ICDS is a community-based programme targeted at children of 0-6 years of age, adolescent girls, and pregnant and lactating mothers. The primary objective of the scheme is to improve the health, nutrition and educational status of the target community. Figure 1 shows how nutritional indicators related to children, adolescent girls and maternal health have changed between 2015-16 and 2019-21.

Figure 1: Performance of Latehar in select nutritional indicators (%)

• Latehar district’s performance improved on all three parameters widely used to measure children’s nutritional status—stunting, wasting and under-nutrition, by 4.1 percentage points, 9.8 percentage points and 4.8 percentage points, respectively.
• Indicators of anaemia among different target groups reveal that while anaemia among pregnant women reduced by 5.2 percentage points, anaemia in children and women between ages 15-19 increased by 18.2 percentage points and 12.6 perentage points, respectively.

Figure 2: Change in Nutritional Status from 2015-16 to 2019-21 (%)

• Between NFHS 4 and NFHS 5, both Latehar and Jharkhand showed improvements on all three indicators used to measure children’s nutritional status— stunting, wasting and underweight.
• On anaemia among children, which is caused by nutritional deficiencies, Latehar’s performance deteriorated significantly over time, while Jharkhand as a whole was able to improve.  However, according to the latest data for NFHS 5, anaemia among children continues to be significantly high.
• During the review period, anaemia among adolescent girls increased significantly in Latehar and marginally in Jharkhand.
• Anaemia among pregnant women, which not only impacts maternal health but also the growth and development of the foetus, showed an improvement for both Latehar and Jharkhand, which is a positive development.

The following section engages with some factors under the scope of ICDS that can influence nutritional outcomes in children such as adequate diet and breastfeeding practices. The purpose of this discussion is to understand the conditions in which the ICDS scheme is being implemented in the district.

Figure 3: Factors influencing child nutritional outcomes in Latehar (%)

• Early initiation and exclusive breastfeeding have great health benefits for both infants and mothers, and is recommended by WHO and UNICEF (Selim 2018) to address the nutritional needs of infant and young children. Under the Anganwadi Services Scheme, counselling on infant and young child feeding practices is provided to pregnant women and lactating mothers.
• In Latehar, the practice of breastfeeding within an hour after birth went down by 12.7 percentage points, which means more children are now missing out on the crucial first milk.
• However, there is a 20.8 percentage point increase in the practice of exclusive breastfeeding. This is a positive development as more children are being breastfed in the first six months.
• After the first six months, breastmilk is not enough to meet the energy and nutrition needs of infants, and they have to be provided with complementary food. The Supplementary Nutrition Program (SNP) under ICDS is a self-selecting scheme that aims to address the gap between the ‘recommended dietary allowance’ and the ‘average daily intake’.
• In Latehar, access to an adequate diet for children slipped marginally, and continues to be extremely low at 7.5 per cent.

The figures below have been collected from the Jharkhand Treasury for both the district and the state based on their availability (accessed on 30^th October, 2022).

Figure 4: Latehar’s net expenditure on ICDS and share of Latehar in the state’s expenditure on ICDS

• Figure 4 shows reveals the expenditure on ICDS increased over time for the district. This indicates a greater prioritisation of the scheme in the state, which is a positive development, especially since the majority of Latehar’s population is made up of Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) people.
• Expenditure increased by 8.9% in 2018-19, 15.6% in 2019-20 and 24.2% in 2020-21.
• The trend is in accordance with the district’s share in the state budget, which rose from 1.27% to 1.99%. However, the state’s expenditure itself was reduced by 20.8% in 2020-21.

ICDS general: This component of the scheme is responsible for providing salaries, honorarium, infrastructure and pre-school education.

Figure 5: Net expenditure of Latehar on ICDS General and share of Latehar in the state’s expenditure on ICDS General

• Expenditure on ICDS general has increased over the years. This may be due to reasons such as the increase in the honorarium paid to Anganwadi workers (AWWs) and helpers (AWHs) in 2018 by Rs 1,500 and Rs 750, respectively, and again in 2019 by Rs 500 and Rs 250, respectively, in the state.
• Expenditure increased by 6.23% in 2018-19 from the previous financial year, then by 23.2% in 2019-20 and by 7.89% in 2020-21.
• The share of Latehar in the state’s expenditure also increased from 2019-20 to 2020-21.

SNP: Supplementary Nutrition Programme: The SNP is designed to bridge the gap between the ‘recommended dietary allowance’ and the ‘average daily intake’. SNP is provided in two ways: take-home rations (THR) and hot-cooked meals at Anganwadi Centres (AWCs). THRs are provided in the form of dry ration or pre-cooked meals to children aged 6 to 36 months, as well as pregnant and lactating women. THRs seeks to address the nutrition gap that exists in new-borns and young children.

Figure 6: Latehar’s net expenditure on SNP and share of Latehar in state’s expenditure on SNP

• Expenditure under SNP increased marginally in 2018-19, by 0.6%. In 2019-20, it fell 28%. However, in 2020-21, it again increased significantly, by 134%.
• Since there was a decrease in expenditure under SNP in 2019-20 in spite of the overall increase in expenditure, it means the expenditure on other components of the scheme has risen, for example on Poshan Abhiyaan, as elaborated in the next section.
• In 2019-20, the share of Latehar in the state’s expenditure stood at 0.32%. This increased the following year to 1.22%, maintaining the same trend as the district’s expenditure on SNP.

