PIB Summary- 1st September, 2022 | PIB (Press Information Bureau) Summary - UPSC PDF Download

Integration of ODOP With ONDC

Why in News?
Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles called for the integration of One District One Product (ODOP) initiative with Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC).

• The Minister said that ONDC would help in further expanding the frontiers of ODOP by bringing buyers and sellers together on a democratic platform.

About One District, One Product

• The ODOP initiative is aimed at manifesting the vision of the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India to foster balanced regional development across all districts of the country.
• The idea is to select, brand, and promote One Product from each District of the country
  • For enabling holistic socioeconomic growth across all regions
  • To attract investment in the District to boost manufacturing and exports
  • To generate employment in the District
  • To provide ecosystem for Innovation/ use of Technology at District level to make them competitive with domestic as well as International market

Objectives of the scheme

• Preservation and development of local crafts / skills and promotion of the art.
• Increase in the incomes and local employment (resulting in decline in migration for employment).
• Improvement in product quality and skill development.
• Transforming the products in an artistic way (through packaging, branding)
• To connect the production with tourism (Live demo and sales outlet – gifts and souvenir)
• To resolve the issues of economic difference and regional imbalance
• To take the concept of ODOP to national and international level after successful implementation at State level.

What is ONDC?

• It is a not-for-profit organisation that will offer a network to enable local digital commerce stores across industries to be discovered and engaged by any network-enabled applications.
• It is neither an aggregator application nor a hosting platform, and all existing digital commerce applications and platforms can voluntarily choose to adopt and be a part of the ONDC network.
• The ONDC model is trying to replicate the success of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in the field of digital payments.
• UPI allows people to send or receive money irrespective of the payment platforms they are registered on.
• The open network concept also extends beyond the retail sector, to any digital commerce domains including wholesale, mobility, food delivery, logistics, travel, urban services, etc.

The main aims of ONDC are to

• Promote open-source methodology, using open specifications and
• Promote open network protocols independent of any specific platform
• Digitise value chains,
• Promote inclusion of suppliers,
• Standardize operations,
• Derive efficiencies in logistics
• Enhance value for consumers.

Rashtriya Poshan Maah

Why in News?
The Ministry of Women and Child Development is celebrating the 5th Rashtriya Poshan Maah 2022 from 1st to 30th September 2022.

• This year, the objective is to trigger Poshan Maah through Gram Panchayats as Poshan Panchayats with key focus on “Mahila aur Swasthya” and “Bacha aur Shiksha”.

National Nutrition Month (Rashtriya Poshan Maah)

• The entire month of September is celebrated as the Rashtriya Poshan Maah.
• The purpose of celebrating the Poshan month is to take the message of nutrition to every nook and corner of the country (especially grass root level) and to focus on complimentary food, treatment, and prevention from infections in children.
• The programme is an initiative of Women and Child Development Ministry and NITI Aayog is supported by 18 line Ministries / Departments / Government Organizations.
• It seeks to synergise all efforts by leveraging technology and intends to take nutrition awareness to the level of Jan Andolan or People’s Movement.
• The programme focuses on 8 themes – Antenatal Care, Optimal Breastfeeding (Early & Exclusive), Complementary Feeding, Anemia, Growth Monitoring, Girls-education, diet, right age of Marriage, Hygiene & Sanitation, Food Fortification.

About Poshan Abhiyaan

• The term ‘POSHAN’ in the name of the programme stands for ‘Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition’.
• POSHAN Abhiyaan launched in 2018 aims at improving the nutritional status of Children from 0-6 years, Adolescent Girls, Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers.
• According to ‘Mission 25 by 2020’, the National Nutrition Mission aims to achieve a reduction in stunting from 38.4% to 25% by 2022.
• POSHAN Abhiyaan focuses on convergence among partner Ministries leveraging technology and Jan Andolan among other things, to address issue of malnutrition comprehensively.
• Near-real time reporting by field functionaries and improved MIS is aimed at smooth implementation of scheme and better service delivery.
• It also targets stunting, under-nutrition, anaemia (among young children, women and adolescent girls) and low birth rate.
• It will monitor and review implementation of all such schemes and utilize existing structural arrangements of line ministries wherever available.
• Its large component involves gradual scaling-up of interventions supported by on-going World Bank assisted Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Systems Strengthening and Nutrition Improvement Project (ISSNIP) to all districts in the country by 2022.
• Its vision is to ensure attainment of malnutrition free India by 2022.

