Nagaland begins observing the month-long Rashtriya Poshan Maah 2026 to tackle malnutrition across the state.
DIMAPUR — Nagaland has joined the rest of the country in observing the Rashtriya Poshan Maah 2026 on the theme "Hamari anganwadi, hamari jimmedari" (Our anganwadi, our responsibility).
According to a DIPR report, the month-long campaign underscores the national importance of collective action to address malnutrition and strengthen nutrition, maternal health, childcare, and early childhood development.
Launched as a coordinated national platform under POSHAN Abhiyaan, Poshan Maah is observed every September to mobilise communities and reinforce healthy nutrition, health-seeking behaviour, and caregiving practices among pregnant women, lactating mothers, children, adolescents, and families. The initiative recognises that improving nutrition requires moving beyond adequate calories towards diverse, nutritious, and locally available foods.
In Nagaland, the Department of Social Welfare, in convergence with Health and Family Welfare, School Education, Agriculture, Horticulture, Nagaland State Rural Livelihoods Mission - Rural Development (NSRLM-RD), AYUSH, local administration, and community institutions, will drive activities across the state. The campaign will place anganwadi centres at the heart of community-led action to strengthen ownership, service quality, and accountability.
The state campaign will focus on five key priorities: dietary diversity and adequate protein; fresh hot cooked meals at anganwadi centres; community ownership and accountability; nutrition and early stimulation for childhood development; and the 10-year milestone of the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana.
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Planned activities include the promotion of locally available nutritious foods, healthy recipe demonstrations, Poshan Melas, protein-rich food campaigns, weekly menu rotation, and hot-cooked meal tasting sessions. Community participation will be strengthened through anganwadi management committees, SNP menu boards, mothers' committees, and local institutions to enable greater transparency and monitoring.
The campaign will highlight the critical importance of the first 1,000 days, early stimulation, responsive caregiving, and early childhood care and education, including the use of the revised Home Visit Scheduler and promotion of age-appropriate learning through Navchetna and Aadharshila.
A special focus will be placed on the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana, as it marks 10 years as India's flagship maternity benefit programme. Awareness and enrolment drives will be carried out across Nagaland to identify eligible beneficiaries, facilitate registration, verification, and direct benefit transfers, while promoting maternal nutrition and health-seeking behaviour.
Throughout the month, intensified home visits for focused and high-risk beneficiaries, growth monitoring, Poshan Tracker updates, Village Health Sanitation and Nutrition Day (VHSND) convergence, IEC and social media campaigns, promotion of local food and indigenous knowledge, and mobilisation of village councils, self-help groups, parents, caregivers, youth, and community leaders will reinforce the campaign at the grassroots.