Government of India incentivizes & encourages Anganwadi Workers and Anganwadi Helpers, through various initiatives
Government of India incentivizes & encourages Anganwadi Workers and Anganwadi Helpers, through various initiatives
Anganwadi Services is a Centrally Sponsored scheme and the implementation of the scheme falls under the ambit of State Government/UT administration. The matter regarding filling up of vacant posts at various levels is taken up with the State Governments/ UT Administrations through sustained engagements/video conferences. Also, States/ UTs have been requested to adopt a uniform retirement date i.e. 30th April of each year with respect to Anganwadi Workers and Helpers to ensure proper human resource planning.
There were 13,48,135 Anganwadi workers and 10,23,068 Anganwadi Helpers in the country as on 31st December 2023.
The State-wise list of number of Anganwadi Workers and Anganwadi Helpers is placed at Annexure-I.
From 1st October, 2018, Government of India has enhanced the honorarium of AWWs at main-AWCs from Rs.3,000/- to Rs.4,500/- per month; AWWs at mini- AWCs from Rs.2,250/- to Rs.3,500/- per month; AWHs from Rs.1,500/- to Rs.2,250/- per month; and introduced performance linked incentive of Rs.250/- per month for AWHs and Rs.500/- to AWWs. In addition, States/UTs are also paying additional monetary incentives/honorarium to these functionaries from their own resources which vary from State to State. The additional Honorarium provided by the States/UTs is placed at Annexure-II. At present no proposal is under consideration to increase the honorarium of AWWs/ AWHs.
With a view to incentivize and encourage the Anganwadi Workers and Anganwadi Helpers, various steps/initiatives have been undertaken including the following:
In the interim budget for 2024-25, Government has expanded the coverage of Ayushman Bharat to include all Anganwadi Workers and Helpers across the country. This will provide health coverage of up to Rs 5 lakh per family annually to all AWWs and AWHs for secondary and tertiary medical care.
This information was given by the MINISTER OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT SHRIMATI SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.
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SS/AKS
ANNEXURE-I
ANNEXURE REFERRED IN REPLY TO PART (b) of RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 627 FOR 07.02.2024 REGARDING “HONORARIUM FOR ANGANWADI WORKERS/HELPERS” ASKED BY SHRI V. VIJAYASAI REDDY.
State-wise list of number of Anganwadi Workers and Anganwadi Helpers
State
Anganwadi Workers
Anganwadi Helpers
Andhra Pradesh
55188
42097
Arunachal Pradesh
5209
2362
Assam
60568
49452
Bihar
112551
82687
Chhattisgarh
51245
42266
Goa
1237
1149
Gujarat
52616
46367
Haryana
24328
13417
Himachal Pradesh
18727
17855
Jharkhand
37982
29453
Karnataka
63688
56597
Kerala
33107
32180
Madhya Pradesh
96288
65378
Maharashtra
108507
74746
Manipur
11466
9848
Meghalaya
5895
4120
Mizoram
2239
2088
Nagaland
3955
3481
Odisha
73653
62144
Punjab
26588
17176
Rajasthan
61305
38009
Sikkim
1308
1286
Tamil Nadu
44141
39806
Telangana
34456
26127
Tripura
10131
9617
Uttar Pradesh
182741
112756
Uttarakhand
19583
8795
West Bengal
108077
99663
Andaman & Nicobar Islands
711
465
Dadra & Nagar Haveli – Daman & Diu
405
337
Delhi
10498
10542
J&K
27302
18882
Ladakh
1144
882
Lakshadweep
60
13
Puducherry
802
581
UT-Chandigarh
434
444
Total
1348135
1023068
*Data as per Poshan Tracker (Dec. 23)
Annexure II
ANNEXURE REFERRED IN REPLY TO PART (d) of RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 627 FOR 07.02.2024 REGARDING “HONORARIUM FOR ANGANWADI WORKERS/HELPERS” ASKED BY SHRI V. VIJAYASAI REDDY.
Additional honorarium given by the States/UTs to AWWs/AWHs from their own resources
S. No.
States/UTs
Additional honorarium given by States/UTs each month (In Rs.)
