Parliament session: In Rajya Sabha, Sonia Gandhi demanded from the Central Government – ‘Double the honorarium of Asha-Anganwadi’

New Delhi, 15 December. In the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi raised the issue of tremendous work pressure on Asha and Anganwadi workers and low honorarium given to them and requested the government to fill their vacancies across the country and double the contribution given by the Center towards their honorarium.

Raising this issue during Zero Hour, Gandhi said that Asha workers, Anganwadi workers, assistants and workers working under the National Rural Livelihood Mission, engaged in the implementation of many important government programs, are under extreme pressure of workload.

She said that these initiatives were taken towards the empowerment of women, but despite contributing a lot to public service, these women workers are under immense pressure and are given low remuneration.

Gandhi said that Asha workers across the country run vaccination programs and help in maternal welfare and family welfare work, yet they get very little honorarium and social security. He said that similarly Anganwadi workers get very less honorarium.

Government fill vacant posts

The Congress leader said there are various vacancies in ICDS (Integrated Child Development Schemes) at different levels across the country. He said that due to these vacancies, lakhs of mothers and children are not getting the necessary services. He said that when appointments are made to these posts, they are also not adequate as per the population because the data was not updated after Census 2011.

Gandhi requested the Central Government to work on these priorities in collaboration with the States, ensure that all vacancies are filled, all workers are paid on time and the Centre’s contribution to the honorarium given to these frontline workers is doubled.

The former Congress president also urged that additional Asha workers should be appointed in villages with a population of more than 2.5 thousand and the number of Anganwadi workers should be doubled to help in the primary education of children.