Chandigarh | With an aim to further improve the health and nutrition outcomes of children, pregnant women and lactating mothers across the state, the Social Security and Women and Child Development Department (WCD), Government of Punjab has made major changes in the supplementary nutrition provided through 27,000 Anganwadi centres.
First reform:
1.1 lakh children aged 3 to 6 years in 27,000 Anganwadis are now being provided healthy and hot cooked meals instead of “ready to cook” meals.
Previously, children in Anganwadi centers across Punjab were served packaged, ready-to-cook meals as “cooked meals.” The department has completely decentralized the meal preparation process, replacing centrally supplied packaged meals with fresh, daily cooked meals prepared on-site.
To this end, the government is providing Anganwadi workers with the necessary resources, funding, facilities, and support to procure fresh, local produce each day and prepare meals for children tailored to their area. This support will enable frontline workers to provide fresh, healthy meals to children while ensuring improved nutrition and hygiene.
From a nutritional perspective, freshly prepared food offers greater benefits than packaged food. It contains more natural nutrients and allows for customization to children’s preferences. Furthermore, it avoids the problems associated with mass-produced packaged foods, such as preservatives, long shelf life, and quality instability.
Keeping in mind the importance of nutrition in this age group, especially in terms of brain and physical development, the Punjab Government decided to make fundamental improvements in this system.
Second reform:
Major improvements have also been made in the system for pregnant women, lactating mothers and children between 6 months and 3 years of age, under which local production plants have been set up in every district, community monitoring has been put in place and the distribution cycle of ‘take home ration’ has been reduced from 45 days to 15 days.
Distribution cycle reduced from 45 days to 15 days: Take-home rations, which were previously distributed every 45 days, have also been delinked from the centralized system. This move will now distribute rations every 15 days instead of 45 days. This will ensure that pregnant women, lactating mothers, and children remain in contact with Anganwadi workers, who will be able to guide them on the proper use of rations, answer their questions, and provide timely nutrition advice.
- Local Production and Decentralized Model: The department has taken the initiative of setting up production units in each district, going a step ahead of any other state.
- Community Monitoring: For the first time in the country, participation of direct beneficiaries, Anganwadi workers and mothers of children attending Anganwadi centres as well as management committees of these units has been made mandatory.
This unprecedented initiative empowers communities to directly monitor what is being prepared and supplied to their children, while also creating local employment opportunities in each district.
Strict inspection before the start
Reiterating its commitment to quality, the government has ensured that every recipe and ingredient submitted by bidders for the “Take Home Ration” tender is laboratory-tested. Furthermore, for the first time, actual taste-testing sessions have been conducted with children at Anganwadi centers, ensuring that only recipes that children truly enjoy are selected for final approval.
Addressing challenges during change
Like any major systemic reform, this transition has encountered some initial difficulties. Due to the large number of proposals received, the evaluation of recipes took longer than initially anticipated, leading to a slight delay in finalizing the tender. The government completed the tender process for Bathinda district today and will complete it for all other districts over the coming week.
In this regard, Women and Child Development Minister Dr. Baljeet Kaur said, “With these reforms, Punjab has taken the lead in Anganwadi nutrition reforms across the country, prioritizing accountability and community participation over convenience. The Bhagwant Mann government is committed to ensuring that children, pregnant women, and lactating mothers reached through the Anganwadi network receive food that is nutritious and safe, in the required quantities.”
