The total number of Anganwadi Workers and Anganwadi Helperssanctioned in the countryare1399697 and 1282847 respectively. The distribution of Anganwadi Workers and Anganwadi Helpers across the States/UTs is given at Annexure-I.

The Anganwadi Services {under Umbrella Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme} envisages the Anganwadi Workers & Helpers as honorary workers from local community who come forward to render their services, on part time basis, in the area of child care and development. Being honorary workers, they are paid monthly honoraria as decided by Government from time to time.

The Government of India has recently enhanced the honorarium of Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) at main-Anganwadi Centres (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; Anganwadi Helpers (AWHs) from Rs 1,500/- to Rs. 2,250/- per month; and introduced performance linked incentive of Rs. 250/- per month to AWHs, effective from 1st October, 2018. Further, AWWs are allowed performance linked incentive of ₹ 500/- per month for using ICDS-CAS under POSHAN Abhiyaan.In addition to the honorarium paid by the Government of India, the respective State/UTs are giving monetary incentives to these workers out of their own resources as per details given at Annexure-II.

In addition, the AWWs and AWHs are also entitled for paid absence of 180 days of maternity leave, two sets of uniform per year, insurance coverage under the Pradhan MantriJeevanJyotiBimaYojana (for 18-50 years age functionaries), Pradhan Mantri Suraksha BimaYojana (for 18-59 years age functionaries) and AnganwadiKaryakartBimaYojana (for 51-59 years age functionaries)

The training is provided to the Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) at the Anganwadi Workers Training Centres (AWTCs) under ICDS Training Programme. AWWs are provided Job Training course for a duration of 26 working days. In case of back log, Induction training with a shorter duration of 5 working days is conducted for placing functionaries in to job prior to their job training. Vertical training for the block functionaries is conducted in selected districts at the district level. Under the POSHAN Abhiyan, capacity building of Anganwadi Workers is done through Incremental Learning Approach (ILA) having 21 training modules. The AWWs are oriented on one module in every 15 days. The e-ILA software is developed as a comprehensive training and evaluation web-based learning portal for the field workers. This is in addition to ongoing face-to-face ILA.

The rate of honorarium payable to these functionaries is given above.

Under the Anganwadi Services Scheme, Anganwadi Centres are sanctioned on the basis of population norms and each Anganwadi Centre has one Anganwadi Worker and one Anganwadi Helper. In case of mini Anganwadi only one Anganwadi worker is sanctioned.

ANNEXURE-II

Statement indicating additional honorarium given by the States/UTs to AWWs/AWHs from their own resources (As on 14.06.2019)

*Depending on the qualification and /or number of years of service      

This information was given by the Minister of Women and Child Development, SmritiZubinIrani, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.

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MM/SB