The Palna Scheme, integrated into the Samarthya sub-scheme of Mission Shakti, is a significant initiative by the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MoWCD) aimed at providing comprehensive day-care facilities for children aged six months to six years.
- To address the difficulties faced by the working mothers in giving due child care and protection to their children, day-care crèche facilities are being provided through this Palna Scheme.
About Palna Scheme:
i.The Palna Scheme, launched in 2022, reorganised and renamed the erstwhile National Creche Scheme.
- The primary objective of the Palna scheme is to provide quality crèche facilities in safe and secure environments for children, health and cognitive development, growth monitoring, immunization and nutrition in convergence with Mission Poshan 2.0.
ii.Palna is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme(CSS) with a funding ratio of 60:40 between Centre and State Governments and Union Territory (UTs) with legislature except North East & Special Category States where ratio is 90:10.
- For UTs without a legislature, 100% funding is provided by the central government.
iii. Another objective of this scheme is to ensure that establishments follow the rules in Section 11A of the Maternity Benefit Act 1961, which require them to set up crèche facilities.
iv.Key services provided under this scheme:
- Day care facilities, including sleeping arrangements
- Early stimulation activities for children below 3 years
- Pre-school education for children aged 3 to 6 years
- Supplementary nutrition, sourced locally
- Growth monitoring, health check-ups, and immunization support
Crèche Operation:
i.Crèches will be open 26 days a month and run for 7.5 hours each day, based on the usual work hours of most mothers in the area
ii.To ensure good care and personal attention, each crèche should have no more than 25 children.
Types of Crèches:
There are two types of Crèches:
i.Standalone Crèches: These have one Crèche Worker and one Crèche Helper assigned to them.
ii.Anganwadi-cum-Crèches (AWCCs): In addition to the already existing Anganwadi Worker and Anganwadi Helper, a provision for a Creche Helper and Worker has been made in Mission Shakti Guidelines.
Note: The MWCD aims to set up 17,000 new AWCCs under the Palna Scheme in 2024–25, of which 11,395 had been approved by March 2025.
| PALNA Scheme Beneficiaries | |
|---|---|
| Operational AWCCs | 1,761 |
| Current Beneficiaries of AWCCs | 28,783 |
| Operational Standalone Crèches | 1,284 |
| Current Beneficiaries of Standalone Crèches | 23,368 |
The scheme guidelines have provision for grant of honorarium to Creche Workers and Helpers, as detailed below:
| Type of Creche | Creche Worker | Creche Helper |
|---|---|---|
| Standalone Creche | Rs.6,500 | Rs.3,250 |
| AWCC | Rs.5,500 | Rs.3,000 |
Fund Allocations:
| Financial Year(FY) | 2022-23( in Crores) | 2023-24( in Crores) | 2024-25( in Crores) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amount Allocated | 35 | 85 | 150.11 |
| Amount Released | 4.68 | 64.15 | 43.66 (as of December 19,2024) |
About Anganwadi:
i.Anganwadi centres are the world’s largest childcare institutions dedicated to providing essential care and support to children ensuring delivery of care facilities till the last mile.
ii.An Anganwadi worker is a community-based, frontline worker, typically a woman from the local community, who is responsible for managing and delivering services at an Anganwadicenter.
About the Ministry of Women and Child Development(MoWCD):
Union Minister – Annpurna Devi(Constituency-Kodarma,Jharkhand)
Minister of State (MoS) – Savitri Thakur (Constituency-Dhar, Madhya Pradesh)
