Women and Child Development Ministry to give awards to people who helped in implementation of Poshan Abhiyaan

The Women and Child Development Ministry will give awards to those who helped in implementation of the 'Poshan Abhiyaan' and has asked the states and Union Territories to short-list work of frontline functionaries who have worked towards making 'Poshan Maah' a success.

The month of September has been celebrated across the 36 states and Union Territories as 'Rashtriya Poshan Maah' under 'Poshan Abhiyaan', the National Nutrition Mission which aims to bring down stunting of children in the age group of 0-6 years from 38.4 per cent to 25 per cent by 2022.

The government had last month decided to observe every September as the National Nutrition Month to mark the country's fight against malnutrition.

The awards are being given to sustain the momentum and recognise the efforts being put in at all levels as also to acknowledge the progress made by states in implementing 'Poshan Maah' under 'Poshan Abhiyaan', according to an official statement.

The Ministry has asked the states and Union territories to short-list work of frontline functionaries who have worked to make 'Poshan Maah' a success, the statement said.

The awards are being given in several categories. These include field level functionary awards, awards for individual excellence, village convergence award, leadership awards, state-level awards for best social media campaign, maximum reach across all themes, best innovative use of non-conventional methods of spreading awareness on Poshan, among others, the statement said.

The Poshan Award Ceremony is likely to be organised in the second week of October at New Delhi by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, it said.

The 'Poshan Abhiyan' additionally also aims to ensure convergence of all nutrition-related schemes and provide performance-based incentives to states and community nutrition and health workers, facilitating a focus on results.

(PTI)