Lok Sabha Question No. 1608 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-02-10
Subject: Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-dhan
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Girish Bhalchandra Bapat, Chandra Sekhar Sahu, Pritam Gopinath Munde, Rahul Ramesh Shewale

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN & CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO: 1608

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 10.02.2023

## PRADHAN MANTRI SHRAM YOGI MAANDHAN

- 1608:  SHRI GIRISH BHALCHANDRA BAPAT: SHRI RAHUL RAMESH SHEWALE: DR. PRITAM GOPINATHRAO MUNDE: SHRI CHANDRA SEKHAR SAHU:

Will the Minister of WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) the number of Anganwadi Workers (AWWs)/ Anganwadi Helpers (AWHs) who enrolled under the Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maandhan (PM-SYM) Pension Scheme, across States and Union Territories particularly in Maharashtra;
- (b) whether the Union Government proposes to increase the honorariums given to Anganwadi workers in these centres;
- (c) if so, the details thereof;
- (d) the  details  of  the  measures  taken  to  improve  the  working  condition  of AWWs/AWHs and the steps taken to monitor the progress; and
- (e) the  steps  taken  to  train  and  implement  capacity  building  programs  for Anganwadi Workers in various States particularly in Maharashtra?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)

(a) Pradhan  Mantri  Shram  Yogi  Maan-Dhan  (PM-SYM)  Pension  Scheme introduced  by  Government  of  India  for  the  unorganised  sectors  in  the  country  to ensure  old  age  protection  envisaging  assured  pension  of ₹ 3,000/-  per  month  on attaining the age of 60 years. The age of entry to the Scheme is 18-40 years. PMSYM  is  a  voluntary  and  contributory  pension  scheme  on  a  50:50  basis  where prescribed  age-specific  contribution  shall  be  made  by  the  beneficiary  and  the matching contribution by the Central Government for availing the assured pension of ₹ 3,000/- per month on attaining the age of 60 years. In this regard, it is stated that Ministry  of  Women  &  Child  Development  is  not  the  implementing  agency  for  the scheme however, to promote pensionary benefits to Anganwadi Workers/ Helpers, this Ministry has requested State Governments/UT Administrations time and again to encourage  eligible  AWWs/AWHs  to  get themselves  enrolled  under  the  Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Mandhan (PM-SYM) Pension Scheme on voluntary basis in order to get assured monthly pension on attaining the age of 60 years.

(b) & (c) Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) and Anganwadi Helpers (AWHs) are paid monthly honorarium as decided by Government of India from time to time, which is uniform in all States/UTs.  Presently, AWWs at main-AWCs are paid an honorarium of ₹4,500/- per month; AWWs at mini-AWCs ₹3,500/- per month and AWHs are paid ₹2,250/- per month at the prescribed cost sharing ratio between the Centre and State/ UT.  Also, performance linked incentive of ₹250/- per month paid to AWHs and ₹500/per month paid to AWWs.  In addition, States/UTs are also paying additional monetary incentives/ honorarium to these functionaries from their own resources.

(d) The  steps  taken  to  improve  the  working  condition  of  AWWs/  AWHs  are  as under:

- i. Honorarium : From 1 st  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.
- ii. Leave: They have been allowed paid absence of 180 days of maternity leave. Also, 20 days annual leaves are permissible.
- iii. Award: In order to motivate the Anganwadi Workers and give recognition to good voluntary work, a Scheme of Award for AWWs has been introduced with a  cash  prize  of  Rs.50,000/-  to  selected  AWWs  and  Rs.40,000/-  to  selected AWHs.
- iv. Promotion  Avenues: 50%  posts  of  AWWs  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.
- v. Uniform: There is a provision for set of two Uniform (saree/suit per annum) to AWW/AWH.
- vi. Anganwadi  Workers  have  been  provided  with  smart  phones  for  efficient implementation of the scheme.
- vii. Streamlined guidelines have already been  issued by this Ministry on 13.01.2021, which provides for quality assurance, roles and responsibilities of duty  holders,  procedure  for  procurement,  integrating  AYUSH  concepts  and data management.

Under Saksaham Abhiyaan and Poshan 2.0, IT systems have been leveraged to strengthen and bring about transparency in nutrition delivery support systems. The 'Poshan Tracker' application  was  rolled out by  MoWCD on 1 st   March,  2021  as  an important governance tool. Poshan Tracker is a job-aid to the Anganwadi worker for efficient delivery of services, digitisation of physical registers along with reflection of their efforts. It is a critical and beneficiary-centric service delivery Application under POSHAN Abhiyaan which promotes near real time data with analytics. The Poshan Tracker facilitates monitoring and tracking of all AWCs, AWWs and beneficiaries on defined indicators.

(e) Training is a crucial element in the Anganwadi Services Scheme as the achievement of the Programme goals largely depend upon the effectiveness of frontline workers in improving service delivery. Since the inception of the Scheme, the Ministry  has formulated  a  comprehensive  training  strategy  for  the  functionaries  of Anganwadi Services. Training is imparted to the functionaries on a regular basis.

Anganwadi Workers are provided job training for 26 working days. During this job training,  the  knowledge,  understanding  and  skills  of  Anganwadi  Workers  on various Acts, Policies, Programmes related to women and children, setting up vibrant Anganwadi Centres, conducting Early Childhood Care and Education activities, health &  nutrition  care  of  children and  women,  Community  Mobilisation,  Awareness, Advocacy & IEC, Management of AWC and hands on experience through supervised practice to work in Anganwadi Centres are developed.

NeGD is also, regularly conducting field level trainings / workshops directly for Anganwadi Workers regarding use of the Poshan Tracker Application. Multiple rounds of trainings have been held both virtually and physically, in this regard

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