Background/Objectives: The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) was unveiled in 1975, as a landmark infant and mother nutritional program with the objective of decreasing Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), providing supplementary nutrition to children who are below the age of six and to expecting nourishing mothers for promoting non formal education through Pre School Education (PSE).
Methods/Statistical Analysis: The paper delves into the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), report of UNICEF through the Rapid Survey on Children (RSOC) 2013-14 and the World Bank report on the impact of malnutrition on Gross Domestic Product (GDP). It tries to establish a correlation between Infrastructure/Facility Index (FI) and Performance Index (PI) of different states and the PI based on Child Mortality Rate (CMR), Female Literacy Rate (FLR) and Poverty Ratio (PVR).
Findings: The findings clearly show that in terms of coverage, it has a wide reach and has improved percentage under institutional delivery significantly. However in terms of its impact on nutrition for children and of adolescent girls are disappointing. In terms of provision of micro nutrient supplementation, there are wide variation between different states, religion, general category, SC & ST and between male & female, apart from being abysmally low in-terms of intake. The performance index based on three parameters viz. CMR, FLR, PVR clearly show distressing trends in the most populous states of Uttar Pradesh & Bihar. There is a high degree of correlation (0.7%) between facility index and performance index of the better performing states. While coverage has been the main thrust of the programme, the quality dimension remains a serious concern. India has also not achieved Goal 5 of Millennium Development Goals (MDG) in terms of reducing Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR).
Application/Improvements: The paper suggests that though the ICDS programme is well conceived it requires greater allocation priority, better governance autonomy and association of sensitive NGOs. It strongly recommends improvement in the wages of Anganwadi workers and imparting suitable training to them to improve their skill level significantly. The existing infrastructure needs to be significantly bolstered. The early childhood and maternal care should be made a Fundamental Right, on the lines of Right to Education (RTE) Act 2005, so that inclusive justice is a reality.