Lok Sabha Question No. 1460 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-07-28
Subject: Facilities for Anganwadi Workers
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Arvind Kumar Sharma, Bharatiben Dhirubhai Shyal, Shankar Lalwani

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UNSTARED QUESTION NO. 1460

TO BE ANSWERED ON 28.07.2023

## FACILITIES FOR ANGANWADI WORKERS

1460.   DR. ARVIND KUMAR SHARMA: DR. BHARATIBEN DHIRUBHAI SHIYAL: SHRI SHANKAR LALWANI:

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

- (a) the total number of Anganwadi Centres (AWCs) in the country and the number of employees working therein, state-wise;
- (b) the increase in number of AWCs and employees therein during the last five years, year-wise;
- (c) the steps being taken by the government to make AWCs digital and transparent; and
- (d) the details of the facilities being provided to the Anganwadi workers at present?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) As on 30 th  June 2023, total 13.96 lakh Anganwadis are registered under the Poshan Tracker application. The  State/UT  wise  number  of Anganwadis in  the  country  and  the number of Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) and Anganwadi helpers (AWHs) working therein, as per Poshan Tracker, is at Annexure I.
- (b) The year wise number of Anganwadis and employees therein during the last five years is at Annexure II.
- (c) IT  systems have been leveraged to strengthen and bring about transparency in nutrition  delivery  support  systems  at  the  Anganwadi  centres.  The  'Poshan  Tracker' application  was  rolled  out  on  1 st    March,  2021  as  an  important  governance  tool.  The Poshan Tracker facilitates monitoring and tracking of all AWCs, AWWs and beneficiaries on defined indicators. Technology under Poshan Tracker is being leveraged for dynamic identification of stunting, wasting, under-weight prevalence among children. Further, under POSHAN  Abhiyaan,  for  the  first  time,  a  digital  revolution  was  ushered  in  when  the Anganwadi Centres were equipped with mobile devices. The mobile application has also facilitated digitization and automation of physical registers used by AWWs that helps in improving their quality of work. Poshan Tracker is available in 22 languages including Hindi and English. It has facilitated near real time data collection for Anganwadi Services such as,  daily  attendance,  ECCE,  Provision  of  Hot  Cooked  Meal  (HCM)/Take  Home  Ration (THR-not raw ration), Growth Measurement etc. The App also offers counselling videos on

key behaviours and services which help disseminate messages on birth preparedness, delivery,  post-natal care, breastfeeding and complementary feeding. Geo-mapping and onboarding  of  AWCs  in  PM  Gati  Shakti  portal  is  being  undertaken  to  enable  focused interventions.  Further,  to  ensure last  mile  tracking of  service  delivery SMS alerts to beneficiaries have been introduced on delivery of THR.

(d) For  the welfare  of  Anganwadi  Workers/  Anganwadi  Helpers  (AWWs/AWHs),  the following facilities are being provided:

(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; and introduced performance linked incentive of Rs.250/- per month to 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.

(ii)   Improvement in infrastructure: Under the revised Scheme, there is a provision of upgradation  of  2  lakh  Anganwadi  Centres  (AWCs)  as  Saksham  Anganwadis  with improved/upgraded infrastructure in Aspirational Districts @ 40,000 AWCs per annum upto 2025-26.  In 2022-23, 41,192 AWCs have been identified for upgradation with inter alia LEDs and smart learning and teaching aids.  Besides, the cost of drinking water facilities and toilets at Anganwadi Centres have been increased from Rs.10,000/- to Rs.17,000/and Rs.12,000/- to Rs.36,000/- respectively. For construction of Anganwadi Centres in convergence with MGNREGS, construction cost has been revised from Rs.7 lakh to Rs.12 lakh per unit.  Keeping in view the importance of nutrition and Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) services delivery, it has been decided to upgrade all Mini-Anganwadi Centres to main/regular Anganwadi Centres with the availability of an Anganwadi Helper.

(iii)   Leveraging IT through Poshan Tracker :  Under the revised Scheme, IT systems have  been  leveraged  to  strengthen  and  bring  about  transparency  in  delivery  support systems at Anganwadi  Centres. Anganwadi  Workers  have been technologically empowered with smartphones (approx 11 lakh). The mobile application has digitized and automated the physical registers used by AWWs which has also helped in improving their quality of work.

