Women and Child Development (WCD) Minister Smriti Irani urged all the states and Union Territories (UTs), on Thursday, December 21, to identify areas with a higher number of women working in unorganised sector so that they could be connected with the Centre's anganwadi-cum-creche initiative.

Indevar Pandey, Secretary, WCD ministry, said the government would establish 17,000 creches in anganwadi centres with a focus on women from the country's unorganised sector, a report by PTI stated.

The establishment of creches in anganwadis was also proposed in the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) in 2015 but it did not take off.

The initiative is being again announced under the Anganwadi services scheme, Pandey said.

These anganwadi-cum-creches will help in providing care to children in the age group of six months to six years, he said during his address, PTI added.

Of the 17,000 such centres, 5,500 have already been approved by a few states and UTs, the WCD secretary said.

Arti Ahuja, Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment, said during the event that the participation of women in the country's workforce increased to 37 per cent in 2022 and it might have risen to 40 per cent this year.

"There is a rising trajectory of more women coming to the workforce and this is the time to empower them and this step has been taken in that direction," she added.

According to officials, a total of 25 children would be given admission in each creche and these creches would be established at children-friendly places that are near the workplace of most women in the area.