New Delhi, July 1 -- Starting July 1, 2025, the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development (MoWCD) has officially made facial recognition system (FRS) mandatory for pregnant and lactating women to access take-home rations (THR) under the scheme POSHAN Abhiyaan, sparking concerns over potential exclusions and operational hurdles.

The government has updated the POSHAN Tracker mobile application to make sure the order is implemented, removing the previously available option to 'skip' the step for facial recognition. On June 30, Anganwadi workers across the country received messages instructing them to uninstall and reinstall the application to activate the new version.

The THR programme aims to improve the nutritional status of childr...