Poshan Abhiyaan: To give nutrition efforts a further impetus, POSHAN Abhiyaan, or the National Nutrition Mission (NNM), was launched by the Government of India with the target of reducing undernutrition by 2 percentage points each year. POSHAN Abhiyaan has been rolled out in a phased manner since 2018, with the aim of converging and monitoring all nutrition-related schemes. Under POSHAN Abhiyaan, the budget is allocated for programme components such as ICT application (POSHAN tracker), convergence, community mobilisation, behavioural change Jan Andolan, capacity building, incentives and awards, and innovations.

Figure 7: Latehar’s net expenditure on Poshan Abhiyan and share of Latehar in state’s expenditure on Poshan Abhiyan

• In 2018-19, the year NNM was rolled out, expenditure on this component was the lowest.
• However, the following year, expenditure saw a sharp spike of 1,292%. In 2020-21, the expenditure again rose by 16.1%.
• Expenditure in Latehar, as a percentage of the state’s share under NNM, also increased in 2020-21 to 2.56%, from 1.52% in 2019-20.
• This is in contrast to the pattern in which funds were released from the central government to the state, where the highest amount released was in 2018-19, at Rs 5,110 lakh. There was no funding in 2019-20 and Rs 1,488.2 lakh was transferred in 2020-21. This may have been due to the delayed or phase-wise inception of NNM in the state, as seen through the low utilisation of funds under NNM until 2019-20.

Given the importance of ICDS in providing nutrition and helping in the overall development of children, different data/information about the scheme should be readily available to and accessible by the common masses.

The following table shows a list of essential data points/information regarding ICDS that various stakeholders will find useful. The availability and accessibility of this information is critical to ensure the scheme’s success. The current level of information available has been evaluated for each of the indicators.

 Transparency and Accountability Index

Availability

Is the data is available at the district level?

Fiscal (input) indicators: Yes, on the district treasury website. It is available for various ICDS components such as Supplementary Nutrition Programme, ICDS General, National Nutrition Mission, and construction of Anganwadis (2017-18 to 2020-21). It is available for the following fiscal indicators: net expenditure and gross expenditure.

Outcome indicators: Yes. It is available online for nutrition-specific indicators such as stunting, wasting, anaemia among children, etc, from the National Family Health Survey.

Is the data available via online/offline mode?

Fiscal (input) indicators: Online

Outcome indicators: Online

Accessibility

Is the data available in an 'open access' format?

Fiscal (input) indicators: Yes

Outcome indicators: Yes

Is the data published in machine-readable formats, such as CSV, Excel etc., and is it easily reusable?

Fiscal (input) indicators: No

Outcome indicators: Data is available in PDF format.

Is the data published in multiple languages?

Fiscal (input) indicators: No, English only

Outcome indicators: No, English only

Completeness/Comprehensiveness  

Is the data complete or partial?

Fiscal (input) indicators: Fiscal information is limited to expenditure. It does not provide data on allocation.

Outcome indicators: The information is comprehensive and available for similar indicators for both districts and states.

Timeliness of Data that is available

Is the data generated on a timely and regular basis?

Fiscal (input) indicators: Yes

Outcome indicators: No

How frequently is the data updated?

Fiscal (input) indicators: Real time

Outcome indicators: NFHS data is available at different intervals each time. The latest survey was conducted after an interval of three years.

Which year does the latest data cover?

Fiscal (input) indicators: Latest/ ongoing financial year

Outcome indicators: For NFHS, data is available up to 2019-20.

User-friendliness and relevance of data that is available 

Is the data easy to understand and comprehend and are the analytics published online? (Is it free of technical codes and difficult terminology?)

Fiscal (input) indicators: To download ICDS data from the treasury, knowledge of DDO/scheme codes is required.

Outcome indicators: Yes, analytics produced by NFHS are relevant and user friendly.

Public participation and accountability  

Is there space for people to participate in planning/budgeting/monitoring/evaluation/auditing of the scheme at the district/block/panchayat level?

No

Are people physically present and actively involved in the consultations/meetings in any of the above tiers of programme design and implementation?

No

If there is no possibility of physical participation, are there other 'means' of participation?

No

Is there any provision for a social audit of the scheme?

No

Are social audits conducted as per norms?

No

Are social audit reports publicly available?

Not applicable

Is there any grievance redressal mechanism for beneficiaries?

No

• The condition of child undernutrition in Latehar showed improvement on the indicators of stunting, wasting and underweight. However, the incidence of anaemia showed a mixed trend, with anaemia among children and adolescents increasing and anaemia among pregnant women decreasing.
• To address these nutritional and health conditions, the ICDS provides a set of services. For the successful delivery of these services, appropriate budgetary allocation and utilisation is crucial.
• The overall fiscal trend for Latehar shows an increase in expenditure on the scheme, which shows greater prioritisation.
• Expenditure under ICDS general shows a steady increase, which may be attributed to the hike in honorarium to AWWs and AWHs in 2018 and 2019.
• Expenditure under the SNP component shows a steady increase in Latehar until 2019-20, when it dipped, before rising significantly in 2020-21. This is in accordance with the share of the district in the state’s budget for SNP, which shows significant budgetary attention to the district.

Under Poshan Abhiyan, much like the above trend, expenditure on NNM was the lowest in the first year before gradually increasing. This may have been due to the delayed or phasewise inception of NNM in the state and district.