Anganwadi workers in Uttar Pradesh have begun receiving an increased monthly honorarium of Rs 12,000, up from Rs 8,000, while Anganwadi helpers will now receive Rs 6,000 per month, according to the Women and Child Development Department. The revised payments have started ahead of Diwali.
The decision also extends cashless medical treatment of up to Rs 5 lakh a year to Anganwadi workers, helpers and their family members. The Times of India report said 3.35 lakh workers and helpers, along with their families, are eligible for the health benefit.
Additional chief secretary of the Women and Child Development Department, Leena Johri, said the decision would benefit 1,75,982 Anganwadi workers and 1,70,656 helpers across the state. Together, the two groups account for 3,46,638 frontline workers involved in the Anganwadi system.
The revised honorarium changes the monthly support available to workers who form part of Uttar Pradesh’s network of community-level childcare and nutrition services. The report did not specify whether the revised amounts include any separate central government contribution or whether the state will bear the full additional expenditure.
The government has also approved one additional sari for women workers this year. It has released Rs 500 per person for the item, according to the report. The payment and distribution process for this benefit was not separately detailed.
Alongside the financial measures, the state is expanding technology facilities for Anganwadi workers. In the first phase, 1,23,398 smartphones were provided, while another 69,803 devices were distributed under a replacement policy. The combined figure amounts to 1,93,201 smartphones supplied through the two channels.
The smartphone rollout is intended to modernise the Anganwadi system, although the report did not provide details on the applications, reporting functions or service-delivery tasks for which the devices will be used. It also did not state how many workers remain to be covered by the technology programme.
The measures place remuneration, healthcare access and digital tools together within the state’s effort to strengthen its Anganwadi network. The immediate implementation milestone is the start of the revised honorarium payments, with eligible workers and helpers receiving the higher monthly amounts ahead of Diwali.
