Government to celebrate ‘Poshan Pakhwada’ from 8th to 22nd March 2019 across the Country: Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi

The Minister for Women and Child Development, Smt. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi today announced that the Government will celebrate the first anniversary of POSHAN Abhiyaan on 8^th March, 2019 by organising Poshan Pakhwada across the Country. Briefing media, the WCD Minister said that Poshan Pakhwada will be celebrated as part of Jan Andolan under POSHAN Abhiyaan from 08^th to 22^nd March, 2019. Secretary, WCD, Shri Rakesh Shrivastava was present at the briefing.

Speaking on the occasion, Smt Maneka Gandhi said that the Poshan Pakhwada will be celebrated on lines of ‘Poshan Maah’ held in the month of September, 2018. The Pakhwada will be launched on International Women’s Day, 8^th March, 2019. The Minister informed that the Ministry of Women & Child Development is the nodal ministry for coordinating activities during the month, accordingly, State/UT WCD/Social Welfare Department will be nodal Department for a similar role. The event will be celebrated in convergence mode.

The Minister also informed about the key activities which include Poshan Melas, Rally on nutrition at all level, Prabhat Pheree, Session on nutrition at schools, Self help group meetings, anaemia camps, growth monitoring of children, home visits of newborn babies by ASHA/AWW, Village Health, Sanitation and Nutrition Day (VHSND, Community Based Events (CBE) will be carried out . Further IEC activities through mass media, mid media and Social Media will be carried out during Poshan Pakhwada. Social Media Campaign Hashtag #PoshanPakhwada through media partners and team of Swasth Bharat Preraks would be carried out for maximum reach. During Poshan Pakhwada awareness on nutrition in urban area will also be focused. During the Poshan Pakhwada it is also planned to organise workshop on Agri-Nutrition on 15^th March 2019.

The Jan Andolan Guidelines which are Multi Sectorial and cover 12 basic themes will be utilised to activate various platforms at ground level. The Jan Andolan Dashboard at website http://poshanabhiyaan.gov.in will have a separate tab to reflect aggregated outcomes of the Poshan Pakhwada. Entry of all activities will be made on periodical basis at block level. Previously, Poshan Maah had garnered 25 crore participation across 22 lakh activities across the country.

All the concerned Ministries/Departments and States/UTs play a key role for implementing various activities during the Pakhwada as was done during Poshan Maah. Activities are planned to be carried out by all the Ministries/Departments by involving the concerned Departments of States/UTs upto the grass root level all the field functionaries during Pakhwada. The Ministries/Departments and States/UTs may also add any other activities for creating awareness.

Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Drinking Water & Sanitation, Rural Development, Human Resource & Development, Information & Broadcasting, Panchayati Raj, Tribal Affairs, Housing and Urban Affairs, Electronics and Information Technology, Minority Affairs, AYUSH, Sports & Youths Affairs, Social Justice and Empowerment, Ministry of Agriculture Cooperation and Farmers Welfare and Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution will partner with WCD Ministry during the Poshan Pakhwada. At the grass root level platform like Gram Sabhas, SHGs, and Field functionaries across various Ministries & Schemes will be used.

Details about suggested activities for Poshan Pakhwada and the schedule are given below in the Annexure -A & B:

Annexure A

Suggested Activities of Poshan Pakhwada

Ministry

Activity

Ministry of Rural Development/ Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs

(MoRD/H&UA)

Cooperative/Federation Meetings to address Nutrition

Self Help Group Meetings

Haat Bazaar Activities

Mass Media Campaign

Ministry of Women and Child Development

(MoWCD)

Nukkadnatak /Folk Shows

Poshan Melas

VHSN Day

Cycle Rally – On Nutrition

Home Visits – AWW

Mass Media Campaign

Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation

(MoDWS)

Cycle Rally – on Hygiene

Mass Media Campaign

Ministry of Panchayati Raj

(MoPR)

Panchayat Meetings

Poshan Walks

Prabhat Pheree

Mass Media Campaign

Ministry of Human Resource Development

Department of Education

(MoSEL, DoE)

School-Based Activities

Awareness Campaign for Adolescent Girls

Mass Media Campaign

Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare

(MoAFW)

Farmer Club Meeting

Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports

(MoYAS)

Poshan Rally

Youth Group Meetings

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

(MoHFW)

Anaemia Camp

Home Visits – ASHA / ANM

District and Block Admin with Support from Department of Women and Child Development/Social Welfare + Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

(MoWCD + MoHFW)

Community Radio Activities

Mass Media Campaign

Annexure B

Poshan Pakhwada Activity Schedule

Date	Activity	Remarks
8^th March	Poshan Mela, Call for Pakhwada
9^th March	Panchayat Meetings to begin on Poshan Pakhwada
10^th March	Cycle Rally	Sunday
	Poshan Rally
11^th March	School Based Activities
	Anemia Camp
12^th March	Awareness Campaign for Adolescent Girls
	Cooperative/Federation Meetings to address Nutrition
13^th March	Cycle Rally	Select the activity that was not carried out on 10^th March
	Poshan Rally
14^th March	Youth Group Meetings
	Poshan Walk
15^th March	Awareness Campaign for Adolescent Girls	Select the activity that was not carried out on 12^th March
	Cooperative/Federation Meetings to address Nutrition
16^th March	Farmer Club Meeting
	Haat Bazaar Activities
17^th March	PrabhatPheree	Sunday
	Poshan Walk
18^th March	Youth Group Meetings	Select the activity that was not carried out previously
	School Based Activities
19^th March	Farmer Club Meeting	Select the activity that was not carried out on 16^th March
	Haat Bazaar Activities
20^th March	Anemia Camp	Select Anemia Camp if not carried out on 11^th March
	Awareness Campaign for Adolescent Girls
21^st March	Poshan Rally
	Cycle Rally
22^nd March	Panchayat Meetings to review the impact of PoshanPakhwada