Parliament Question: Honorarium to AWWs and AWHs

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN & CHILD DEVELOPMENT LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 947 TO BE ANSWERED ON 24.07.2026 Honorarium to AWWs and AWHs †947. Shri Amra Ram: Will the Minister of WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state: (a) the number of Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) and Helpers (AWHs) working in the country and the number of vacant posts, State-wise, the total amount of honorarium being given monthly to said workers and the ratio of Central and State Government share in the said honorarium, State- wise; and (b) whether the Government proposes to make the honorarium of the said workers equal to the minimum wage, if so, the timeline thereof and if not, the reasons therefor? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI SAVITRI THAKUR) (a) & (b) State-wise details of field functionaries is available on Poshan Tracker and can be accessed at: https://www.poshantracker.in/statistics. Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) and Anganwadi Helpers (AWHs) are honorary workers drawn 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 for which they are paid 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 cost sharing ratio which is as under: S Category Central ratio State ratio No. 1 UTs without legislative assembly 100 0 2 North Eastern and Himalayan States 90 10 3 Remaining States and UTs 60 40In 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. Annexure Statement referred to in reply to Part (a) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 947 to be answered on 24.07.2026 regarding “Honorarium to AWWs and AWHs” asked by Shri Amra Ram: Details of additional top ups as provided by States and UTs: S. Additional Top-ups paid to Additional Top-ups paid to State/UT No AWW AWH 1 Andaman & Nicobar 7500 5750 2 Andhra Pradesh 7,000 4,750 3 Arunachal Pradesh 3000 3000 4 Assam 3500 1750 5 Bihar 4500 2250 6 Chandigarh 3,600 1,800 7 Chhattisgarh 5,500 2,750 Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman 8 3500 1750 & Diu 9 Delhi 6720 3360 10 Goa 15,000 - 23,000 8,500 - 11,500 11 Gujarat 5,500 3,250 12 Haryana 10250 5650 13 Himachal Pradesh 6000 3550 14 Jammu & Kashmir 600 300 15 Jharkhand 7000 3500 16 Karnataka 8000 5250 17 Kerala 8300 6800 18 Ladakh 1300 650 19 Lakshadweep 5,500 4,750 20 Madhya Pradesh 8500 4250 21 Maharashtra 8500 525022 Manipur 1000 600 23 Meghalaya 3,000 1000 24 Mizoram 950 725 25 Nagaland NIL NIL 26 Odisha 5500 2750 27 Puducherry 1,950 2,125 28 Punjab 5000 2850 29 Rajasthan 6,061 4,041 30 Sikkim 7,000 4,500 31 Tamil Nadu 9,780 6,270 32 Telangana 9,150 5,550 33 Tripura 5946-3500 4218-2750 34 Uttar Pradesh 1500 750 35 Uttarakhand 4,800 3,000 36 West Bengal 4,500 4,550 ********