A Study of Administration & Activities of ICDS Scheme in

Munger District & Socio-Economic Condition of AWWs

Anganwadi Center no. 150, Jamalpur

Internship Report for ICDS, Patna Period: 14th May 2012 – 30th June 2012

Satyam Kumar Msc. Integrated in Economics,

Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur

Acknowledgment

I would like to sincerely thank Integrated Child Development Services, Bihar for

giving me such a wonderful opportunity which resulted into a great learning

experience. I would like to sincerely thank my mentor Ms. Abha Prasad for giving

her guidance throughout the project. Her constant support and encouragement

showed her willingness to help students in achieving their goals. I would also like

to thank Mr. Ajay Kumar Tiwari (DPO, Munger), Mrs. Ranju Devi (CDPO, Munger

Rural), Mrs. Meera Kumari (CDPO, Munger Urban), Mrs. Sarika Kumari (CDPO,

Jamalpur), all Lady Supervisors, office staffs, Anganwadi Workers, Helpers,

children and all the people who participated in my study for their valuable time

and support during the entire project.

Introduction:

In Munger district total ten projects are being run by Integrated Child Development Services,

Bihar. They are Munger Urban, Munger Rural, Jamalpur, Kharagpur, Asarganj, Tarapur,

Sangrampur, Tetiya Bomber, Dharahra and Bariyarpur. My study focuses on Munger Urban,

Munger Rural and Jamalpur. I have mainly studied the administration and functioning of these

projects. Administration and their activities affect the performance of the scheme to a large

extent. There are 1365 sanctioned Anganwadi Centers in Munger district. Each Anganwadi

Center has community based Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) and Anganwadi Helpers. Anganwadi

workers work directly for children and their families to ensure their integrated growth and

development. Socio-Economic condition of AWWs also affects the efficiency of the delivery of

child development services. My study focuses on the administration and their activities in

Munger district. I have also tried to assess the socio-economic condition of AWWs in the

mentioned projects.

Objectives:

I tried to address these issues and recommend the required measures for better functioning of

the scheme.

Study the Administrative structure and their assigned functions.

Identify gaps between expected and delivered quality of administration and suggest

ways and means for enhancing the efficiency of AWWs.

Identify the problems in the functioning of Anganwadi Centers in Munger district.

Assess the performance and perception of AWWs in terms of their role and

responsibilities as defined in the ICDS scheme.

Assess the socio-economic status of Anganwadi Workers.

Methodology:

There are 1365 sanctioned Anganwadi centers in Munger district. Total number of functional

Anganwadi centers is 1162 and total number of reported Anganwadi centers is 663. I will mainly

focus on three projects namely Munger Rural, Munger Urban and Jamalpur. Data and relevant

information are collected through field visits and by interacting and interviewing the DPO,

CDPOs and Lady Supervisors of these three projects. To assess the socio-economic condition of

Anganwadi Workers, interview of Anganwadi Workers and Anganwadi Helpers of the

mentioned project has been taken. I have randomly chosen some Anganwadi Centers from the

full sample of AWCs of the mentioned projects for my sample.

Work Process:

Interaction with DPO, Munger:

Currently Mr. Ajay Kumar Tiwari is the District Program Officer of Munger District. He is also the

Assistant District Magistrate of Munger District. During my meeting with Mr. Ajay Kumar Tiwari

I asked him several questions regarding ICDS scheme in Munger and he answered all of them

very nicely.

Me: How the scheme is functioning in Munger district and what rating will you give on a scale

of 1 to 10 (1 means worst and 10 means excellent)?

Mr. Tiwari: In some places scheme is doing really good but on an average condition is not

satisfactory. I will give 4 out of 10.

Me: This low rating? What are the bottlenecks in the functioning of the scheme?

Mr. Tiwari: There are few things such as lack of motivation, lack of quality community

monitoring, Few CDPOs are not working up to the mark. Firstly everybody needs to understand

their assigned responsibility, then we can talk about good conduction of the scheme. It’s not

the case that every project is not doing well, there are few projects which are functioning

excellent.

