Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi speaks in Rajya Sabha during the Winter Session of the Parliament, in New Delhi on Tuesday. (Source: Sansad TV/ANI)
Highlighting the “distress of women workers implementing critical government programmes”, Congress MP Sonia Gandhi Tuesday urged the Centre to double its contribution to the compensation of Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) and Anganwadi workers.
Speaking during Zero Hour in Rajya Sabha, she spoke of the conditions of ASHA workers, Anganwadi workers and helpers, and community resource people under the National Rural Livelihood Mission.
“These initiatives are intended as pathways to women’s empowerment. However, despite their vital contribution to public service delivery, these women workers are overburdened and underpaid,” she said.
“Across the country, ASHA workers undertake immunisation, mobilisation, maternal health, and family welfare, yet they remain volunteers with low honorarium and limited social security. Anganwadi workers are similarly paid a meagre base honorarium of Rs 4,500 and Rs 2,250 per month by the Union government,” she said.
Besides the low pay, Gandhi also highlighted the nearly 3 lakh vacancies in the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), the centrally sponsored programme providing essential services such as nutrition, immunisation, health check-ups, and education through local Anganwadi centres to improve the health, nutrition, and development of children, pregnant women, and nursing mothers.
“These gaps leave lakhs and lakhs of children and mothers without essential services. Even when filled, these posts fall short of population norms due to the lack of updated census figures since 2011,” she said.
She asked the government to fill the existing vacancies and ensure that all workers are paid on time. She also urged the Union government to double its contribution to these workers’ pay. She asked the government to appoint one additional ASHA worker in every village with a population of more than 2,500 and to double the number of Anganwadi workers.
“I wish to emphasise that strengthening, expanding, and supporting this workforce is an investment in India’s future,” she said.
