The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on September 19 approved a package of Rs 1,224.97 crore for the government scheme ASHA, doubling the incentives given to workers under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM).

Under the NRHM, the government provides villages with a trained female Accredited Social Health Activist or ASHA. The CCEA chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave its approval to the benefit package with effect from October this year (to be paid in November 2018). The package entails the expenditure till 2020.

An official statement said there will be an increase in the amount of routine and recurring incentives under NRHM for ASHAs from Rs 1,000 per month to Rs 2,000 per month. ASHAs and ASHA facilitators meeting the eligibility criteria will be enrolled in government's social security schemes -- Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY), it said. More than one crore ASHAs and ASHA facilitators will be covered under PMJJBY and more than nine lakh of them will be covered under PMSBY, according to the statement.