The Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) celebrated ‘PoshanPakhwada’ (Nutrition Fortnight) across India under POSHAN Abhiyaan (Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition) or National Nutrition Mission from March 16-31, 2021.
- It is a mission for creating awareness on nutrition & its importance on Children, Lactating mother and adolescent child.
- Key Focus Areas for PoshanPakhwada 2021 – Addressing Nutritional Challenges through Food Forestry and Organizing Poshan Panchayats.
- MWCD was the nodal ministry for coordinating activities during the PoshanPakhwada. In the State/UT, Department of Women & Child Development/Social Welfare Department will be the nodal department for PoshanPakhwada.
Events under POSHAN Pakhwada
- Poshan Panchayat was organized involving members of PRIs (Panchayati Raj Institutions) for generating awareness on the prevalence of malnutrition & its consequences, PoshanVatika, food forestry, identification of SAM/MAM (Severe Acute Malnutrition/Moderate Acute Malnutrition) children and its management.
- To address nutritional challenges, 4 saplings of nutrition-rich plans per Anganwadi Centre (AWC) in the Aspirational Districts were distributed by National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB), Ministry of AYUSH.
POSHAN Abhiyaan for Elderly
- The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment is aiming to launch POSHAN Abhiyaan for the Elderly.
- It will provide nutrition support to the indigent elders (any elderly who are frail, sickly or with a disability, and without pension or permanent source of income), who are victims of severe malnutrition, by focusing on procuring locally available health food material and serving hot-cooked mid-day meals.
- Implementing Agencies – Gram Panchayats & Urban Municipalities
- Funding – Senior Citizens Welfare Fund
Background
- According to the ‘Report of Government of India’s Technical Group on Population Projection for India & States’ released in July 2020, the population of senior citizens would be 22.74 Crore (14.9%) by 2036.
- To ensure the wellbeing of Senior Citizens, the Government of India has been implementing schemes and programmes under the ‘National Action Plan for Senior Citizens’.
- The Action Plan provides financial security, healthcare and nutrition, shelter and welfare, protection of life and property, active and productive ageing and awareness generation.
POSHAN Abhiyaan
- It was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 8th March 2018.
- It works in convergence with other programmes of the Government of India such as Anganwadi Services, Pradhan MantriMatruVandanaYojana (PMMVY), Scheme for Adolescent Girls (SAG) of MWCD, Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY), National Health Mission (NHM) and others.
Recent Related News:
i.March 8, 2021, MWCD has classified all its major programmes under 3 umbrella schemes namely – Mission Poshan 2.0 (Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition), Mission Vatsalya& Mission Shakti for the sake of better Implementation of the schemes &programmes.
ii.On September 20, 2020, MWCD inked MoU with the Ministry of AYUSH to control Malnutrition as a part of POSHAN Abhiyaan to improve the nutritional outcomes for children, pregnant women and lactating mothers.
About Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD):
Union Minister – Smriti Zubin Irani (Lok Sabha MP, Constituency – Amethi, UP)
Minister of State – Debasree Chaudhuri (Lok Sabha MP, Constituency – Raiganj, West Bengal)
About Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment:
Union Minister – Thaawar Chand Gehlot (Rajya Sabha MP, Madhya Pradesh)
Minister of State – Krishan Pal Gurjar(Lok Sabha MP – Faridabad, Haryana), Ramdas Athawale (Rajya Sabha MP, Maharashtra), Rattan Lal Kataria (Lok Sabha MP, Constituency – Ambala, Haryana)
