Question : Honorarium for Aanganwadi Workers

(a) the number of Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) in the country, State/UT-wise;
(b) the details of salary and honorarium being paid by the Government to the AWWs along with the prescribed fund sharing ratio between Centre and States;
(c) whether the Government is contemplating to increase the honorarium of Anganwadi workers and if so, the details thereof;
(d) whether the Government proposes to appoint these AWWs as permanent employees and if so, the details thereof along with the eligibility criteria prescribed for such appointments;
(e) whether the Government is planning to implement the recommendations of the Parliamentary Committee constituted under the chairmanship of Dr. ChandreshKumari; and
(f) if so, the details thereof along with the time by which these recommendations are likely to be implemented and if not, the reasons therefor?

ANSWER

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

(a) State/UT-wise number of Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) in the country isannexed.

(b) Currently, Government is providing honorarium to Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) @ ? 4,500/- per month; AWWs at mini-AWCs @ ? 3,500/- per month; and Anganwadi Helpers (AWHs)@ ? 2,250/- per month. The Government is also providing performance linked incentive of ? 250/- per month to AWHs effective from 1st October, 2018. AWWs are paid performance linked incentive of ? 500/- per month for using ICDS-CAS (Common Application Software) under POSHAN Abhiyaan. In addition to this, most of the States/UTs are also providing monetary incentives to these workers out of their own resources.
Under the Anganwadi Services Scheme, the funding pattern between Centre and States/UTs is as under:

Category of States/UTs Components
General Salary SNP
States/UTs with Legislature 60:40 25:75 50:50
NE/Himalayan States& UT of J&K 90:10 90:10 90:10
UT Without Legislature 100:0 100:0 100:0

(c) Presently, there is no proposal under consideration to increase the honorarium of Anganwadi Workers.

(d) AWWs/AWHs are honorary workers who come forward to render their services on payment of monthly honorarium. In view of the very nature of the role of Anganwadi Workers/Helpers, it is not feasible to declare them as regular/permanent employees. Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in a ruling of 07.12.2006 in Civil Appeal No. 4853-4957 of 1998 – State of Karnataka & Ors. vs. Ameerbi&Ors. has held that Anganwadi Workers/Helpers do not hold any civil post.

(e) & (f) Out of 16 recommendations/observations made by the Dr. ChandreshKumari Committee, 14 recommendations have been implemented. Pursuant to the observations made by the Committee in its Sixteen Report, Ministry of Women & Child Development has furnished action taken report to the Committee.

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Annexure
STATEMENT REFERRED IN REPLY TO PART (a) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 921 FOR 07.02.2020 REGARDING HONOURARIUM FOR ANGANWADI WORKERS ASKED BY SHRI RAVINDRA KUSHWAHA, SHRI VIJAY BAGHEL AND SHRI OMPRAKASH BHUPALSINH ALIAS PAWAN RAJENIMBALKAR

State/UT-wise details of sanctioned and In-position number of AWWs

S no. State/UT Number of AWW
Sanctioned In-position
1 Andhra Pradesh 55607 53942
2 Telangana 35700 34164
3 Arunachal Pradesh 6225 6225
4 Assam 62153 60942
5 Bihar 115009 105383
6 Chhattisgarh 52474 50030
7 Goa 1262 1198
8 Gujarat 53029 51524
9 Haryana 25962 25152
10 Himachal Pradesh 18925 18759
11 Jammu & Kashmir 31938 29830
12 Jharkhand 38432 37821
13 Karnataka 65911 64440
14 Kerala 33318 33115
15 Madhya Pradesh 97135 96119
16 Maharashtra 110486 105592
17 Manipur 11510 11302
18 Meghalaya 5896 5879
19 Mizoram 2244 2244
20 Nagaland 3980 3980
21 Odisha 74154 70188
22 Punjab 27314 26652
23 Rajasthan 62010 61593
24 Sikkim 1308 1301
25 Tamil Nadu 54439 49182
26 Tripura 10145 9911
27 Uttar Pradesh 190145 171245
28 Uttarakhand 20067 19521
29 West Bengal 119481 107939
30 A & N Islands 720 719
31 Chandigarh 450 450
32 Delhi 10897 9353
33 Dadra & N Haveli 302 302
34 Daman & Diu 107 98
35 Lakshadweep 107 107
36 Puducherry 855 780
Total 1399697 1326982

(As on 30.09.2019)