Himanshi Dhawan | TNN With child malnutrition levels stagnant at 46% for the past 10 years, the government has been forced to restructure its programme for nutritional intervention for children between 0-6 years. If approved by the Union cabinet, the government will spend an average Rs 4.21 per beneficiary per day, up from Rs 2 per day. The restructured Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) will be implemented in mission mode under a National ICDS Mission Directorate and increase financial powers at the grassroots level. The Prime Minister had in a letter to the women and child development (WCD) ministry expressed concern over the poor implementation of the ICDS programme pointing out that it had failed to curb child malnutrition. He had also noted that with 11 crore out of the total 16 crore children out of the ambit of this programme, there was an urgent need to universalise the scheme following Supreme Court orders. Keeping in view the PM's concerns, the draft ICDS recommends that the money spent on supplementary nutrition, that is woefully low, be addressed. With rise in prices and new population norms, the WCD ministry has suggested an increase in expenditure. So the amount spent on supplementary nutrition for children between the age of 6 months to 72 months will be increased from Rs 2 to Rs 4, while severely malnourished children in the same age group will get Rs 6 per child per day instead of Rs 2.70 at present. The government now spends Rs 2.30 on pregnant women, nursing mothers and adolescent girls which will be hiked to Rs 5. The ministry is also keen on changing the funding pattern. At present, the scheme is funded completely by the Centre except the supplementary nutrition quotient that is split equally between the Centre and the states. The new funding pattern proposes a 75:25 sharing ratio for the ICDS programme and a 50:50 sharing of the supplementary nutrition scheme. The draft ICDS suggests an increase in the number of anganwadi centres and a sweeping hike in the financial powers for anganwadi workers.