New Delhi, Dec 21: There are over 24 lakh anganwadi staffers working across various centres in the country, and two lakh posts for anganwadi workers and helpers are lying vacant, the Lok Sabha was told on Friday.
Minister of State for Women and Child Development Ministry Virendra Kumar said a package of six essential services comprising supplementary nutrition (SNP), immunisation, health check-up, referral services, pre-school non-formal education and nutrition and health education are provided to the targeted beneficiaries.
About 1.09 lakh anganwadi worker positions are vacant, while 1.18 lakh positions for anganwadi helpers are unoccupied, he said in a written reply.
He also said a total of 12.8 lakh anganwadi workers and 11.6 lakh anganwadi helpers are working across the country.
Bihar has the highest number of vacant anganwadi posts, with 53,000 unoccupied positions, he said.
Out of the total number of anganwadi centres, 86.15 per cent of them, which is about 12.83 lakh, are running from concrete buildings, the remaining 13.85 per cent are operating from make-shift buildings, he said, adding there are 13.63 lakh operational anganwadi kendras in the country.
"The government has made provision of funds for providing medicine kit of Rs 1,500 per annum for anganwadi centres and Rs 750 per annum for mini-anganwadi centres and other administrative expenses under anganwadi services are Rs 2,000 per annum for anganwadi centres and Rs 1,000 per annum for mini-anganwadi centres," he said.
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Bhubaneswar (PTI): The Biju Janata Dal on Saturday suspended six of its MLAs for cross-voting during the recent election to four Rajya Sabha seats from Odisha.
The suspended legislators were Chakramani Kanhar of Baliguda seat, Naba Kishor Mallick of Jayadev constituency, Souvic Biswal of Choudwar-Cuttack, Subasini Jena of Basta, Ramakanta Bhoi of Tirtol and Devi Ranjan Tripathy of Banki, an order by party chief Naveen Patnaik showed.
The suspension decision was taken at the opposition party's Political Affairs Committee (PAC) meeting presided over by Patnaik.
The six MLAs were issued a show-cause notice on March 17.
They submitted their replies on Friday evening, and those were found not satisfactory, said the BJD's chief whip in the Assembly, Pramila Mallik.
The ruling BJP won two of the four Rajya Sabha seats while the opposition BJD and a saffron party-backed Independent candidate bagged one seat each in the biennial polls held last Monday.
While the total number of BJP legislators and Independent MLAs supporting the ruling party was 82 in the 147-member House, the saffron party candidates secured 93 first preference votes, which was 11 more than its strength in the Assembly.
Of these 11 votes, eight were of BJD MLAs and three of Congress legislators, an official had said.
