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Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) today approved the following:
(i) Modification in the grant-in-aid pattern of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme to provide grant-in-aid to States/UTs for supplementary nutrition to the extent of 50% of financial norms, or 50% of expenditure actually incurred, whichever is less.
(ii) Release of funds to the States/UTs as per pattern indicated above with effect from April 1, 2005.
(iii) Supplementary nutrition under the Scheme would not be confined to children, pregnant & lactating women from low-income group (BPL) families only.
(iv) Carrying out such changes in operational modalities, by the Department of Women & Child Development, as may be warranted, from time to time, for regular supply of supplementary nutrition and effective implementation of the ICDS Scheme.
The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme is a nation wide programme which aims to improve the nutritional and health status of children below 6 years and pregnant and lactating mothers by providing a package of services comprising supplementary nutrition, immunization, health check-up, referral services, pre-school non-formal education and health & nutrition education.
It is an ongoing Centrally-sponsored scheme implemented through the State Governments. 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. Implementation of the Scheme during X Plan was initially limited to 5652 projects.
However, to fulfil its commitment contained in the National Common Minimum Programme and to comply with Supreme Court’s directives to increase the number of Anganwadi Centres, the Government has expanded the ICDS Scheme to cover all Community Development Blocks and major urban slums of the country. 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.
As on March 31, 2005, 5422 projects with 7.06 lakh AWCs had become operational. The number of operational projects has increased to 5480 and that of AWCs 7.38 lakh, as on May 31, 2005. Supplementary nutrition under the Scheme is being provided to 407 lakh children and 81.73 lakh pregnant and 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.
As per the existing funding pattern of the Scheme, the States/UTs are responsible for providing supplementary nutrition out of their own resources. It has, however, been noticed that many States have not been providing adequately for supplementary nutrition in view of resource constraints. Further, the following recent developments would put additional financial burden on the States:
(i) the cost norms of Re.1/- per beneficiary/day for supplementary nutrition fixed in 1991 has been doubled;
(ii) Supreme Court has directed not to use BPL as eligibility criteria under ICDS;
(iii) expansion of the Scheme to additional 1.88 lakh AWCs would lead to considerable increase in the number of beneficiaries; and
(iv) Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Yojana (PMGY), under which additional central assistance of more than 400 crore was given to States for supplementary nutrition for children below 3 years, has been discontinued from the current year.
In the absence of supplementary nutrition, the beneficiaries do not attend Anganwadis and they are also deprived of other services under the Scheme. This results in diluting the impact of the Scheme in improving the nutritional and health status of children and women.
Therefore, it is proposed to share the cost of supplementary nutrition with the States/UTs on 50:50 basis. The financial support would be confined to half of the financial norms or 50% of the actual expenditure incurred, whichever is less.
For the current year (2005-06), the share of Government of India @ 50% of the cost norms is estimated at Rs.1508.37 crore. The expenditure would increase further when the new Centres become operational to cover more children.
YSR/DS/HK/LV
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