40 unmarried girls in Varanasi registered as ‘pregnant’ in government records

At least 40 unmarried girls from two local communities in Malhiya village of Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi, received messages indicating they were registered as pregnant mothers under the Ministry of Women and Child Development’s nutrition tracker program.
The messages, which suggested unmarried girls could access maternal health and nutritional services, caused alarm among the recipients and their families, prompting them to escalate the issue to the Chief Development Officer (CDO) of Varanasi.
The messages addressed these unmarried girls as breastfeeding mothers and suggested they could receive hot meals, consultations, and health monitoring services from the local anganwadi center.
“Welcome to ‘Poshan Tracker’. As a breastfeeding mother, you can avail services like hot cooked meals or ration, counselling, child health monitoring and breastfeeding support through home visits from Anganwadi Centre,” the message read.
Messages to residents like Rekha Sahani and Rakhi Sahani congratulated them on the successful registration of their ‘child’ in the nutrition tracker, encouraging them to call a helpline for additional support.
One message even stated, “Congratulations Rekha Sahani! Your child, Pihu, is successfully registered in the nutrition tracker”.
The women, who belong to the Sahni and Mallein bastis of the village, immediately raised the issue with the village head, Amit Patel.
Amit Patel, the village head, expressed his shock at the incident. He told India Today TV that the girls were supposed to submit their information for voter ID updates, not for maternal health registration. When he questioned the Anganwadi worker, she initially dismissed the error as an accident.
Patel also questioned how an error of this magnitude could occur, affecting 35 to 40 people, and demanded an investigation into the Anganwadi center’s operations, alleging that nutritional support was not reaching those who needed it most.
Responding to the situation, Chief Development Officer (CDO) Himanshu Nagpal said that an error had indeed taken place, which led to unmarried teenage girls being registered as pregnant.
According to Nagpal, the issue arose because the local Anganwadi worker, who also serves as a Booth Level Officer (BLO) responsible for voter registration, accidentally mixed up forms for voter registration and the nutrition program.
The registration mistake was discovered after complaints were filed, and the incorrect data has since been removed from the portal. Preliminary investigations indicated that no actual nutritional aid or benefits were disbursed under these registrations.
A notice has been issued to the anganwadi worker, and a further investigation is underway to ensure the correction of this mistake.