What happened: coverage, nutrition forms, and reporting under Mission Poshan 2.0

Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 provides supplementary nutrition for children (6 months to 6 years), pregnant women, lactating mothers, and adolescent girls (14–18 years). The programme provides supplementary nutrition through Take-Home Ration (THR), morning snacks, and hot cooked meal (HCM). For severely acute malnourished (SAM) children (6 months to 5 years), the government provides additional nutrition in the form of THR.

Background and earlier position: NFSA nutrition norms and January 2023 revision

Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 supplies supplementary nutrition according to the nutrition norms in Schedule-II of the National Food Security Act, 2013. Nutrition norms were revised in January 2023. The earlier norms were described as largely calorie-specific, while the revised norms are described as more comprehensive and balanced in terms of both quantity and quality, based on the principle of diet diversity.

What changed now: comprehensive guidelines on quality, diversity, acceptability and caregiver/community education

The Ministry of Women and Child Development has issued Comprehensive Guidelines for Supplementary Nutrition. The guidelines stress quality, diversity and acceptability of supplementary nutrition, adherence to prescribed nutritional norms and quality standards, and nutrition and health education for caregivers, including counselling on age-appropriate complementary feeding practices. The guidelines also focus on targeted awareness programmes to reduce consumption of edible oils, salt and sugars in daily diets, aligned to the Dietary Guidelines for Indians, 2024 issued by ICMR–National Institute of Nutrition (NIN). States and Union Territories are advised to consult nutrition experts and technical institutes, including ICMR–NIN, Agricultural Universities, and Home Science Colleges, to formulate state-specific recipes using locally available foods.

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