The 9th Rashtriya Poshan Maah (National Nutrition Month) is being launched on September 9, 2026, at the Rudraksh International Cooperation and Convention Centre in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, with the central theme "Hamari Anganwadi Hamari Jimmedari" emphasizing community ownership of Anganwadi centers. This month-long celebration focuses on mobilizing communities to reinforce key nutrition, health, and caregiving behaviors among pregnant women, lactating mothers, children, adolescents, and their families.
The campaign operates under Mission Poshan 2.0, India's unified National Nutrition Mission anchored by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, which consolidates three core schemes: POSHAN Abhiyaan (technology-driven monitoring and behavioral change), Anganwadi Services/Integrated Child Development Services (supplementary nutrition and early childhood care), and Scheme for Adolescent Girls (nutritional support for out-of-school adolescent girls).
As of July 31, 2026, India's nutrition infrastructure spans nearly 13.99 lakh Anganwadi Centers staffed with 13.30 lakh Anganwadi workers, forming a vast grassroots network reaching almost 8.94 crore beneficiaries. Children aged 6 months to 6 years account for over 7.2 crore of all beneficiaries, while pregnant women and lactating mothers together number nearly 1.1 crore.
The 2026 campaign is anchored in five mutually reinforcing priorities: promotion of dietary diversity with focus on adequate protein intake; promotion of fresh, diverse hot cooked meals under the Supplementary Nutrition Programme; strengthening community ownership through newly constituted Anganwadi Management Committees (guidelines issued June 23, 2026); promoting cognitive development and nutrition as fundamental to Early Childhood Care and Education; and commemorating 10 years of Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY), India's flagship maternity benefit program.
Specific activities include healthy recipe demonstrations, Poshan Melas, protein-rich food campaigns, weekly menu rotation at Anganwadi Centers, mission-mode hot cooked meal quality testing in collaboration with FSSAI, community tasting sessions, activation of Anganwadi Management Committees, SNP Menu Board displays, and special enrollment drives for PMMVY to achieve 100% saturation among eligible pregnant and lactating women.
The campaign builds on previous initiatives including the 8th Rashtriya Poshan Maah launched by the Prime Minister on September 17, 2025, from Dhar, Madhya Pradesh, which focused on promoting nutrition literacy and healthy lifestyles and recorded 14.33 crore activities conducted nationwide. The nutrition governance is supported by the Poshan Tracker digital platform, launched on March 1, 2021, which facilitates near real-time data collection for Anganwadi Services including daily attendance of children, ECCE activities, and growth monitoring.