Mukhya Sevika key terms

The village-level delivery point of ICDS services where a trained Anganwadi Worker provides supplementary nutrition, pre-school learning, health check-ups and referral support to children under six, pregnant women and lactating mothers.

A female community-level functionary recruited locally to run an Anganwadi Centre, maintain registers, weigh and growth-monitor children, deliver pre-school activities and link families to health and nutrition services.

The ICDS supervisory position at project or block level that guides, visits and supports a cluster of Anganwadi Workers, checks records and nutrition stock, and reports progress to the Child Development Project Officer.

The officer in charge of an ICDS project who plans and administers all Anganwadi Centres in the project area, sanctions supplies and funds, and supervises supervisory staff such as Mukhya Sevikas.

India's flagship early childhood programme delivering six services, namely supplementary nutrition, pre-school non-formal education, immunisation, health check-up, referral services and nutrition and health education, through Anganwadi Centres.

The ICDS component that supplies cooked meals or take-home rations to fill the calorie and protein gap in the diets of young children, pregnant women and lactating mothers, with quality and quantity norms set by the government.

A pre-packed food supplement given to families of children under three years and to pregnant and lactating women, intended to be consumed at home and designed to meet specified energy and protein values per day.

A printed chart on which a child's weight or height is plotted against age so that the growth curve can be compared with reference standards and faltering or wasting detected early.

The routine periodic weighing and measuring of children and plotting of results on charts, followed by counselling of caregivers, so that growth faltering is spotted and acted on before malnutrition becomes severe.

An anthropometric index comparing a child's weight with the expected weight for children of the same age and sex; low values indicate underweight, which may reflect either wasting or stunting or both.

Low height for age resulting from chronic undernutrition or repeated infection, measured as a height-for-age z-score below minus two standard deviations of the WHO reference median.

Low weight for height indicating recent, severe weight loss or acute malnutrition, identified when the weight-for-height z-score falls below minus two standard deviations of the reference median.

The most dangerous form of acute malnutrition, identified by very low weight-for-height, visible severe wasting or nutritional oedema, and requiring urgent identification, referral and facility-based or community-based management.

Bilateral pitting swelling of the feet and lower legs caused by protein deficiency rather than injury or disease, and one of the clinical criteria for classifying a child as severely acutely malnourished.

Feeding an infant only breast milk, with no water, other liquids or solids, for the first six months of life, followed by continued breastfeeding with adequate complementary foods up to two years or beyond.

The thick yellowish first milk produced in the days after delivery, rich in antibodies and protective factors; it should never be discarded and is the newborn's first and most valuable feed.

The introduction of safe, adequate and appropriately textured solid and semi-solid foods alongside breast milk from six months of age, timed to meet the growing infant's energy and nutrient needs.

A condition in which the blood has fewer healthy red cells or less haemoglobin than normal, commonly caused by iron deficiency and producing tiredness, pallor and poor maternal and child outcomes.

The routine provision of iron and folic acid tablets to pregnant women and adolescents to prevent and treat anaemia, delivered through health facilities, schools and community platforms with adherence counselling.

The nationally recommended timetable of vaccines given at specified ages, from birth doses through boosters, used by field workers to track which child needs which vaccine and when.

A card issued to a pregnant woman and later used for her child, recording antenatal check-ups, immunisations, growth measurements and health advice, and serving as a home-based monitoring tool.

The ICDS component that prepares children aged three to six for school through play-based activities, stories, songs, art and early literacy and numeracy, delivered at the Anganwadi Centre without formal curriculum pressure.

The set of physical, cognitive, language, social and emotional skills a child needs to enter formal schooling successfully, built through early stimulation, play and structured pre-school experiences.

Planning activities that match children's age, stage and individual needs, using concrete materials, play and hands-on experience rather than formal rote teaching or written work at too early an age.

A collection of ready-to-use play, story, song, art and pre-number activities organised by theme and age group, from which an Anganwadi Worker selects daily plans for the centre.

A written schedule of the day's pre-school activities covering free play, circle time, group activity, outdoor play, story and snack, prepared in advance to ensure balanced and varied stimulation.

The holistic provision of care, stimulation, health support and learning for children from birth to six years, aimed at optimal development and a strong foundation for later schooling.

A skill or behaviour most children achieve within an expected age range, such as sitting, babbling or walking, used to track development and flag possible delay for early referral.

Slower than expected progress in one or more areas such as motor, language, cognitive or social skills, which warrants assessment, stimulation support and referral to appropriate services.

Systematic screening of young children for vision, hearing, motor, speech and cognitive difficulties so that support and referral begin early, when intervention produces the greatest benefit.

India's national nutrition mission that sets targets for reducing undernutrition, stunting, anaemia and low birth weight, and supports convergence, technology tracking and community nutrition awareness.

A nutrition garden developed at or near an Anganwadi Centre where locally suitable fruits and vegetables are grown to improve dietary diversity and demonstrate home gardening to families.

The planned process of engaging families, local leaders and groups to identify problems, take collective action and use available services, building ownership rather than imposing decisions from outside.

A planned use of interpersonal counselling, group talks, demonstrations and local media to promote healthy practices such as handwashing, early breastfeeding and timely immunisation, tailored to the audience.

A one-to-one or small-group conversation in which a worker listens, explains and helps a caregiver set a practical action, used for nutrition, feeding and health advice at the Anganwadi Centre or home.

A village-level committee that plans and monitors local health, nutrition and sanitation action and manages untied funds, working alongside the Anganwadi Centre and community health workers.

A planned, purposeful visit by a supervisor to an Anganwadi Centre to observe service delivery, check records and stock, guide the worker and record findings with agreed follow-up actions.

A structured list of items a supervisor verifies during a visit, such as attendance, weighing records, nutrition stock, pre-school materials and hygiene, ensuring that checks are consistent across centres.

Guidance given to a worker at the workplace through demonstration, joint practice and constructive feedback, aimed at improving skills in real situations rather than only finding faults.

A structured system for collecting, compiling and reporting service data from centres to higher levels so that coverage, gaps and progress can be tracked and used for decisions.

The regular, accurate and up-to-date entry of attendance, weighing, nutrition distribution, referrals and pre-school activities in prescribed registers, forming the basis of all reporting.