Govt mandates facial recognition for mid-day meal, Poshan beneficaries
The directive outlines a strict phased implementation affecting take-home rations distribution, child attendance tracking, and beneficiary registration through the Poshan Tracker application.
The government has mandated compulsory facial recognition technology across India’s vast Anganwadi network to expand biometric verification for the country’s flagship nutrition and childcare programme.
A directive from the ministry of women and child development, dated May 30 and seen by Hindustan Times, outlines a strict phased implementation affecting take-home rations distribution, child attendance tracking, and beneficiary registration through the Poshan Tracker application.
The Face Authentication feature, previously available only at take-home rations distribution points, became accessible within beneficiary profiles on the Poshan Tracker app as of May 30 2025. Beneficiaries can now perform their own onboarding, including photo capture and electronic Know Your Customer (e-KYC) verification, directly through the app’s citizen module.
State authorities have been directed to ensure field functionaries “complete the face authentication of all the registered beneficiaries” using these tools, while also encouraging beneficiaries to “update the photo/mobile number in Aadhaar for completing the e-KYC seamlessly.”
At present, beneficiaries are verified through Aadhaar based authentication in the Poshan Tracker app.
The initiative faces resistance from ground-level workers. Shivani Kaul, president of the Delhi State Anganwadi Workers and Helpers’ Union, told HT: “This is yet another move by the centre to make the lives of Anganwadi workers miserable, we are already receiving several calls by workers that the app is not functioning properly. Another issue with this provision is that the privacy of the children gets compromised as thousands of pictures will be uploaded to the app and to the government’s database. If the government cares so much about the corruption then why do they not fix app issues and increase the honorarium of the workers?”
Poshan, or Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN), which was earlier known as the mid-day meal scheme, has an outlay of ₹85,794crore, comprising ₹54,061 crore from the Centre, from 2021-22 to 2025-26.
Two major mandates take effect on July 1. Firstly, Anganwadi workers will be required to digitally record the attendance of children aged 3-6 years and confirm their consumption of the daily Hot Cooked Meal (HCM) provided at the centres.
Secondly, to “ensure last mile delivery of THR to intended beneficiaries,” the ministry said it “has been decided that FRS will be made mandatory for THR distribution.” This means beneficiaries collecting their monthly nutritional rations must now verify their identity using facial recognition at the point of distribution.
A further significant shift arrives on August 1, when facial recognition becomes a prerequisite for registration itself. For Pregnant Women (PW), Lactating Mothers (LM), and Adolescent Girls (AG), the “precondition for registration will be self Aadhaar using eKYC and face recognition feature.”
For children aged 0-6 years, registration will require the “Aadhaar of Mother Father Guardian along with Face recognition,” with the ministry explicitly noting that “Self-Aadhar for a child is not considered.”
Additionally, for children aged 3-6 years, “a child’s picture with liveliness detection will also be captured” during registration, separate from the guardian’s facial recognition system, with the ministry intending “to leverage these images during service delivery for children.”
Parents of children currently registered in the 0-3 year category must update their photo with liveliness detection when they move into the 3-6 year group.
The National e-Governance Division (NeGD) has been formally tasked with implementing “necessary modifications/updation in Poshan Tracker application” to support these new requirements.