Me: Which projects are good projects according to you?

Mr. Tiwari: Munger Urban, Bariyarpur and Jamalpur is really doing well.

Me: What could be the reason for lack of motivation?

Mr. Tiwari: See, there are two procedures through which CDPOs are recruited. One is the direct

procedure and other is through promotion from lady supervisors. The CDPOs who are recruited

through promotion lacks little bit of motivation.

Me: What are the other problems?

Mr. Tiwari: Some of the key problems are shortage of office staffs and lack of infrastructure

mainly in rural areas.

Me: Thank you so much for your time.

Mr. Tiwari: No problem, It was my pleasure. I wish you all the best for your research.

Jamalpur

CDPO Office, Jamalpur

There are total 208 sanctioned Anganwadi Centers out of which 187 Anganwadi centers are

functioning in Jamalpur project including regions located in town as well as rural areas which

include Ramnagar, Patam, Kalarampur, Baank, Singhiya, Itahari, Padham and Indrarukh.

Administration Problem:

Right now there is only one staff member working in Jamalpur CDPO Office. His name is Mr.

Ashok Kumar and he is working as the Statistical Assistant. There was another person named

Mr. Vakil Prasad Singh who was working there as Clerk cum Typist, but currently he is working

in DPO office, Munger on deputation by District Magistrate. There is a peon, Pramod Kumar

who works for three days in Jamalpur office and for rest of three days of the week in Bariyarpur

office.

Cash-book maintenance, delivery of official letters, public complaint handling, treasury related

work, withdrawal of bills, management of different bills, etc are done by Mr. Ashok Kumar all

alone. Several times office opens late due to his involvement in these works. He said, “One

separate person to maintain cash books and a peon is needed for better functioning of the

office”. Data Operator is also not available.

Currently five Lady Supervisors Gauri Kumari, Savita Kumari, Nutan Kumari, Priya Anand and

Pinki Kumari are working in Jamalpur project on contract basis. One Lady Supervisor Kuku

Kumari who is permanent is currently working in Dharahra project and one lady supervisor

Shruti Chauhan is absent for a long period. While talking to CDPO, Jamalpur Mrs. Sarika Kumari

admitted that the Lady Supervisors are not working that efficiently due to lack of motivation to

work.

Problems and Observations of Jamalpur Project:

Few Anganwadi centers are too small to accommodate 40 children. In regions where Muslims

are in majority, the attendance of children is nearly 40 every day. Hence this is a major problem

due to lack of sufficient space. In urban areas, rent of Rs. 750 is not sufficient to get a spacious

place to run these centers.

In most of the centers the weighing machines are not functioning properly. While talking to one

of the AWWs, she said, “I guess the weight of children”. This should not be the case because

weight is the deciding factor to categorize the children as either malnourished or highly

malnourished. Moreover, the weight of children is also a critical factor for vaccination.

Malfunctioning Weighing Machine

There are cases of disturbance by local miscreants. While talking to Mrs. Pratibha Devi

(Anganwadi worker of center no. 86) she said that Ex ward commissioner (Mr. Arun Kumar)

disturbs and abuses her very often. I talked regarding this incidence to CDPO Mrs. Sarika

Kumari. She said that, “In recent Municipal Corporation polling she was given the responsibility

to verify the candidature of Mr. Arun Kumar. I found that he is not eligible and because of it his

candidacy got rejected. He was contesting for the post of ward commissioner in the same ward

in which center no. 86 is situated. So, out of the rage he is disturbing the AWW.” These kinds of

disturbances highly affect the functioning of Anganwadi centers.

At few centers I found that the coordination between Anganwadi Workers and Anganwadi

Helpers is very poor. When I visited center no. 91, both of them started complaining about each

other and started listing each others’ mistakes in front of all the children. This lack of

coordination is definitely a big hurdle to run the center smoothly.

On 28th December 2011, there was an incidence at center no. 168, Jamalpur in which one child

died due to vaccination. Due to this many people refuse to send their children for vaccination.

