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The Government has expanded the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme to cover all community development blocks and major urban slums of the country. The expansion will fulfill government’s commitment contained in the National Common Minimum Programme and to comply with Supreme Court’s directives to increase the number of Anganwadi Centres. 467 additional ICDS Projects and 1,88,168 Anganwadi Centres have been sanctioned. This involves additional expenditure of more than Rs. 476/- crore per annum. With the expansion of the Scheme, the total number of Projects has increased to 6119 and that of Anganwadi Centres to about 9.43 lakhs.
The Department of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Human Resource Development recently convened a meeting of Secretaries of all States/UTs to impress upon them the importance and need to make all centres functional by March 31, 2006.
At present, the Scheme covers 393.58 lakh children and 80.61 lakh pregnant/lactating women. With the expansion, about 1.05 crore additional children and about 24 lakh additional pregnant/lactating women are expected to be benefited under the Scheme.
Expansion of the Scheme would also lead to employment of 3.65 lakh women as Anganwadi Workers and Anganwadi helpers as “honorary” community workers at the grassroots level. Besides, it would create about 10,000 additional regular jobs under the state Governments.
Kishori Shakti Yojana (KSY), which aims at breaking the inter-generational life cycle of nutritional and gender disadvantage and providing a supportive environment for self development for adolescent girls in the age group of 11-18 years, was sanctioned in 2000 blocks. This scheme has also been extended to all 6119 ICDS Projects throughout the country. The scheme is estimated to cost Rs. 67.31 crore per annum.
The Government has made a provision of Rs. 1500.00 crore in the budget of 2005-06 for supplementary nutrition which was hitherto the responsibility of the States/UTs. The total allocation for the Scheme has been increased from Rs. 2155.60 crore in 2004-05 to Rs. 3685.30 crore for 2005-06.
Further expansion of the Scheme is also contemplated. State Governments have been asked to carry out macro-level survey and furnish their requirement for additional Anganwadi Centres, it there are still some villages/habitations which are not covered by the scheme.
The ICDS is a nation-wide programme which aims to improve the nutritional and health status of vulnerable groups including pre-school children, pregnant women and nursing mothers by providing a package of services comprising supplementary nutrition, immunization, health-check up, referral services, pre-school education and nutrition and health education. In addition, the Scheme envisages effective convergence of inter-sectoral services in the Anganwadi Centres. Launched in 1975 in 33 Blocks on an experimental basis, the Scheme was gradually expanded to 5652 projects till the end of IX Five Year Plan. Further expansion of the Scheme during X Plan was freezed.
UM/SPS/NC
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