The “large” number of vacancies in the posts of Anganwadi helpers and workers may be due to the meagre wages being paid to them, a parliamentary panel has said and “strongly” recommended that their remuneration be increased.
The salaries of AWW and AWH vary from state to state. Noting the reduction in grant amount from Rs. 2 lakh to Rs. 1 Lakh for the construction of each Anganwadi Centre, the committee said the states were not able to provide any extra money from their side and the Women and Child Development Ministry was considering requesting the Ministry of Finance to revert to the original scheme.
A report of the public accounts committee tabled in Parliament said that the Women and Child Development Ministry reiterated the fact about the enhancement in honorarium as on October 2018. “The Committee are of the view that the large number of vacancies in the posts of AWH and AWW may be on account of the meagre wages being paid to them,” the panel said.
The parliamentary panel noted that the critical role played by these Anganwadi workers/ helpers during the Covid period cannot be ignored- they were tasked with distributing rations along with carrying out their main responsibilities pertaining to primary health care and immunisation, supplementary nutrition, educating families about family planning measures, etc.