They even deny accepting polio drops for their children. There is still an atmosphere of fear in

few regions.

Few Anganwadi centers are functioning very well. I found different kinds of posters and

handicrafts properly hanged on the walls of the centers. Attendance of children was also good

at these centers.

Center no. 127, Jamalpur

Munger Rural

CDPO Office, Munger Rural

There are total 138 sanctioned Anganwadi Centers out of which 134 Anganwadi centers are

functioning in Munger Rural project which includes Shankarpur, May, Nauwagadhi, Tarapur,

Mahuli, Kutlupur, Shrimatpur, Jafarnagar, Jankinagar, Mirzapur Bardah, Tikarampur and Kataria.

Administration and Functioning Problem:

There are two staff members working CDPO office, Munger Rural. Mr. Prem Prakash Keshri is

working as Statistical Assistant and Mr. Bhagwat Mahto is working as Clerk cum Typist. Apart

from these there are only three Lady Supervisors instead of four Lady Supervisors. Their names

are Vineeta Kumari, Jyoti Singh and Rajni Kumari. There is no peon and no Data Operator.

Actually Mr. Prem Prakash Keshri is appointed in CDPO office, Munger Urban but he is working

in Munger Rural in deputation. While talking to Mr. Prem Prakash Keshri, he said that for official

works he takes help of another person named Mr. Manoj Kumar who is officially not appointed

and he pays him from his pocket. In my opinion this kind of involvement of an outsider is not

good for the functioning of an organization. Mr. Keshri was unsatisfied with the job and he also

said that he is highly underpaid. If a person is not motivated towards his work he will not be

able to carry out the assigned work in an efficient manner.

During my meeting with CDPO Mrs. Ranju Devi, she said that the staff members are not

motivated and they do their assigned job as a burden and they do not properly follow the

instructions provided by her. She explained me one incident – On 28th May 2012 there was a

meeting of all AWWs of Munger Rural Project and she was attending some meeting with DPO.

Mr. Keshri conducted the meeting and he gave a statement to press that he presided the

meeting.

Paper cutting of Prabhat Khabar, Munger Release dated on 29th May 2012

I cannot comment about the severity of the incidence as I am not aware about the

technicalities. But one thing I can surely say that the coordination between CDPO and office

staffs is not good. This is not desirable for smooth conduction of the project.

At few Anganwadi centers I found that Anganwadi helpers need to go far away to bring water

due to the scarcity of water in these regions during summer.

Many Anganwadi workers said that they have to face lots of difficulties during the distribution

of Take Home Ration, because people do not want to understand that they are not eligible to

get Take Home Ration. If Anganwadi Worker refuses to give THR, then she has to bear the

anger of the person demanding THR. They also complained about the low sanctioned rate for

Take Home Ration.

Many Anganwadi workers face problem because of the unavailability of toilets. As they are

women, they share a common experience of the ambience at centers being uneasy.

At some centers cases of theft of vessels and other stuffs are very common and many

Anganwadi workers have to face difficulties due to the unavailability of the locking facility on

some centers.

At few centers attendance of children was very good. I found these centers were well equipped

with posters and learning kits. At center no. 2, I was amazed when a small child told me an

English poem fluently.

Center no. 17, Munger Rural

Center no. 2, Munger Rural (Here children are having very good learning experience)

Munger Urban

Center no. 23, Munger Urban

There are total 125 sanctioned Anganwadi Centers out of which 123 Anganwadi centers are

functioning in Munger Urban project.

Administration and Functioning Problem:

There are two staff members working CDPO office, Munger Urban. Mr. Chandramauli Prasad

Singh is working as Clerk and Mr. Muesh Ranjan Sinha is working as data operator. There was

another person named Mr. Prem Praksh Keshri who was working there as Statistical Assistant,

but currently he is working in DPO office, Munger Rural on deputation. Apart from these there

are three Lady Supervisors. Their names are Soni Kumari, Mrs. Alka Sinha and Sudha Kumari.

