Kerala Budget 2026: ASHA workers get pay hike, Rs 1,000 for unemployed people
India Today
In the Budget, tabled by Kerala Finance Minister KN Balagopal, pay of pre-primary teachers and literacy mission motivators has been increased by Rs 1,000 per month and the daily wages of school cooking staff have been raised by Rs 25 per day.
Kerala Finance Minister KN Balagopal on Thursday presented the state Budget for the financial year 2026–27, announcing higher honorariums for grassroots health and childcare workers, a major push for social security, and new investments in transport, welfare and disaster rehabilitation.
In what is being seen as the last full budget of the current Pinarayi Vijayan government, ASHA workers will get a monthly hike of Rs 1,000, Anganwadi workers will receive an additional Rs 1,000, while Anganwadi helpers will get a raise of Rs 500.
Balagopal announced an allocation of Rs 14,500 crore for social security pensions. He said Kerala, where senior citizens account for about 18.7 per cent of the population, will introduce a dedicated "elderly budget", claiming the state would be the first in the country to do so.
A separate Rs 400 crore has been earmarked for the Chief Minister's "Connect to Work" scholarship. Under the scheme, educated and unemployed youth aged between 18 and 30 will receive Rs 1,000 per month for up to one year.
On the rehabilitation of Wayanad landslide victims, the finance minister said the first batch of houses will be handed over by the third week of February.
The budget also provides Rs 20 crore to set up a centre in Thiruvananthapuram in memory of former Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan, aimed at imparting his life lessons to the younger generation.
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