The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme of the Government of India, anchored by the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MoWCD). It was launched on October 2, 1975, to address the interconnected challenges of child malnutrition, morbidity, and poor school readiness. The scheme was created in pursuance of the National Policy for Children in India adopted in 1974.
ICDS works through a vast network of community-based Anganwadi Centres (AWCs), which serve as one-stop hubs for service delivery. The scheme provides a package of six integrated services to children under six years of age, pregnant women, and lactating mothers. These services include Supplementary Nutrition, Non-formal Pre-school Education, Immunization, Health Check-up, Referral Services, and Nutrition and Health Education. The health-related services, such as immunization, health check-up, and referral services, are delivered in coordination with the National Health Mission and Public Health Infrastructure.
The ICDS scheme has been recently restructured and is now subsumed under the Mission Saksham Anganwadi and POSHAN 2.0 (Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition). This integrated nutrition support programme, approved for the 15th Finance Commission period (2021–2026), combines ICDS with other initiatives like the POSHAN Abhiyaan, the Scheme for Adolescent Girls, and the National Crèche Scheme. The core delivery mechanism through the Anganwadi Centres and the package of six services remain central to the new mission.