GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

RAJYA SABHA

STARRED QUESTION NO. 284

ANSWERED ON 18^TH JULY 2019

Mechanism to Monitor the Functioning of NGOs

284. SHRI RAJEEV CHANDRASEKHAR:

Will the Minister of WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

(a)The details of schemes being implemented for the development of children in the country, particularly through Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs);

(b)The details of proposals received from and approved/pending for approval along with the funds allocated/released and utilisation reported under such schemes during each of the last three years and the current year, Scheme-wise and State/UT wise, including Karnataka; and

(c)Whether Government has put in place any mechanism to monitor the functioning of NGOs working in this field and if so, the details thereof?

ANSWER

MINISTER OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

(SHRIMATI SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)

(a)to (c) A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

Statement referred to in reply to Part (a) to (c) of Rajya Sabha Starred Question No.284 by Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar to be answered on 18.07.2019 regarding "Mechanism to monitor the functioning of NGOs".

(a)to (c)The Ministry of Women & Child Development is implementing Umbrella Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme for attending the need of the children in India, especially to improve their nutritional and childhood development. Under the Umbrella ICDS, the following schemes are specifically dealing with the issue of malnutrition:

(i)Anganwadi Services,

(ii)Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana

(iii)Scheme for Adolescent Girls, and

(iv)POSHAN Abhiyaan

Anganwadi Service provides six child development related services i.e. Supplementary Nutrition, Pre-school Education, Health & Nutrition Education, Immunization, Health check-up and Referral Services. The services are provided at the Anganwadi Centres (AWCs) through Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) and Anganwadi Helpers (AWHs) to more than 8.75 crore beneficiaries. The beneficiaries of the scheme are children 0-6 years old and Pregnant Women & Lactating Mothers.

The objectives of the scheme 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.

Under Anganwadi Services, as per the scheme norms, each State/UT is required to submit their Annual Programme Implementation Plan (APIP) to the Ministry for consideration of the Empowered Programme Committee. The said Committee after discussions with the States/UTs approves the APIP and allocates the funds. Accordingly, the funds are periodically released to the State/UT for implementation of the above scheme. The APIPs for the current financial year have already been considered and approved by the Government. First instalment of the funds has already been released to the States/UTs. Relevant portion of the minutes of the APIP along with details of funds released to the States/UTs and funds utilized by them are given in Annexure-I.

The Anganwadi Services envisages implementation of Projects through Voluntary Organizations, Local Bodies, Panchayati Raj Institutions, Social Welfare Board etc with a view to derive community support. The States have been given the autonomy within the overall framework of the Scheme to entrust projects to a voluntary organization. However, Government of India does not give any grant to these organizations directly and their management and control rests with the respective States/UTs.

Providing training to the AWWs/AWHs and Supervisors under the scheme is a part of the Anganwadi Services scheme. The training is provided to the Anganwadi Workers/Helpers and the Supervisors at the Anganwadi Workers Training Centres (AWTCs) and Middle Level Training Centres (MLTCs) respectively. The AWTCs/MLTCs are either run by the respective State Governments/UT Administrations or by NGOs under supervision of the respective State Government/UT Administration. Comprehensive Training Guidelines for AWTC/MLTC were issued in August, 2017.

The Ministry has developed MIS portal for Anganwadi Services (ICDS) Training Programme through which NGOs/VOs submit their proposals to the concerned State Government/UT Administration under Anganwadi Services (ICDS) Training Programme. The State Governments/UT Administrations examine the proposals of all NGOs/VOs received by them and forward a consolidated proposal to the Ministry with their recommendation. Further, the Ministry examine the proposals received from the States/UTs.
Organizations/institutions registered as NGOs have to sign up in the NGO-Partnership (NGO-PS) portal of the NITI Aayog and obtain a Unique ID which is to be mandatorily quoted by them at the time of receiving grants from the State Government.

The details of proposals received from States/UTs during the last three years for providing training to the AWWs/AWHs and Supervisors through State/UT and NGO/VO run AWTCs/MLTCs and the proposals approved and pending are given below:

State Governments/UTs release funds to the AWTCs/MLTCs or NGO run AWTCs/MLTCs under Comprehensive Training Guidelines augmenting with prescribed State share. Statement indicating status of funds released under ICDS Training Programme, including Karnataka is placed at Annexure-II.

Monitoring at State level is taken up in Monthly/Quarterly review meetings. The States/UTs send Monthly/Quarterly progress reports to the Ministry. The Ministry has issued guidelines for monitoring visiting to AWCs, ICDS projects and AWTCs/MLTCs by both Central and State Government officials following a standardized schedule. Also, officials from the Central Monitoring Unit (CMU) of National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development (NIPCCD) make visits to collect some basic information in a pre-designed format.

Under Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY), maternity benefit of? 5,000/- is provided in three installments to eligible PW&LM during the period of pregnancy and lactation. The eligible beneficiary also receive the cash incentive as per approved norms towards maternity benefit under Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) after institutional delivery so that on an average, a woman gets? 6,000/-. Under the Scheme, funds are released to the States/UTs on the basis of estimated number of beneficiaries/beneficiaries likely to be covered in a particular year as informed by States/UTs. Details of funds released to the States/UTs and funds utilized by them are given in Annexure-III.

Scheme for Adolescent Girls is implemented to improve the nutritional and health status of out of school adolescent girls of age 11-14 years and to upgrade their skills. In addition, to providing nutritional support to the adolescent girls, the scheme aims to motivate out of school girls to go back to formal schooling /skill training under its Non –Nutrition component. Information on health, hygiene and guidance on existing public services is provided under the scheme.

