The Balwadi Nutrition Programme is a healthcare and education programme launched by the

Government of India The Government of India ( ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

to provide

food supplements A dietary supplement is a manufactured product intended to supplement one's diet by taking a pill, capsule, tablet, powder, or liquid. A supplement can provide nutrients either extracted from food sources or that are synthetic in orde ...

at Balwadis to children of the age group 3–6 years in rural areas. This program was started in 1970 under the Department of Social Welfare, Government of India. Four national level organizations including the Indian Council of Child Welfare are given grants to implement this program. The food supplement provides 300

kilocalorie The calorie is a unit of energy. For historical reasons, two main definitions of "calorie" are in wide use. The large calorie, food calorie, or kilogram calorie was originally defined as the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of o ...

s of energy and 10 grams of

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respon ...

per child per day. Balwadis are being phased out because of the implementation of the

Integrated Child Development Services Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) is a government program in India which provides nutritional meals, preschool education, primary healthcare, immunization, health check-up and referral services to children under 6 years of age and their ...

programme.

References

{{reflist Health programmes in India Early childhood education in India Government schemes in India