What if we could increase the IQ of India’s future generations by seven points with a pivot in the understanding of early childhood development under the Anganwadi system?

For decades, India’s early childhood agenda has focused on ensuring that children survive early childhood, reducing under-five mortality from 43 in 2012 to 32 in 2020 (UNICEF and World Bank data) with sufficient inputs invested toward their health, nutrition, immunisation and sanitation conditions. The Anganwadi system reflects these priorities at scale: approximately eight crore children (ages 0-6 years) receive supplementary nutrition, growth monitoring and health services, alongside counselling and home visits for their parents. However, body and brain development in the early years do not proceed on separate tracks.

Early childhood development is an ecological process in which nutrition, health, and early learning interact dynamically with each other through the body, brain, and environment. The developing brain is highly energy-intensive, consuming nearly one-fifth of the body’s energy at rest. In the first year alone, grey matter volume increases by 149% and the cerebellum by 240% as millions of synapses form in regions associated with movement, language, and planning.

Middle-income evidence is clear

Paediatric research in Jamaica in the 1980s provided hard academic evidence to an idea that many cultures already understood. Researchers working with stunted children found that nutritional supplementation improved physical health alone, but adding regular psychosocial stimulation (love-talk-play and responsive interaction) resulted in stronger cognitive gains.

Similar findings emerged in India from a birth cohort study in Vellore (250 children followed from birth to age 9) where children stunted early in life performed worst on later cognitive assessments, but those who recovered physically also showed better cognitive outcomes.

International research on enteric dysfunction and poor sanitation has shown that nutritional inputs are mediated by the child’s environment. A child’s body may receive food, but infection, inflammation, toxic exposure and deprivation of stimulation can adversely influence this very nutrition. In studies in Vellore, children with iron deficiency or high lead exposure in early life, score lower on developmental and cognitive assessments, even when their height and weight appear normal. It is not simply what children eat that matters, but whether their bodies can absorb and use it. Yet, numbers on a growth chart never tell the full story. The quality of the home environment — how much they are talked to, read to, played with and emotionally supported, keeps emerging as a stronger predictor of cognitive outcomes than diet alone.

Most encouragingly, exposure to structured preschool and early stimulation has the potential to transform a generation. Children in the Vellore cohort who attend preschool regularly for 18 to 24 months, including in Anganwadi centres, are scoring seven IQ units higher on cognitive tests than those not attending preschool, even after accounting for poverty, maternal education and early stunting. In a similar Brazilian birth cohort, children who received structured preschool had higher cognition scores by eight units at age five. This is powerful evidence that stimulation and nutrition have strong, independent effects and amplify each other when both are fulfilled.

A role for Anganwadis

Indian policymakers are responding to new evidence quickly. The Anganwadi system has started to incorporate this broader understanding of holistic early childhood development into its core design. This shift is most visible in the rollout of national frameworks such as Aadharshila and Navchetana and programmes such as Poshan Bhi Padhai Bhi. They are critical inputs in redefining neighbourhood Anganwadis as vibrant early childhood education centres that nourish both mind and body. Aadharshila strengthens play-based preschool education within centres, while Navchetana extends early stimulation into the home, equipping caregivers with simple, science-based ways to support development through everyday interactions.

In clinical practice, we offer these frameworks to parents everyday, helping to turn routine moments into opportunities for learning. We encourage the integration of Navchetana’s “loving, talking and playing” into daily life while feeding, cooking or playing with children. The home lays the foundation of early language, cognition and socio-emotional skills in the first three years, and Anganwadis deepen it through structured play-based activities, storytelling and peer learning from ages three to six.

Systemic community mobilisation initiatives, such as Poshan Pakhwada conducted in April 2026 by the Ministry of Women and Child Development focus on promoting early stimulation for brain development, play-based education in the early years, and the role of parents and communities in reducing screen exposure and strengthening engagement with Anganwadis. The campaign signals that early childhood development is not confined to centres or programmes, but depends on what happens within households and neighbourhoods.

Building futures

An “ecological” approach uplifts families as much as it strengthens children. Reliable childcare gives mothers the time, the confidence and the opportunity to work, study or contribute economically. In Vellore, we have seen women trained as childcare workers gain both dignity and livelihood, creating a virtuous circle of care. When the kitchen, classroom and crèche align, children flourish, women work and communities thrive.

For a Viksit Bharat, progress cannot rest on calories alone. The physical and interactive learning and playing environments in homes, Anganwadis and communities must be as enriching as the meals they receive.

Dr. Beena Koshy is Senior Professor, Developmental Paediatrics, Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore, Tamil Nadu. Riday Chokshi is Senior Associate – National Initiatives and Policy, Rocket Learning