Context

• The Union Ministry of Women and Child Development announced to organise a day-long Seminar on Technology Partnerships ‘TECH-THON’ for steering POSHAN Abhiyaan at Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra in New Delhi.
• The POSHAN Abhiyaan or the National Nutrition Mission is PM Narendra Modi’s initiative for holistic nourishment.

POSHAN Abhiyaan TECH-THON

• The upcoming POSHAN Abhiyaan TECH-THON is aimed at improving the nutrition outcomes through effective monitoring and timely intervention.

• The Vice Chairman of the NITI Aayog will inaugurate the Seminar and launch the Jan Andolan Guidelines of POSHAN Abhiyaan. 

• It will showcase and familiarise the people towards the initiative, exchange ideas to explore avenues of cooperation and partnerships for technology support, as well as, reach-out to the beneficiaries for effective behavioural change to initiate a ‘Peoples Movement’ or ‘Jan Andolan’ towards Nutrition. 

• The Seminar will witness the presence of Ministers, top policy makers, participants from multilateral partner institutions like UNICEF, World Bank, WHO, WFP, Tata Trust, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) etc, Philanthropic Private Sectors and Civil Society Organizations. 

• Leading experts from a range of fields will be present to lead panel discussions and share insights on addressing avenues of cooperation and partnerships for technology support.

• An exhibition will also be organised showcasing the technology and other materials of POSHAN Abhiyaan in the gallery of Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra.

• Approximately 300 participants are expected to grace the Seminar.

ICDS-CAS (Common Application Software)

• The Ministry also announced the development of the ICDS-CAS (Common Application Software) to strengthen the service delivery system as well as the mechanism for Real Time Monitoring for nutritional outcomes through effective monitoring and timely interventions in POSHAN Abhiyaan. 

• By the year 2020, the application will be rolled out across 14 lakh Anganwadis and would impact 10 Crore beneficiaries. 

• It is currently the largest e-Nutrition & Health programme in the World having 1.1 lakh data entry devices with frontline functionaries across 7 States – Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

• It enables data capture, ensures assigned service delivery and prompts for interventions wherever required.

• It makes available the data to the supervisory staff from sector, block, district, state to national level through a dashboard for monitoring purpose.

Source:PIB