There is no peon. While talking to Mr. Chandramuli Prasad Singh, he said, “There is an immense

need of another staff member and a peon because there are lots of burdens on my lonely

shoulders.”

During my meeting with CDPO Mrs. Meera Kumari, she was worried about the poor attendance

of children at the centers. She blamed extremely hot summer and said that parents do not send

their kids in such weather. She also said some of Anganwadi workers are unable to maintain

record books as their understanding is not up to the mark. She also praised her lady supervisors

for their great efforts and motivation towards their work. She also admitted the need to

strengthen the current infrastructure.

Here also I found that few Anganwadi centers are too small to accommodate 40 children. In

urban areas, rent of Rs. 750 is not sufficient to get a spacious place to run these centers.

In this project I found another reason of low attendance apart from hot weather. Since the

family income of people is not that low, so they prefer their children to send their children to

private schools rather than Anganwadi.

Few centers are very well functioning and I would like to give a special mention of center no.

27. Here I found the attendance of children was very good, children were in uniforms and

nearby local people are very satisfied with the functioning of the center.

Center no. 27, Munger Urban

Common Problems and Observations:

While talking to many Anganwadi Workers and Anganwadi Helpers I came to know that an

amount of Rs 250 was allocated to each child in order to purchase uniforms. But the money was

handed to parents who invested it elsewhere. As a result children still come to centers without

uniforms and hence the entire purpose is deceived.

At many centers there was no facility for clean drinking water within the center. Children were

exposed to unhealthy sources of water which made their body vulnerable to various diseases.

There was no arrangement for urinals and toilets as well. These were reasons adding to the

distress of children. Moreover, as the groundwater level drops down significantly in the

summers, hand pumps become useless.

While my visit to several centers I found that attendance of children on the centers was low. When I asked Anganwadi workers regarding this, they said that parents do not send their children in this extremely hot weather. The timings at all the centers were from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM, later it has been changed to 8:00 AM to 12:00 noon. Many a times, children fail to attend the classes as their parents refrain them from sending to centers specially during summer on account of excessive hot, dry and sultry weather. Parents complain that all other schools remain close during summer but Anganwadi centers do not. Parents fail to understand the motive of Anganwadi scheme.

Center no. 90, Munger Rural (Picture was taken at 10:30 AM and only 8 children were there)

At several places, the entire activity is carried out in highly unhygienic places. The cooking place

is also very dirty. It is a very unhealthy practice as the children may fall easy prey to several

diseases and fall sick.

Center no. 17, Munger Rural

Sanctioned rates of food grains and pulses for Take Home Ration are lower than the market

rates. For example – In Munger, market rate for gram pulses (Chanaa Daal) is Rs. 56 per Kg., but

the sanctioned rate is Rs. 40 per Kg. This leads to improper distribution of Take Home Ration. I

talked to many Anganwadi Workers regarding this. They denied that there are discrepancies in

the amount given as Take Home Ration, but they accepted that “Yes, they need to do few

adjustments in the amount, due to lower sanctioned rates for THR”. Wheat Based Nutrition

Programme provides little bit of help in this regard in Munger Urban and Jamalpur, but it

doesn’t completely eliminate this problem.

Monthly Record for purchase of grains and other food items, Center no. 17, Munger Rural

The minimum required education qualification for the post of Anganwadi Worker is

Matriculation. But some of them are recruited based on the certificates whose authenticity can

be questioned. Because while talking to few Anganwadi Workers I found that few of them can’t

maintain a single record book. For example – On center no. 136, Jamalpur, AWW’s husband was

also present and he said that he maintains all the records and registers. Anganwadi Worker

plays the key role in the execution of these schemes, so it is essential that an Anganwadi

Worker posses the required understanding.

The attendance of children on the centers which are located either in the regions where

Muslims are in majority or in the poorer regions is very good (36-40 children daily) in

comparison to the centers located in other regions.

Few Anganwadi centers are running in the public places like community centers and temples

which cannot be locked. In such centers theft of cooking vessels and posters is a very common

incidence.