As per the scheme norms under SAG each State/UT is required to submit their Annual Programme Implementation Plan (APIP) to the Ministry for consideration of the Empowered Programme Committee. Accordingly, the funds are periodically released to the State/UT for implementation of the above scheme. The APIPs for the current financial year have already been considered and approved by the Government. Relevant portion of the minutes of the APIP along with the details of funds released to the States/UTs and funds utilized by them are given in Annexure-IV.

Government has set up POSHAN Abhiyaan on 18.12.2017 for a three-year time frame, commencing from 2017-18. Under the Abhiyaan, all districts of the 36 States/UTs have been covered for implementation in a phased manner. The Abhiyaan aims to reduce malnutrition in the country through a life cycle approach, by adopting a synergized and result oriented approach. The targets of the POSHAN are to reduce stunting in children (0-6 years), under-nutrition (underweight prevalence) in children (0-6 years) and Low Birth Weight @2% per annum and reduce anaemia among young children (6-59 months), women and adolescent girls @3% per annum across the country.

As per norms of the Scheme, funds are released for procurement of mobiles phones for AWWs, Supervisors, CDPO and DPO, growth monitoring device for AWCs and also for recurring expenditure towards functioning of State Programme Monitoring Unit, IEC activities, VHSND, flexi fund, innovation, incentive, etc. Details of funds released to the States/UTs and funds utilized by them are given in Annexure-V.

Annexure-I (A)

Statement referred in reply to part (B) of Rajya Sabha Starred Question No. 284 for 18.07.2019 asked by Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar regarding ‘Mechanism to Monitor the Functioning of NGOs’.

 (Rupees in Lakhs)

Note: (1) Funds are released out of approved allocation after adjusting unspent balances/excess expenditure incurred by the States/UTs in the previous year.

(2) The negative fund utilized indicates unspent balance available with the State/UT.

(3) Fund utilized are more than funds released/approved allocation due to availability of unspent balance of previous year.

APIP – Annual Programme Implementation Plan

SNP – Supplementary Nutrition Programme

Annexure-I (B)

Statement referred in reply to part (B) of Rajya Sabha Starred Question No. 284 for 18.07.2019 asked by Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar regarding ‘Mechanism to Monitor the Functioning of NGOs’.

 (Rupees in Lakhs)

Note: (1) Funds are released out of approved allocation after adjusting unspent balances/excess expenditure incurred by the States/UTs in the previous year.

(2) The negative fund utilized indicates unspent balance available with the State/UT.

(3) Fund utilized are more than funds released/approved allocation due to availability of unspent balance of previous year.

APIP – Annual Programme Implementation Plan

SNP – Supplementary Nutrition Programme

Annexure-I (C)

Statement referred in reply to part (B) of Rajya Sabha Starred Question No. 284 for 18.07.2019 asked by Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar regarding ‘Mechanism to Monitor the Functioning of NGOs’.

 (Rupees in Lakhs)

Note: (1) Funds are released out of approved allocation after adjusting unspent balances/excess expenditure incurred by the States/UTs in the previous year.

(2) The negative fund utilized indicates unspent balance available with the State/UT.

(3) Fund utilized are more than funds released/approved allocation due to availability of unspent balance of previous year.

APIP – Annual Programme Implementation Plan

SNP – Supplementary Nutrition Programme

Annexure-I (D)

Statement referred in reply to part (B) of Rajya Sabha Starred Question No. 284 for 18.07.2019 asked by Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar regarding ‘Mechanism to Monitor the Functioning of NGOs’.

 (Rupees in Lakhs)

Note: (1) Funds are released out of approved allocation after adjusting unspent balances/excess expenditure incurred by the States/UTs in the previous year.

(2) The negative fund utilized indicates unspent balance available with the State/UT.

(3) Fund utilized are more than funds released/approved allocation due to availability of unspent balance of previous year.

APIP – Annual Programme Implementation Plan

SNP – Supplementary Nutrition Programme

Annexure-II

Statement referred to in part (b) of Rajya Sabha Starred Question No. 284 for 18.07.2019 regarding ‘Mechanism to monitor the functioning of NGOs’

Utilization: Funds for year 2016-17 since 2nd installment & funds for year 2017-18 was released on the basis of actual expenditure incurred by States/UTs, due to NITI Aayog's instructions on Organizations/institutions registered as NGOs have to sign up in the NGO-Partnership (NGO-PS) portal of the NITI Aayog and obtain a Unique ID which is to be mandatorily quoted by them at the time of receiving grants from the State Government. Funds for year 2018-19 were released in March 2019 for which Utilization Certificates have not been received from the States/UTs.

Annexure-III

Year-wise and State/UTs-wise, including Tamil Nadu, details of funds sanctioned/released and utilisation under the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) since its inception (as on 15.07.2019)

* Unspent balance of previous years available with the State/Union Territory.
** The State is implementing its own Maternity Benefit Programme. The Ministry allows the State to implement PMMVY with State’s Maternity Programme under co-branding.

Annexure – IV

State- wise funds released utilised under SAG

(Rs. In Lakh)

Utilisation of funds is against the total funds available with the State/UT in a particular year, which includes savings of previous year

Annexure - V

Status of Fund Release and Expenditure under POSHAN Abhiyaan in FY 2017-18, FY 2018-19 & FY 2019-20

(Rs. In Lakhs)

* - The States have not utilized the Central Share of funds as on 31.03.2019
# - The Financial Statements/UCs have not been received from the State Governments
Note: This is to mention that NNM (renamed as POSHAN Abhiyaan) has been set up on 18.12.2017.

*********************************