The government has described the 25 lakh women working as cook-cum-helpers (CCHs) under the midday meal programme in schools for a monthly remuneration of ₹1,000 as “honorary workers” providing “social service” and appeared to put the onus of increasing their pay on the states.

In a written response to a question in the Lok Sabha on Monday, minister of state for education Jayant Singh said the Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM Poshan) scheme (formerly known as the midday meal scheme) was managed by the state governments. The comment appeared to suggest that it was for the states to decide whether to increase the honorarium paid to these workers, who are employed for 10 months every year.

AIMIM member Asaduddin Owaisi wanted to know if the honorarium has been increased since 2009.

“The overall responsibility for the smooth functioning of the scheme, including providing hot cooked and nutritious meals, to the eligible children as well as engagement of CCHs lies with the state governments and Union Territory administrations. The CCHs are honorary workers who have come forward to render social services,” the minister said.

The honorarium of ₹1,000 per month was fixed in 2009. It has never been revised even as food inflation is about 5 per cent every year. The honorarium is shared by the states and the Centre in a 40:60 ratio for plain areas and 10:90 for hilly areas.

“As per guidelines of the scheme, the honorarium of ₹1,000 per month for 10 months in a year is prescribed for the CCHs in recognition of their services and the same is being continued,” minister Singh said.

Several states and Union Territories have provided additional funds to increase the remuneration. For example, a worker in Kerala gets ₹12,000 a month while a worker in Tamil Nadu gets something between ₹4,500 and ₹12,500 a month depending on the area they are working in. In Bengal, a worker gets ₹1,500 a month.

“The state governments and UT administrations have the liberty to enhance the honorarium by providing additional funds,” the minister said.

Jai Bhagwan, a leader of a CPM-backed mid-day meal workers’ union, said the rules for appointment of cook-cum-helpers say that priority should be given to widows and below-poverty-line persons which means these workers are from the marginalised sections of society.

“It is ironic that the government calls them honorary workers while it knows they are all helpless people. This is a denial of minimum wage to these workers,” he said.

Of the 25 lakh cook-cum-helpers, 90 per cent are women, mostly single and widows. The meal is served to 10 crore children in 11 lakh aided and government schools every day.