New Policy For Female Anganwadi Workers and Helpers: (KN) As a major step towards the empowerment of women in the UT the Administrative Council (AC) which met here under the chairmanship of the Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, approved the HR policy for female Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) and Helpers working in the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) of J&K.

Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, Advisor to the Lieutenant Governor, Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta, Chief Secretary, J&K attended the meeting.

The Administrative Council approved the proposal of comprehensive Human Resource Policy to govern the engagement, leave(s), promotion and other important aspects of this very vital work force of the department.

AWWs and AWHs shall be re-designated as Sanginis (AWWs) and Sahayikas (AWHs). The unit for selection has also been re-defined in terms of electoral ward to remove any ambiguity in the selection process. The new policy also clearly lays down age criteria for selection, with domicile of UT being pre-requisite eligibility for competing in the selection process.

Minimum qualification for Aanganwadi Worker shall be 10+2 and maximum graduation and in case no 10+2 candidate is available in the Ward, 10+2 pass candidate from the adjoining ward shall be considered which would require prior approval of Mission Director, ICDS. Weightage shall be given to marks obtained in 10+2 and selection shall be done purely on merit basis. Candidates with qualification higher than graduation shall not be considered.

For selection as Anganwadi Helper, minimum qualification shall be Matriculation. The new HR policy also stipulates the quantum of leave, eligibility for training/capacity building and process for termination of services.

The services of both AWW/AWH shall end on attaining the age of 60 years and vacancy so arisen, shall be filled as per prescribed procedure. Moreover, if the AWW/AWH, after engagement, permanently shifts/changes her place of residence outside the Ward on the basis of residence of which, she was selected, then she shall be deemed to have been disengaged from the post of AWW/AWH and the vacancy so accrued shall be filled as per the stated procedure. (KN)