Mumbai, Oct 1 — Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday said that instead of various departments working in silos on early childhood development, they must work in an integrated manner, with the mother and child at the centre.
To achieve this, the Chief Minister directed the Public Health Department and the Women and Child Development (WCD) Department to jointly draft the ‘1,000 Days Early Childhood Development Mission’ and submit the framework to the State Cabinet.
He further instructed that a dedicated Mission Secretariat be set up to conduct regular, data-driven monitoring.
Under the Chief Minister's chairmanship, the Social Sector War Room meeting included a presentation and detailed discussion on holistic early childhood development.
The meeting reviewed experiences, initiatives and measures presented by domain experts and departmental officials.
Discussions covered initiatives implemented in Meghalaya, successful experiences from various parts of Maharashtra, challenges in tribal regions and the nutritional status of children in urban areas.
Pointing out that the roots of many issues in education and healthcare are linked to early childhood development, the Chief Minister noted that although various Central and State government departments have worked in this area for years, the expected outcomes have not yet been fully realised.
He said the state needs to adopt an outcome-based, evidence-based approach and stressed the need to continuously track maternal anaemia, births to malnourished children, breastfeeding, immunisation, and other nutritional indicators.
Effective intervention is especially required in tribal regions, where the Tribal Development Department and the Rural Development administrative set-up play a crucial role alongside the Health and WCD Departments.
The Chief Minister clarified that because early childhood development challenges are multi-departmental, they cannot be resolved by setting department-specific targets alone.
He said the mission's ultimate objective must be the integrated development of the mother and child.
The Women and Child Development and Public Health Departments should act as key stakeholders and consult with other departments.
Understanding their challenges, roles should be defined for all concerned departments, including Tribal Development, Rural Development and School Education.
The Chief Minister added that several initiatives presented during the meeting had produced encouraging outcomes and that these experiences should inform effective, state-specific measures.
According to Chief Minister Fadnavis, child development issues are not restricted to rural areas and are equally serious in urban regions.
Slum areas and densely populated neighbourhoods face significant malnutrition issues, requiring an adequate structured mechanism and sustained interventions.
He noted that urbanisation in Maharashtra has risen sharply. However, systems originally designed for an urban population of around 30 per cent are no longer sufficient for a state where urban residents account for more than 50 per cent of the population.
He emphasised the need to build a dedicated, structured framework by effectively utilising the Health Department’s new ‘Urban Vertical’.
The Chief Minister said work should not be stalled because of minor departmental jurisdiction issues or expenditure disputes relating to Anganwadis, nutrition and other essential services.
Government investment benefits society as a whole and is not limited to a single department; therefore, he said, such issues must be resolved through mutual coordination.
To ensure effective implementation, Chief Minister Fadnavis directed the establishment of a dedicated Mission Secretariat to undertake regular data-based monitoring.
He said third-party monitoring would make inter-departmental coordination more effective.
Coordination must move beyond paperwork to set clear operational responsibilities, and progress should be measured against the mission's collective goals.
The Chief Minister observed that suppressing or altering data reflecting reality would not resolve problems, while working with accurate data would allow issues to be addressed more quickly.
He noted that innovative initiatives implemented by officers in Nashik, Jalna, Pune and Nandurbar had delivered positive results and said such successful models should be incorporated into the mission.
The Chief Minister further stated that a single uniform solution cannot address every early childhood challenge, including malnutrition.
Interventions must take into account local conditions, available resources, community lifestyles, dietary habits and local customs.
While some core interventions will remain standard, he added, necessary flexibility must be maintained based on local needs.