The Congress MP from Jharkhand Geeta Koda asked the Union Minister of Women and Child Development on the floor of the Lok Sabha a pertinent question connected with Anganwadi centres in Jharkhand.

Her question was:

(a) the number of Anganwadi Centres being run by the Government in Jharkhand;

(b) the total budget allocated for the said centres during the last three years and the current year; and

(c) the number of Anganwadi Centres being run in rented houses or open terraces in Jharkhand along with the corrective steps taken by the Government in this regard?

The Minister Smriti Irani replied that as informed by the State Government of Jharkhand, there are 38,432 operational Anganwadi Centres (AWCs) in the State.

The funds released to the State of Jharkhand, under Anganwadi Services under Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0, during the last three years is as under:

(Rupees in Lakhs)
S. No. Year Supplementary Nutrition Programme ICDS (General)
i. 2019-20 22959.33 19206.2
ii. 2020-21 26033.9 19750.86
iii. 2021-22 17595.38 17702.39

 As informed by the State Government of Jharkhand, 6995 AWCs are being run in rented premises and no AWC is running in open spaces. Ministry of Women and Child Development are providing funds for construction of AWC buildings in convergence with Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). 

Further, for construction of AWC buildings, State Governments/UT Administrations have been advised to tap funds from various schemes such as MPLADs, MLALADS, BRGF (Backward Regions Grant Fund), RIDF (Rural Infrastructure Development Fund), Panchayati Raj, Tribal Affairs and Multi-Sectoral Development Programme (MSDP) of Ministry of Minority Affairs, Finance Commission grants, Additional Central Assistance under State Plan, Integrated Action Plan for Left Wing Extremism (LWE) districts, etc. 

Additionally joint guidelines have been issued by Ministry of Women and Child Development and Ministry of Education, directing the State Governments/ UT Administrations to analyse the AWCs vis-à-vis the infrastructure available in the primary schools and take all necessary steps to relocate the AWCs ensuring that the AWCs which are to be co-located with schools should be present in the same habitation where the AWC was previously present.