Role of ICDS in Early Childhood Care and Education in India: A Regional Perspective

This paper examines the role and progress of India’s one of the major flagship early childhood care and education (ECCE) scheme, the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS). The study focuses on various components of the ICDS and sheds light on its implementation across different regions i.e., States/UTs of India. Despite an overall increase in the number of Anganwadi centers over the years, the majority of States/UTs have struggled to effectively enrol children, pregnant women, and lactating mothers for availing supplementary nutrition, as well as enrolling children in pre-school education. Notably, a few southern states and UTs, such as Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Daman, and Diu, have performed relatively better in this regard. The research highlights the primary reasons behind the regional disparities, pointing out key implementation issues such as the lack of community participation and ownership of the scheme, and financial constraints. These challenges have hindered the achievement of expected results from the ICDS in several Indian States/UTs, and require urgent policy attention to meet the country’s SDG ECCE targets.