<span style="color: #222222;">Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said the government's decision to hike the remuneration of Anganwadi and Asha workers by almost 50 per cent will go a long way in addressing the grievances of these 25 lakh workers.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">In his Facebook post titled- two successful initiatives of the Central Government, Mr Jaitley said, there has been a long term demand of Anganwadi workers and the governments in the past have always refrained from giving benefits to these workers ostensibly on revenue considerations. He said, notwithstanding the pressure on the Budget, the NDA Government gave hike in the first go to these workers. Mr Jaitley said the Anganwadi workers are the mainstay of the National Nutrition Mission.He said, the Government had earlier made a significant increase in the cost norms for both pregnant and lactating mothers and for severely malnourished children.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Mr Jailtey also said, in the past there has been a general distrust of government schemes and the principal reason for this is that either the benefits do not reach the targeted or that the projected parameters are never achieved. He said, however, there are schemes with a difference and the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is arguably the most successful one.<br />''</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> He said, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi, announced the Swachhata campaign in his Independence Day Speech of 2014, some believed that the scheme would be a photo-opportunity with very little progress. But, this is one scheme which the people of India snatched away from the Government and converted into a 'people's movement.' He said, when the scheme was announced, the rural sanitation coverage of India was 39 per cent and in the four years, the rural sanitation coverage has increased to a phenomenal 92 per cent. He said, it was not an easy goal to achieve and this involved a behavioural change of the people. He said, this 'people's movement' has today transformed into a women's movement' with rural women playing a leading role in the programme. He said, this scheme will go a long way in improving the quality of life of India's rural population, particularly women.<br />''</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> Mr Jaitley said, with rural roads, rural electrification, rural Awas Yojana, toilets and a cooking gas connection with foodgrains provided at a modest cost, the quality of life of India's rural poor will get a quantum jump. He also added that additionally, when the Ayushman Bharat scheme, which provides up to 5 lakh rupees per family per year as hospitalisation expense, is fully implemented, this will change the quality of life of India's rural population.</span><br />