For 50-year-old Saroj, supporting her four-member family with a paltry honorarium of Rs 3,500 a month she gets for cooking food at a government primary school in Haryana is a daily struggle.

“I have two daughters and a son. All of them are studying in government schools. Neither can I provide necessary study materials nor proper food to them,” Saroj, who works at a school in Dujana village of Jhajjar district, said.

Saroj is one among the 25 lakh women cook-cum-helpers engaged under PM Poshan, which was known as the Midday Meal Scheme till recently. Under the scheme, hot cooked meals are provided to students in government and government-aided schools on days the schools are open. Nearly 10 crore students are benefited by the scheme. For the last two years, students have been getting dry ration and allowance as the pandemic led to school closures.

The central scheme provides for the payment of Rs 1,000 a month to cook-cum-helpers for 10 months in a year, with the states providing the additional amount. For instance, Haryana provides Rs 2,500 to Saroj and her co-workers.

The honorarium was last revised in 2010.

The education ministry’s proposals in March 2019 to double the honorarium and in September 2021 to increase the amount to Rs 3,000 have been rejected by the cabinet. According to a proposal approved by the cabinet, the Centre’s share of the honorarium will remain unchanged till 2025.

“On certain days, we only eat bread. I work for six to seven hours a day. By the time I reach home, I am tired to do any other work,” Saroj said.

A government official said 19 states provide additional funds from their budget to pay the cook-cum-helpers.

“The standard response from finance ministry is that let the states increase the remuneration,” the official said.

Ashok Rao, a social activist associated with the NGO Swami Sivananda Memorial Institute that supplies food to Anganwadi centres in Delhi, said: “The central government has renamed the popular schemes involving the distribution of food or houses after the Prime Minister. But it does not want to bear the recurring expenditure on account of the increase in wage within the scheme. Where will the states get funds to increase the wages of workers?”

Around 90 per cent of the 27-lakh cook-cum-helpers are women, mostly single women and widows. They are responsible for preparing meal that includes rice/roti, dal and sabzi, serving the children and cleaning the utensils.

The Rs 1,000 per month honorarium is less than what the Anganwadi workers and helpers get from the Centre.

Anganwadi workers get Rs 4,500 per month while helpers get Rs 3,250.

The minimum wage rate for eight hours of work in most states is around Rs 200.

Along with Midday Meal workers, Accredited Social Health Activists, or Asha workers, have also demanded an increase in their monthly honorarium.

The matter was raised in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. CPM leaders Elamaram Kareem and V. Sivadasan demanded the remuneration of workers engaged in PM Poshan, Angawanwadis and social healthcare be raised to Rs 26,000 a month in addition to social security provisions.

“The workers who are engaged in these schemes are serving women and children of this country. Their services are extended to more than 20 crore children under 14 years of age and around 3-5 crore women who get the basic right to food and health through these schemes,” Kareem said.

“They are not recognised as workers but are treated as volunteers and are given a meagre amount as honorarium. The minimum wages are not extended to them. No social security or pension schemes are extended to them,” he said.

Women and child development minister Smriti Irani has told the Lok Sabha through a written reply on February 11 that there was no proposal to revise the honorarium of Angawanwadi workers.