[1] The scheme was launched in 1975, discontinued in 1978 by the government of Morarji Desai, and then reinstated by the Charan Singh soon after with support of the Indira Gandhi opposition.
Tenth five-year plan also linked ICDS to Anganwadi centres established mainly in rural areas and staffed with frontline workers.
[2] In addition to improving child nutrition and immunization, the programme is also intended to combat gender inequality by providing girls the same resources as boys.
A 2005 study found that the ICDS programme was not particularly effective in reducing malnutrition, largely because of implementation problems and because the poorest states had received the least coverage and funding.
[1] Several positive benefits of the programme have been documented and reported However, World Bank has also highlighted certain key shortcomings of the programme including inability to target the girl child improvements, participation of wealthier and middle-class children more than low-income children and lowest level of funding for the poorest and the most undernourished states of India.