Assess the role of digital tools like the Poshan Tracker in improving accountability and outcomes in India's nutrition mission.

Introduced in March 2021 as a governance tool under Mission Poshan 2.0, the Poshan Tracker digitally monitors every Anganwadi Centre, worker and beneficiary on defined indicators [1]. It has visibly strengthened accountability in last-mile delivery, though nutritional outcomes remain only partially attributable to it.

Gains in accountability

• Universal digital registry: all Anganwadi Centres and over 10.12 crore beneficiaries stood registered on the app (February 2025), making entitlements traceable to the individual [2].
• Near real-time data: automated capture replaces delayed manual registers, narrowing the scope for ghost beneficiaries and diversion of supplementary nutrition [3].
• Transparency by design: IT systems under Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 bring auditability into nutrition supply chains and fund flows [4].

Gains in service delivery and outcomes

• Better frontline work: the Tracker has improved the quality of Anganwadi workers' functioning by standardising growth measurement and service records [5].
• Targeted intervention: flagging of stunted, wasted and underweight children enables timely referral, converting data into care.
• Community ownership: the 2026 theme "Hamari Anganwadi Hamari Jimmedari" uses transparent data to make citizens co-monitors of Anganwadi services [6].

Limitations

• Digital divide — patchy connectivity and devices in tribal and remote blocks limit real-time reporting.
• Data-entry burden diverts Anganwadi workers from counselling and pre-school education.
• The Tracker measures inputs and attendance, not dietary quality; NFHS-5 shows stunting still at 35.5% among under-fives, indicating persistent structural deficits [7].
• Risk of "governance by dashboard", where reported figures substitute for verified nutritional improvement.

Digital tools have therefore transformed the nutrition mission's accountability architecture more decisively than its outcomes. Their promise will be realised when the Tracker is paired with dietary diversity, protein adequacy and social audit of data, and when frontline workers are supported rather than burdened. Used thus, it can anchor the goal of a "Suposhit Bharat by 2047" and India's SDG-2 commitment.