Parliament Question: Remuneration of Anganwadi Workers

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN & CHILD DEVELOPMENT RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3833 TO BE ANSWERED ON 25.03.2026 REMUNERATION OF ANGANWADI WORKERS 3833. SMT. MAYA NAROLIYA: Will the Minister of WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state: (a) whether Government has reviewed the adequacy of the remuneration structure of Anganwadi workers; (b) the level of wage disparity among approximately 14.33 lakh Anganwadi workers working in the State of Madhya Pradesh; (c) the difficulties being faced in the payment of incentive amounts for work related to the supplementary nutrition programme; and (d) whether any revision of the minimum remuneration has been considered in view of 8.69 crore beneficiaries under Mission Poshan 2.0, if so, State-wise details thereof? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI SAVITRI THAKUR) (a) to (d): 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 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 for growth monitoring and home visits is provided to AWWs and Rs.250/- per month for opening AWC 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 and UT Administrations are responsible for day-to-day program implementation including recruitment of staff for implementation of the scheme. *****Annexure STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (A) TO (D) OF RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3833 TO BE ANSWERED ON 25.03.2026 REGARDING “REMUNERATION OF ANGANWADI WORKERS” Details of additional top ups as provided by States and UTs: Sr. State Additional top ups paid to Additional top ups paid to No. AWWs (per month) 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 and 3,500 1,750 Daman & Diu 36 Lakshadweep 5,500 4,750 *****