Parliament Question: Anganwadi Workers in Maharashtra

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN & CHILD DEVELOPMENT LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3553 TO BE ANSWERED ON 13.03.2026 ANGANWADI WORKERS IN MAHARASHTRA 3553. SHRI ARVIND GANPAT SAWANT: Will the Minister of WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state: (a) whether the Government has taken note of the difficulties faced by Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) and Anganwadi Helpers (AWHs), if so, the details thereof; (b) the number of AWWs and AWHs per Anganwadi centre in the country, State-wise including Maharashtra; (c) the details of work assigned to AWWs at Anganwadi centres; (d) whether is it true that AWWs, while performing multiple duties, also impart education simultaneously to children of different age groups, if so, the overall benefits accruing to society and families therefrom; (e) whether the Government ever reviewed this arrangement, if so, the details thereof; and (f) the details of initiatives taken by the Government for the welfare and upliftment of Anganwadi Workers? ANSWER MINISTER OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI ANNPURNA DEVI) (a) to (f) Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 seeks to address the challenges of malnutrition in children, adolescent girls, pregnant women and lactating mothers through a strategic shift in nutrition content and delivery and by creation of a convergent eco-system to develop and promote practices that nurture health, wellness and immunity. The objectives of Poshan 2.0 are as follows: • To contribute to human capital development of the country; • Address challenges of malnutrition; • Promote nutrition awareness and good eating habits for sustainable health and well being; and • Address nutrition related deficiencies through key strategies. Under Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0, a package of six services are provided to the eligible beneficiaries i.e Supplementary Nutrition (SNP), Pre-school Non-formal Education, Nutrition & Health Education, Immunization, Health Check-up, and Referral Services. Three of the six services, viz., Immunization, Health check-up and Referral Services are related to health and are provided through National Health Mission (NHM) & Public Health Infrastructure.These services are provided to the eligible registered beneficiaries i.e children up to the age of 6 years, Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers across the country and Adolescent Girls in the age group of 14 to 18 years in Aspirational Districts of States and all districts of North Eastern Region by through the platform of Anganwadi Centre. Each Anganwadi Centre consists of an Anganwadi Worker (AWW) and Anganwadi Helper (AWH) who are honorary workers from the local community who voluntarily come forward to render their services in the area of child care and development to help the local community. The detailed roles and responsibilities of AWWs and AWHs are available on Ministry’s website at the link: https://wcd.gov.in/offerings/nutrition-mission-saksham-anganwadi-and-poshan-2-0-mission- saksham-anganwadi-poshan-2-0. AWWs and AWHs are paid a monthly honorarium. This honorarium is increased from time to time. From 1st October, 2018, Government of India has enhanced the honorarium of AWWs at Anganwadi centres (AWCs) from Rs.3,000/- to Rs.4,500/- per month and AWHs from Rs.1,500/- to Rs.2,250/- per month as per the defined cost sharing ratio between the Centre and States and UTs. In addition, States and UTs are also paying additional monetary incentives and top ups to these functionaries from their own resources which vary from State to State. Details of additional top ups provided by States and UTs are at Annexure. Besides, performance linked incentive of Rs.500/- per month is provided to AWWs and Rs.250/- per month to AWHs. Under Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0, AWWs have been technologically empowered with the provision of smartphones for efficient monitoring and delivery of services. Poshan Tracker which is a mobile phone application that has digitized physical registers used by Anganwadi workers. This improves the quality of their work while simultaneously enabling them for real-time monitoring of all activities going on in the Anganwadis. To incentivize and encourage the AWWs and AWHs, various initiatives have been undertaken including the following: (i) Promotion: Under Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0, promotional opportunities for AWWs and AWHs have been enhanced. 50% posts of AWWs are to be filled by AWHs with 5 years of experience and 50% posts of Supervisors are to be filled by promotion of AWWs with 5 years of experience subject to fulfilment of other criteria. (ii) Leave: 20 days’ annual leave and paid maternity absence of 180 days and paid absence on abortion/ miscarriage once for 45 days. (iii) State Governments and UT Administrations have been requested to encourage eligible AWWs and AWHs to get themselves enrolled under the Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Mandhan (PM-SYM) Pension Scheme, which is a voluntary and contributory pension scheme for the unorganized sector in the country to ensure old age protection. (iv) Social Security Insurance Schemes: Insurance benefits have been provided to AWWs and AWHs under Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) for life cover worth Rs.2.00 lakh (covers life risk, death due to any reason) in the age group of 18 to 50 years and under 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) in the age group of 18-59 years.(v) Retirement date: States and UTs have been requested to adopt a uniform retirement date i.e 30th April of each year with respect to AWWs and AWHs to ensure proper human resource planning. (vi) Annual Healthcare coverage of Rs. 5 Lakhs under Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) to all AWWs and AWHs in pursuance to budget announcement in FY 2024-25. Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 is a Centrally Sponsored scheme. The Central Government is responsible for policy and planning and the State Governments/UT Administrations are responsible for day-to-day program implementation including recruitment of staff for implementation of the scheme. The matter regarding filling up of vacant posts at various levels is regularly taken up with them through sustained engagements and video conferences so as to ensure uninterrupted delivery of services to the beneficiaries. The State and UT wise details of Anganwadi Workers in position and beneficiaries are available at the link: https://www.poshantracker.in/statistics. ********Annexure STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (A) TO (F) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3553 TO BE ANSWERED ON 13.03.2026 REGARDING “ANGANWADI WORKERS IN MAHARASHTRA” Details of additional top ups as provided by States and UTs: Sr. State Additional top ups paid to Additional top ups paid No. AWWs (per month) to AWHs (per month) 1 Andhra Pradesh 7,000 4,750 2 Bihar 2,500 1,750 3 Chhattisgarh 5,500 2,750 4 Gujarat 5,500 3,250 5 Haryana 10,250 5,650 6 Himachal Pradesh 5,500 3,250 7 Jammu & Kashmir 600 300 8 Jharkhand 5,000 2,500 9 Karnataka 7,000 4,500 10 Kerala 8,500 6,750 11 Madhya Pradesh 8,500 4,250 12 Maharashtra 8,500 5,250 13 Odisha 5,500 2,750 14 Punjab 5,500-6,500 2,750-3,250 15 Rajasthan 5,510 3,674 16 Tamil Nadu 3,200 1,850 17 Telangana 9,150 5,550 18 Uttar Pradesh 1,500 750 19 Uttarakhand 4,800 3,000 20 West Bengal 4,500 4,550 21 Arunachal Pradesh 3,000 3,000 22 Assam 2,000 1,000 23 Manipur 1,000 600 24 Meghalaya 3,000 1,000 25 Mizoram 450 500 26 Nagaland Nil Nil 27 Sikkim 7,000 4,500 28 Tripura 3,500-5,946 2,750-4218 29 Andaman & Nicobar 7,500 5,750 30 Goa 5,500 -13,500 3,750 - 6,750 31 Puducherry 1,950 2,125 32 Chandigarh 3,600 1,800 33 Ladakh 1,300 650 34 Delhi 6,720 3,360 35 Dadra & Nagar Haveli 3,500 1,750 and Daman & Diu 36 Lakshadweep 5,500 4,750 ****