ICDS Commissionerate
The ICDS Commissionerate in Maharashtra is responsible for implementation of Integrated Child Development Scheme in the State to address the growth needs of children under the age of six years.
The ICDS Commissionerate seeks to provide young children with an integrated package of services such as Supplementary Nutrition, Health Care and Pre-School Education. Considering the fact that the health and nutrition needs of a child cannot be addressed in isolation from those of his or her mother, the Commissionerate has extended the ICDS programme to adolescent girls, pregnant women and nursing mothers. Some of the key objectives of the ICDS Commissionerate are:
- Raise the Health and Nutritional level of poor children below 6 years of age.
- Create a base for proper mental, physical and social development of children.
- Reduce instances of mortality, malnutrition and school dropouts among children.
- Coordinate activities of policy formulation and implementation among various other Govt. Departments involved in different government programmes and schemes aimed at child development across the State.
- To provide health and nutritional information and education to mothers of young children to enhance child rearing capabilities of mothers in the State.
- To provide nutritional food to the mothers of young children & also at the time of pregnancy period.
ICDS services are provided through a vast network of ICDS centres, better known as “Anganwadis”. The idea of anganwadi is that a good early child care and development centre could be run with low cost local materials even when located in an 'angan' or courtyard. The anganwadi centre is operated by “Anganwadi worker” (AWW), assisted by an “Anganwadi helper” (AWH) or Sahayika. The local Anganwadi is the cornerstone of the ICDS programme.
To know more about the ICDS Commissionerate, please visit their website at http://icds.gov.in/ 