiaries under this scheme are children in the age group of 0-6 years, pregnant women and lactating mothers.

The scheme was launched in 1975 with 33 projects and 4,891 Anganwadi Centres (AWCs). As on June 30, 2019, the scheme operates through a network of 7,075 fully operational projects and 13.77 lakh AWCs.

Objectives of the scheme:

• To improve the nutritional and health status of children in the age-group of 0-6 years. 

• To lay the foundation for proper psychological, physical and social development of the child. 

• To reduce the incidence of mortality, morbidity, malnutrition and school dropouts. 

• To achieve effective coordination of policy and implementation amongst the various departments to promote child development. 

• To enhance the capability of the mother to look after the normal health and nutritional needs of the child through proper nutrition and health education.

The package of following six services is provided under the scheme:

• Supplementary Nutrition (SNP)

• Pre-school Non-formal Education

• Nutrition & Health Education

• Immunisation

• Health Check-up

• Referral Services 

Other components of Umbrella ICDS

* Poshan Abhiyaan (National Nutrition Mission) targets to reduce the level of stunting, under-nutrition, anemia and low birth weight babies by reducing malnutrition/under-nutrition, anemia among young children and also focus on adolescent girls, pregnant women and lactating mothers.

* Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) scheme provides cash incentive amounting to Rs 5,000 in three installments directly to the bank/post office account of pregnant women and lactating mothers during pregnancy and lactation on fulfilling certain conditions.

* Scheme for Adolescent Girls targets out  of school adolescent girls (11-14 years) with an aim to motivate these girls to join the school system. The key objective is to facilitate, educate and empower girls so as to enable them to become self-reliant and aware citizens. 

* National Creche Scheme provides day care facilities to children of age group of 6 months to 6 years of working women. The facilities are provided for seven and half hours a day for 26 days in a month. Children are provided with supplementary nutrition, early childcare education, and health and sleeping facilities. 

* Child Protection Services Scheme aims to contribute to the improvement and well-being of children in difficult circumstances, as well as, reduction of vulnerabilities to situations and actions that leads to abuse, neglect, exploitation, abandonment and separation of children from parents. The scheme aims to spread awareness regarding the ways and means to prevent all children from child abuse of any kind, including child sexual abuse.

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