Although all Anganwadi workers follow the food routine, but the quality of food is not that

good. Then do not put that much effort and care while cooking the food. At center no. 91,

Jamalpur I tasted the food myself and that taste was not good at all.

Center no. 91, Jamalpur

Socio Economic Condition of Anganwadi Workers:

The economic status of the Anganwadi Workers and their families is very bad. Most of them are

the only earning member of their family. I found only 9 Anganwadi Workers whose family has

other earning members. The average monthly family income of an Anganwadi Worker is around

Rs. 3,994. This amount is too low to maintain a decent standard of living in current scenario of

increasing price with high level of inflation.

The main source of income of the family is the salary of Anganwadi Workers. Only a few

families have other sources of income which contributes only a small portion of the total

income.

Almost all Anganwadi Workers are not satisfied with the working conditions like salary and job

responsibilities. They are unsatisfied with their work and expressed their desire to change their

job with a job that will provide them a better salary. Most of them said that the salary which

they receive is too less in comparison to the responsibilities assigned to them.

All Anganwadi Workers are in the age group of 28-45 years and almost all of them have two or

more children. All AWWs knew about their job responsibilities and most of them took up this

job because of financial difficulties and poor economic background.

Most of them have studied up to matriculation. In my sample I found only 6 Anganwadi

Workers who have an education beyond matriculation.

Recommendations:

In order to have efficient functioning with uniformly distributed work load, there is a need to

recruit adequate staff members at the centers to tackle shortage of staffs.

Take Home Ration rates need to be revised in order to avoid discrepancies in THR distribution.

Uniform should be distributed to children at the centers instead of Rs. 250 allowance. It will

disable parents to use this money elsewhere.

An amount of Rs. 750 is too less to rent a proper spacious place to accommodate 40 children in

urban areas. This rate needs to be revised.

In rural areas, some arrangement should be make such that all centers can be locked to avoid

theft of vessels and other stuffs.

In monthly meetings of Anganwadi workers, emphasis on the mutual coordination between

Anganwadi workers and Anganwadi helpers should be given in order to avoid mutual

misunderstandings between them to run the center in an efficient manner. If the problem still

persists then there should be strict penalties. Each AWW also need to be made aware of her

responsibilities.

Quality of cooked food and sanitation of centers need to be monitored regularly as the quality

of cooked food and sanitation is very poor.

Working weighing machines should be installed on all the centers to measure the accurate

weight of children. It is necessary to categorize the children as either malnourished or highly

malnourished.

Install facilities in order to provide clean and safe drinking water for both children and workers

helping all of them to have a healthy life.

Selection procedure of Anganwadi Workers needs to be revised as many AWWs are unable to

maintain record books and registers. An Anganwadi worker should have required

understanding to conduct the center efficiently. In my opinion recruitment of AWWs should be

done through a competitive exam.

Timely incentives should be provided on the basis of their monthly performance as well as on

the basis of progress of their centers. For example, best Anganwadi centre of the month, best

Anganwadi Worker of the award at the project as well as district level.

If possible, some improvement in the pay scale of Anganwadi Workers and Helpers can be

made to motivate them which will result in the better functioning of the centers.

In Jamalpur, there is an immense need of awareness campaign regarding polio and other

vaccination. People are fearful about vaccination and they are refusing it. Without

immunization goal of this scheme is incomplete.

Respective CDPOs need to coordinate with the AWWs who are facing problems due to local

miscreants and should take appropriate legal actions in order to avoid disturbance from them.

Experience and Remarks:

This internship was a very learning and enriching experience for me to carry out the project. I

realized how much effort has been put by the government of Bihar for the development of

children and women of the state. With this internship, I got exposed to the functioning of a

government organization for the first time. I got the opportunity to interact with different kinds

of people with variety of experiences which definitely enhanced my communication skills. I

came to know their lives closely, their needs and aspirations. Interacting with children with

ability no less than other children was an amazing experience. I am very thankful to ICDS, Bihar

for providing me such a wonderful opportunity.