ICDS funds won't be slashed, says Maneka Gandhi

NEW DELHI: Funds provided to a government -run scheme, which provides food, pre-school education and primary healthcare to children under 6 years of age and their mothers, has not been slashed, government said today.

"ICDS funds has not been slashed. We are looking at how efficiently the funds could be spent so that it reach the targeted people," Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi said during Question Hour in Lok Sabha.

The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme is centrally-sponsored but states and union territories are responsible for their implementation.

Gandhi said government has introduced a 5-tier monitoring and review mechanism at national, state, district, block and Anganwadi levels for which guidelines were issued.

The supplementary food provided under ICDS is analysed through four quality control laboratories of Food and Nutrition Board located at Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai.

"States and UTs have also been advised to identify and involve government food analysis laboratories to get the samples analysed," he said.