Anganwadi Workers (AWW)
Anganwadi Helper (AWH)
Andaman & Nicobar
3000
2500
Andhra Pradesh
7000
4750
Arunachal Pradesh
Nil
Nil
Assam
2000
1000
Bihar
1450
725
Chandigarh
3600
1800
Chhattisgarh
2000
1000
Dadra Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu
1000
600
Delhi
5178
2589
Goa
5500-13500*
3750-6750*
Gujarat
5500
3250
Haryana
7286-8429*
4215
Himachal Pradesh
4600
2450
Jammu & Kashmir
600
340
Jharkhand
5000
2500
Karnataka
6500-7000*
4000-4500*
Kerala
2000
2000
Lakshadweep
5500
4750
Madhya Pradesh
7000
3500
Maharashtra
3825
2175
Manipur
1000
600
Meghalaya
1500
1000
Odisha
1000
500
Puducherry
600
300
Punjab
5000
2850
Rajasthan
3891-4030*
2640
Sikkim
2225
1500
Uttarakhand
3000
1500
West Bengal
3750
4050
Uttar Pradesh
1500
750
Nagaland
Nil
Nil
Mizoram
450
500
Tamil Nadu
3200-19700*
1850-10250*
Telangana
9150
5550
Tripura
150-5346*
93-3518*
Ladakh
1300
650
- Promotion: As per Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 Guidelines issued by the Ministry, promotional opportunities for Anganwadi Workers have been enhanced. 50% posts of Anganwadi Workers shall be filled by promotion of Anganwadi Helpers with 5 years of experience and 50% posts of Supervisors shall be filled by promotion of Anganwadi Workers with 5 years of experience subject to fulfilment of other criteria.
- Leave: Anganwadi Workers have been allowed paid absence of 180 days of maternity leave, paid absence on abortion/ miscarriage once for 45 days. Also, 20 days annual leaves are permissible.
- Uniform: There is a provision for set of two uniforms (saree/suit per annum) to AWW/AWH.
- Social Security Insurance Schemes: Insurance benefits have been provided to Anganwadi Workers and Helpers under Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) for life cover of Rs.2.00 lakh (covers life risk, death due to any reason) to AWWs/AWHs in the age group of 18 to 50 years and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana for accidental cover of Rs.2.00 Lakh (accidental death and permanent full disability) /Rs.1.00 Lakh (partial but permanent disability) to AWWs and AWHs in the age group of 18-59 years. Now, it has been decided to provide insurance cover under PMJJBY and PMSBY to AWWs/AWHs through their bank accounts and the funds towards premium payment released to the States/UTs on the prescribed cost sharing ratio under Anganwadi Services Scheme.
- Insurance cover under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package: Anganwadi Workers and Anganwadi Helpers who have been engaged with the Covid-19 related tasks, have been provided with insurance cover of Rs.50 lakh under “Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package” with certain conditions.
- Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-Dhan (PM-SYM): State Governments/UT Administrations have been requested to encourage eligible AWWs/AWHs to enroll themselves under the Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Mandhan (PM-SYM) Pension Scheme, which is a voluntary and contributory pension scheme for the unorganized sectors in the country to ensure old age protection.
- Retirement date: States/ UTs have been requested to adopt a uniform retirement date i.e 30th April of each year with respect to Anganwadi Workers and Helpers to ensure proper human resource planning.
- Leveraging IT through Poshan Tracker: Under Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 (Mission Poshan 2.0) IT systems have been leveraged to strengthen and bring about transparency in delivery support systems at Anganwadi Centres. The ‘Poshan Tracker’ application was rolled out by the Ministry of Women & Child Development on 1st March, 2021 as an important governance tool. Anganwadi Workers have been technologically empowered with smartphones. The mobile application has digitized and automated the physical registers used by AWWs which has also helped in improving their quality of work. Under Poshan Abhiyaan, for the first time, a digital revolution was ushered when the Anganwadi worker was empowered with mobile devices. To capture the real time data in POSHAN Tracker application, internet connectivity charges to AWWs are provided @₹2000/- per annum per AWW.
- Government has issued orders for upgradation for mini-AWC to regular AWCs. Due to this, the honorarium of AWWs of existing mini AWCs, have increased to Rs.4,500/- p.m.