Our Correspondent / New Delhi
On the day Prime minister Narendra Modi announced hike in the remuneration of ASHA and Anganwadi workers, Union minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi said announced removal of more than one crore ‘fake’ beneficiaries registered in Anganwadis across the country from the list.
“The identification and elimination of fake beneficiaries is an ongoing process. We have already eliminated approximately one crore fake beneficiaries from the system,” she said in a statement.
There are around 14 lakh anganwadis across the country and 10 crore beneficiaries, which include children under the age of six and pregnant women and lactating mothers.
Gandhi also thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for announcing an increase in salary of Anganwadi workers from Rs 3,000 to Rs. 4,500 per month, for mini anganwadi workers from Rs 2,250 to Rs 3,500 and from Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,250 for anganwadi helpers.
“I am grateful to the Prime Minister for leading the Poshan Abhiyan from the front. This will boost their morale and help improve the delivery of services by the frontline workers and will in turn help to achieve the goal of Poshan Abhiyan,” she added.
Last month, Gandhi said about 14 lakh fake names of children were found registered in anganwadis of Assam.
The fake names were found in a survey by the Assam government carried out in June, as part of which physical verification of the number of children present in anganwadis was done. Following the revelation of 14 lakh fake names in Assam, Gandhi ordered all state governments to verify the number of the children “really need to be fed”.