Implementation of POSHAN Abhiyaan is based on the four-point strategy/pillars of the mission

• Inter-sectoral convergence for better service delivery
• Use of technology (ICT) for real time growth monitoring and tracking of women and children
• Intensified health and nutrition services for the first 1000 days
• Jan Andolan

Issues of Poshan Abhiyaan

• Information and communications technology-enabled real time monitoring (ICT-RTM) has been rolled out in POSHAN Abhiyaan districts.
• This could be ineffective due to the limited capacities of Anganwadi workers (AWs) to handle smartphones owing to their lack of technological literacy.
• Technical issues like slow servers and data deletion problems, resulting in irregular and improper recording of growth data of children.
• AWs are the fulcrum of POSHAN Abhiyaan and render vital services to mothers and children in villages.
• Nearly 40% of AWs had to use their personal money to run the AWCs, 35% of them complained of delayed payments.
• This makes AWs demotivated and demoralized.

Anganwadi Centres

• Anganwadis or day-care centres are set up under the centrally sponsored Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme.
• The scheme is being implemented by the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
• Anganwadi centres provide a package of six services: supplementary nutrition, pre-school non-formal education, immunisation, nutrition and health education, as well as referral services.
• The primary aim of the scheme is to reduce infant mortality and child malnutrition.
• Beneficiaries of these centers will be Children in the age group of zero to six years, and pregnant women and lactating mothers.
• It was started by the Government of India In 1975 as part of the Integrated Child Development Services program to combat child hunger and malnutrition.
• The beneficiaries under the Anganwadi Services Scheme are identified on the basis of Aadhaar.

Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) – Govt. Schemes

• Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), a Centrally-Sponsored scheme, is an Indian government welfare programme that provides food, preschool education, and primary healthcare to children under 6 years of age and their mothers.
• The scheme was started in 1975 and aims at the holistic development of children and empowerment of mother.
• The scheme primarily runs through the Anganwadi centers and the scheme is under the Ministry of Women and Child Development.

Objectives of ICDS are

• To improve the nutritional and health status of children in the age-group 0-6 years;
• To lay the foundation for proper psychological, physical and social development of the child;
• To reduce the incidence of mortality, morbidity, malnutrition and school dropout;
• To achieve effective co-ordination of policy and implementation amongst the various departments to promote child development; and
• To enhance the capability of the mother to look after the normal health and nutritional needs of the child through proper nutrition and health education.
• Services Provided by the ICDS are:
• Supplementary Nutrition (SNP)
• Health & Nutrition Check-Up
• Immunization
• Non-Formal Education for Children in Pre-School
• Health and Nutrition Education
• Referral services

Six Schemes under Umbrella ICDS

• Anganwadi Services Scheme: A unique programme for early childhood care and development which benefits children in the age group of 0-6 years, pregnant women and lactating mothers.
• Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana: Provides cash incentive amounting to Rs.5,000/- in three installments directly to the Bank/Post Office Account of Pregnant Women and Lactating Mother (PW&LM) in DBT (Direct Benefit Transfer) Mode during pregnancy and lactation in response to individual fulfilling specific conditions.
• National Creche Scheme: Provides day care facilities to children of age group of 6 months to 6 years of working women for seven and half hours a day for 26 days in a month.
• Scheme for Adolescent Girls: Aims to empower and improve the social status of out of school girls in the age group 11-14 through nutrition, life skills and home skills.
• Child Protection Scheme: Aims to contribute to the improvement and well-being of children in difficult circumstances, as well as, reduction of vulnerabilities to situations and actions that lead to abuse, neglect, exploitation, abandonment and separation of children from parents.
• POSHAN Abhiyaan: Targets to reduce the level of stunting, under-nutrition, anemia and low birth weight babies by reducing mal-nutrition/undernutrition, anemia among young children as also, focus on adolescent girls, pregnant women and lactating mothers.