Integrated Child Development Services’ name changed but governance hasn’t kept pace: Congress leader Jairam Ramesh

Marking 50 years of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme, which was launched by the precocious Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Congress’s communications main Jairam Ramesh connected Thursday (October 2, 2025) said that portion the scheme’s labelling had been changed, its governance had not kept pace. 

ICDS was 1 of the largest, if not the largest, kid payment programmes successful the world, and implicit the decades, it was captious successful ensuring tremendous betterment successful India’s quality improvement indicators, Mr. Ramesh said.

“The ICDS has since been renamed and subsumed nether the Mission Saksham Anganwadi and POSHAN 2.0. Unfortunately, the governance of the strategy has not kept gait with the sanction change,” the Congress person said.

Flagging a study tabled connected March 28 by the Parliamentary Standing Committee connected Women and Child Development, nether the chairmanship of Congress person Digvijaya Singh, Mr. Ramesh said determination were respective areas for improvement. Many of the recommendations made by the sheet were besides outlined by the Congress successful its ‘Nyay Patra’ for the 2024 Lok Sabha election, including doubling the wages of anganwadi workers and helpers, Mr. Ramesh said.

The Congress had suggested hiring an further idiosyncratic for each anganwadi centre to absorption exclusively connected aboriginal puerility attraction and education, helium pointed out. It had called for allocating capable funds for the ICDS, including the revision of the outgo norms for anganwadi services, which was expected to person taken spot successful the Financial Year 2020-21 but had inactive not taken place, contempt the committedness made successful the Finance Minister’s Budget code earlier this year, Mr. Ramesh said.

Anganwadi services should beryllium extended to see time attraction and creche services for children supra six months, helium said.

The Congress had recommended expanding the fig of anganwadi centres, helium said, successful enactment with the estimated colonisation of the state successful 2025, alternatively than relying connected the 2011 Census figures. It had besides called for a proviso of hot, cooked meals alternatively than instrumentality location rations for each eligible beneficiaries of anganwadi services, Mr. Ramesh said.

“Today is ICDS@50. 50 years agone today, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi launched the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS). Today, determination are 13.96 lakh Anganwadi Centres crossed the state which supply aboriginal education, health, and nutrition services to much than 7.65 crore children crossed the country,” Mr. Ramesh said successful a station connected societal media level X.