In a small anganwadi classroom tucked inside Mumbai’s Dharavi transit camp, Meena Sunil Mohite gathers 10 children aged between three and six in a circle. They clap and sing a rhyme together: “Gol gol rani, itta itta paani, paani… rani boli naach ke dikhao…”
Tiny feet shuffle as the children sway, twirl, and giggle while mimicking the teacher’s movements.
A moment later, their teacher switches to teaching simple English words. “Sit,” she calls out and the children sit down, still laughing. “Stand,” she says next, and they spring back to their feet.
Stacked neatly against a wall of the lively, 10×15-foot classroom are sealed packets of micronutrient-fortified premixed khichdi and protein powder. These are part of the Centre’s take-home ration programme under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme. Most remain unopened.
“Earlier we used to serve hot, freshly cooked meals like khichdi, laapsi, varan bhaat, vegetable pulao, and chana usal,” Ms. Mohite says while observing the children settling into a new rhyme.
“Children and mothers were happy with those meals, and we knew they were getting proper nutrition. Now, parents come back saying their children vomit or refuse to eat the premixed food. Most of it is going to waste,” she adds. Ms. Mohite teaches around 25 children in a rented anganwadi space that is also home to a family of seven. She has been an anganwadi teacher in Dharavi for the past 40 years.
Anganwadi teachers across Palghar, Beed, Gadchiroli, Washim, Jalna, Pune, among other districts, highlighted the same issue with the ICDS scheme — beneficiaries, comprising pregnant and lactating mothers, as well as children up to the age of six, returning or discarding packets of ready-to-cook khichdi and protein powder, with some describing the former’s taste as “bitter and greasy” and a few others saying the protein supplement “tastes like sand”.
Officials say that premixed food packets were introduced in phases across the country, starting with Rajasthan, to standardise nutrition and keep a count of the calorie intake.
However, anganwadi workers and families in Maharashtra argue that the quality of the take-home rations has steadily deteriorated since distribution began in the State in late 2023, with many reporting dead lizards, insects, and cockroaches inside the sealed packets.
The Centre’s order mandating facial recognition authentication for anganwadi beneficiaries from July 1 has only added to the problem, anganwadi workers say.
Maharashtra has a total of 1,10,669 anganwadi centres under the ICDS scheme, as per officials. The programme serves approximately 55–56 lakh children aged up to six and 4.5 lakh pregnant and lactating mothers.
When reached for comment, the ICDS Department of Maharashtra denied the allegations.
The transition
It was around two years ago that the ready-to-cook packets began to be distributed at anganwadi centres in Maharashtra, starting with a few districts and gradually expanding to cover almost the entire state by mid-2025. According to officials, the rollout followed a staggered schedule because of supply chain contracts tied to different vendors. The packets replaced the raw dry ration kits that were distributed earlier — 1kg of rice, 250 gm of moong or tuur dal, and 50-100 gm packets of salt and turmeric powder per beneficiary per month.
Meena Sunil Mohite, a teacher at an anganwadi centre in Dharavi, with children.
| Photo Credit:
Purnima Sah
The beneficiaries now receive 1kg of protein powder and one 875 gm packet each of ‘Energy Dense Moong Dal Khichdi Premix’ and ‘Energy Dense Tur Dal Khichdi Premix’. The packaging on the premixed food lists the following ingredients: rice, moong or tur dal, defatted soy grit, dehydrated vegetables, edible oil, mustard seeds, curry leaves, chilli flakes, turmeric, salt, and added vitamins and minerals. At the centres, which run from Monday to Saturday, children are provided breakfast, which includes puffed rice laddus, and lunch, for which they are served cooked khichdi, pulao, chana, among other items.
‘Cows don’t touch it’
For many mothers in Dharavi, the struggle is deeply personal. Hiteksha Divecha, 28, mother of a two-year-old boy, says she has tried everything to make the protein powder edible. “I even cooked it as ‘sheera (sweet pudding)’, but my son won’t touch it.”
“Why can’t the government give us clean rice and dal instead of these packets? We end up throwing these away,” remarks Sarika Solanki, 39, who has a one-year-old daughter and a nine-year-old son.
In her small one-room house nearby, Needha Afri, 30, mother of three children aged three to 11, says, “I mix the khichdi powder with wheat flour to prepare a dough and bake rotis. But even then, the children don’t eat it. Even cows refuse this food.”
Suchita Manimuttu, 27, whose daughter is three, says the packets are of no use. “My daughter spits it out.”
Vijaya Sanjay Meshram, an anganwadi teacher from Palghar, makes a similar observation. “Parents return the packets unopened. Even cattle refuse to eat those. The entire point was to provide nutrition. But that purpose is defeated if children and lactating mothers don’t consume these khichdi packets.”
Shubha Shamim, State president of the Anganwadi Workers’ Union, says the budget for supplementary nutrition has not increased since 2014. Eleven years later, the daily allotment still stands at ₹8 per child and ₹16 per pregnant or lactating mother. “For ₹8, you can’t buy a cup of tea. How could we get quality food for children at this rate?”
Technical challenges
Adding to the workers’ frustration is the rollout of the facial recognition system. The Aadhaar-linked system requires anganwadi workers to authenticate the beneficiaries through Aadhaar e-KYC, which includes face scans and OTPs, before handing rations to them.
In Mankhurd, anganwadi worker Sangeeta Kamble says the order by the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development has added to the chaos.
“How could we scan the face of a six-month-old baby who won’t sit still? Pregnant women’s faces change after delivery; often, the Aadhaar numbers don’t match; and men, with phones on which OTPs are sent, are usually out for work. Families are being denied food because of technical failures. Out of frustration, they don’t want to send their children to anganwadi centres. Many simply refuse the rations,” says Ms. Kamble.
According to a fact sheet released in August 2025 by the Anganwadi Karmachari Sanghatana, a pan-India union, 37% of the workers reported being pressured to complete the authentication process, with some stating they were threatened with suspensions. In tribal areas, where Internet connectivity is poor, registrations often fail altogether, according to the report.
Workers argue that distributing poor-quality rations undermines the core purpose of the ICDS programme, which was designed to fight malnutrition and ensure food security for children and mothers.
Counting calories
A senior official from the ICDS’s Maharashtra unit said the State is following the Centre’s guidelines under the POSHAN Abhiyaan and the National Food Security Act, 2013. The official added that the premixed food is fortified with essential micronutrients. “The calorie counts are carefully measured. If cooked properly with vegetables like tomatoes, peas, and carrots, it becomes both nutritious and tasty,” the official added.
On the issue of mandating facial recognition for beneficiaries, the official added, “Maharashtra has achieved 94% Aadhaar integration, which is among the highest in the country. The system ensures transparency and prevents duplication. Without the authentication process, Central funding for the take-home rations could be blocked.”
