Pay hike to benefit 25 lakh Anganwadi workers: Jaitley
New Delhi, Sep 15 : Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday said Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBM) has become a "people's movement" with a large participation of women, noting that the decision to hike compensation will benefit around 25 lakh Anganwadi workers and their families.
The Minister said SBM has witnessed a "phenomenal increase" in rural sanitation from 39 per cent to 92 per cent in the last four years.
He said initially people in the rural areas were reluctant to accept the scheme and thus required a "behavioural change". The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan mission has transformed into a movement with women playing a leading role in it.
"We all knew that the dignity of women demanded privacy of toilet," Jaitley said in a blog. He said in several parts of India toilets have been named 'Izzat Ghar'.
He said the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan was "arguably the most successful" of government schemes.
Referring to the target of making India free from open defecation by 2019 -- the 150th year of Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary -- the Finance Minister pointed to the preventive health care benefits of the scheme.
"Global experts believe the SBM will have saved over three lakh lives in the country by the time we become 'open-defecation-free' in 2019," he said.
Referring'to government's decision to enhance the compensation paid to the Anganwadi workers and the Asha workers, he said the Anganwadi workers are the mainstay of the National Nutrition Mission.
There are approximately 12.9 lakh Anganwadi workers and 11.6 lakh Anganwadi helpers. These benefits would be available to these 24.9 lakh Anganwadi workers and their families.
He said the remuneration of Anganwadi workers has been raised from Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,500 per month and that of mini Anganwadi workers from Rs 2,250 has been increased to Rs 3,500.
Remuneration of Anganwadi helpers has been increased from Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,250 per month.
These workers will also get an incentive of Rs 500 per month and Rs 250 per month respectively on the basis of the real-time monitoring of performance, he said.
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Maharashtra sets up state vaccination task force to strengthen immunisation programme
Mumbai (PTI): The Maharashtra government has set up a State Vaccination Task Force to strengthen the regular immunisation programme and review the progress of related campaigns, a health department official said on Monday.
The State Vaccination Task Force will comprise at least 29 members and will be headed by the administrative head of the health department, he informed.
The government has also constituted separate district-level and municipal vaccination task forces to improve implementation and address challenges at the grassroots level, he said.
Municipal task forces, chaired by respective civic commissioners, have been constituted in view of the vast urban population in Maharashtra and the role of civic bodies in implementing different health programmes.
The district-level task forces will function under the chairmanship of collectors.
"Complete immunisation of children at the appropriate age is an extremely simple, cost-effective and highly effective measure to reduce child mortality and the prevalence of diseases among kids. Immunisation is a powerful tool for reducing illness in children," maintained the official.
To ensure full vaccination of all children, the state government implements various campaigns from time to time as per the central government guidelines, he pointed out.
"Active participation and cooperation of other relevant government departments are essential (in making these campaigns successful)," according to the official.
The state-level body will review the regular immunisation programme, associated campaigns and vaccine-preventable diseases in detail. It will also conduct focused assessments of high-risk districts and municipal corporations, including vacancies at district, municipal and sub-district levels, availability of cold chain equipment, resource gaps and training requirements, he noted.
The state task force will review allocation and utilisation of funds for immunisation and ensure timely action by officers concerned based on reports from district and municipal task forces and state-level monitoring mechanisms, the official said.
It will also ensure active coordination and participation of other government departments in immunisation drives, while district and municipal task forces will carry out similar functions at their respective levels, the official added.