(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 fulfillment of other criteria.

(v)   Capacity  Building :   NeGD  is  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 various districts across the country. Further, under Mission Poshan 2.0, Poshan Bhi Padhai programme has been launched  which  focuses  on  capacity  building  of  Anganwadi  workers  to  equip  them  to deliver quality early education.

(vi)        Social  Security  Insurance  Schemes :  This  Ministry  has  provided  insurance benefits  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, this Ministry has decided to provide insurance cover under PMJJBY and PMSBY to AWWs/AWHs through their bank accounts and the funds towards premium payment will be released to the States/UTs on the prescribed cost sharing ratio.

(vii)   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.

(viii)   Pradhan  Mantri  Shram  Yogi  Maan-Dhan  (PM-SYM): State  Governments/UT Administrations have been requested to encourage eligible AWWs/AWHs to get themselves  enrolled  under  the  Pradhan  Mantri  Shram  Yogi  Mandhan  (PM-SYM) Pension Scheme on voluntary.

The age of entry to the Scheme is 18-40 years. PM-SYM is a voluntary and contributory pension scheme on 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.

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## Annexure I

| State/UT                           |   Total AWC Operational |     AWW |    AWH |
|------------------------------------|-------------------------|---------|--------|
| Andhra Pradesh                     |                   55615 |   55173 |  29218 |
| Arunachal Pradesh                  |                    5642 |    4774 |   1676 |
| Assam                              |                   61738 |   60508 |  47481 |
| Bihar                              |                  114989 |  112510 |  81542 |
| Chhattisgarh                       |                   51886 |   51071 |  25270 |
| Goa                                |                    1262 |    1236 |    956 |
| Gujarat                            |                   53027 |   52289 |  45334 |
| Haryana                            |                   25963 |   24512 |  12524 |
| Himachal Pradesh                   |                   18925 |   18757 |  17647 |
| Jharkhand                          |                   38431 |   37980 |  28342 |
| Karnataka                          |                   65909 |   65427 |  55548 |
| Kerala                             |                   33115 |   33103 |  30658 |
| Madhya Pradesh                     |                   97135 |   96099 |  39459 |
| Maharashtra                        |                  110429 |  108745 |  56331 |
| Manipur                            |                   11509 |   11493 |   9879 |
| Meghalaya                          |                    5896 |    5895 |   3861 |
| Mizoram                            |                    2244 |    2239 |   2063 |
| Nagaland                           |                    3980 |    3936 |   3183 |
| Odisha                             |                   74157 |   73744 |  54256 |
| Punjab                             |                   27314 |   26135 |  13040 |
| Rajasthan                          |                   61873 |   61351 |  33717 |
| Sikkim                             |                    1308 |    1308 |   1248 |
| Tamil Nadu                         |                   54442 |   43840 |  40785 |
| Telangana                          |                   35693 |   34437 |  25862 |
| Tripura                            |                   10146 |   10105 |   9445 |
| Uttar Pradesh                      |                  189024 |  184174 | 120425 |
| Uttarakhand                        |                   20088 |   19763 |   5690 |
| West Bengal                        |                  122442 |  109454 |  98787 |
| Andaman & Nicobar Islands          |                     720 |     710 |    422 |
| Dadra & Nagar Haveli - Daman & Diu |                     405 |     402 |    331 |
| Delhi                              |                   10899 |   10431 |  10423 |
| J&K                                |                   28119 |   27069 |  15630 |
| Ladakh                             |                    1144 |    1139 |    780 |
| Lakshadweep                        |                      90 |      62 |      6 |
| Puducherry                         |                     855 |     807 |    260 |
| UT-Chandigarh                      |                     450 |     426 |    443 |
| Total                              |                 1396864 | 1351104 | 922522 |

Annexure II

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| Year        |   No. of operational Anganwadi Centres |   No. of AWWs |   No. of AWHs |
|-------------|----------------------------------------|---------------|---------------|
| March 2018  |                                1363021 |       1293945 |       1166857 |
| March 2019  |                                1372872 |       1302617 |       1184954 |
| March 2020  |                                1381376 |       1326069 |       1183202 |
| March, 2021 |                                1387432 |       1328617 |       1179303 |
| March, 2022 |                                1391004 |       1314433 |       1167206 |