Punjab has no day care centre for children of working women

Sanjeev Singh Bariana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 11

Punjab does not have a single creche for “mothers with disabilities” under the Palna component of the Mission Shakti scheme started by the Ministry of Women and Child Development on April 1, 2022.

This was stated by Union Minister for Women and Child Development Annpurna Devi in reply to a question by MPs Pratap Chandra Sarangi, Dr Vinod Kumar, Mahendra Singh Solanki and Anurag Sharma during the Lok Sabha session that concluded on Friday.

This component of the Palna programme pertains to keeping children in anganwadis and day care centres till 5 pm. Under the other category, children are kept in the anganwadis till 12 noon during summers and till 1 pm in winters.

Former Minister of Women and Child Development Smriti Irani had launched this initiative to help out working women by keeping their children in day care till 5 pm. The ministry introduced the extension in time to “ensure whole day childcare support ensuring their well-being in a safe and secure environment”.

Talking to The Tribune, president of the Punjab Anganwadi Workers Association Hargobind Kaur said, “As of now, workers even in normal anganwadis are not getting their salary regularly so it might take some time in Punjab. With more and more women from town and cities taking up jobs and changed family settings with fewer elders in company, there is a need to get this facility implemented in Punjab as well.”

The number of creches for children of working women in Mizoram is 176, followed by Karnataka (164), Chandigarh (89), Nagaland (94) Assam (50) and Delhi (57).

As per official data, Punjab does not have any approval for a government-approved crèche or anganwadi, while Chhattisgarh has 1,500, Jharkhand 1,024 and Chandigarh 200 approvals for implementation in near future.

Punjab has 143 government-aided standalone crèches. Under the Mission Shakti scheme, leading states include Kerala (266), Manipur (214), Karnatka (170) and Haryana (165).

The whole day childcare support system is aimed at providing quality crèche facility in safe and secure environment for children (aged 6 months to 6 years). As on June 30, 1,428 government-aided standalone crèches and 735 anganwadi-cum-crèches were operational across the country.