Topic

POSHAN ABHIYAAN

Good nutrition is vital to good health. With such multiculturism and modern society, food
has established to be much more sophisticated and in variety. Proper nutrition is one of the
most essential elements to being healthy and living a long life. People deal with food every
day, and food has been a part of life since the beginning of civilization.

What we eat becomes our diet, and our diet plays a major role in deciding how healthy we are
and how well our body functions. Without proper diet, our body cannot carry out the functions
it needs to perform. Most people have some common knowledge on what is good and what is
bad for the human body to consume. Fruits, vegetables, nuts, and grains are some common
items people think of when they think of healthy foods.

In India nutrition deficiency has been seen over the decades in some sections of the society
due to which the body of the children are not well developed. As India has the youngest
population in the world, so it is the right of every youngster of our country to grow healthily
and explore his capabilities. Keeping this in mind the government of India launched Poshan
Abhiyaan on March 8, 2018 (International Women’s Day).

The Ministry of Women and Child Development organized the second meeting of National
Council on India’s Nutrition Challenges under POSHAN Abhiyaan.

Under  Poshan Abhiyaan, the month of September is observed as Poshan Maah

i.e. Nutrition month every year, since 2018.

 The Abhiyaan targets to reduce stunting, undernutrition, anemia (among young

children, women and adolescent girls) and reduce low birth weight by 2%, 2%, 3% and
2% per annum respectively.

 The target of the mission is to bring down stunting among children in the age
group 0-6 years from 38.4% to 25% by 2022.

 ‘Agricultural Fund of India’ is being created to have complete information about

the crops that are grown in each district and their related nutritional value. So that
good quality crops can be grown and provided to the weaker section of the society.

POSHAN Abhiyaan aims to ensure service delivery and interventions by use of technology,
behavioural change through convergence and lays-down specific targets to be achieved
across different monitoring parameters.

Under the Abhiyaan, Swasth Bharat Preraks will be deployed one in each district for
coordinating with district officials and enabling fast and efficient execution of the Abhiyaan
across the country. Swasth Bharat Preraks would function as catalyst for fast tracking the
implementation of the Abhiyaan.

o It includes a month-long activities focussed on antenatal care, optimal

breastfeeding, anaemia, growth monitoring, girls education, diet, right age of
marriage, hygiene and sanitation and eating healthy (food fortification).
o The activities focus on Social and Behavioural Change Communication
(SBCC) and are based on Jan Andolan Guidelines.

o A food and nutrition quiz as well as meme competition will be organized on the
My Gov portal.

o A unique kind of Nutrition Park has been created at Statue of Unity (Gujarat),
where one can witness nutrition related education along with fun and frolic.

Hence, Poshan Abhyaan is the key to develop a well nourished India. A time will come
when every citizen will be healthy and every Indian will have a chance to explore new limits
and hence build a Strong and Healthy Nation.

By: Nikhil Joshi

From: 1st Year