Anganwadi Workers’ Demonstration in Front of Parliament

Thousands of Anganwadi workers marched to Parliament in Delhi on 15 February with the slogan ‘Save ICDS’. Coming from all corners of the country, these women protested against the huge cuts in the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) budget by the Modi government and the proposal to hand over this project to private corporate companies. They vociferously demanded the strengthening of this project which is for the future generations of Indian youth, and regularization and wage increase for the women working in this project.

About 27 lakh Anganwadi workers across the country are part of the ICDS project. Around 10 crore children and women are benefited by this project. This is a project meant for alleviating malnutrition in children and pregnant women, giving them proper and timely health care, creating a good pre-school environment for children in the village/tola itself, and creating awareness towards cleanliness in homes and families. Unfortunately, at the current juncture, this project itself has become a victim of serious malnutrition! In the last budget the Modi government made huge cuts in fund allotment to this project and thus weakened it, adversely affecting its quality. A conspiracy is on for large scale closure of Anganwadi centres. Anganwadi workers are not getting timely payment of even their meager honorarium. There has also been no increase in their honorarium since 2011.

The Anganwadi workers’ movement is being led by the joint front of the Anganwadi karmachari Federation formed by the initiative of 6 Central trade unions. The protesting women gathered at Jantar Mantar from where the rally comprising of thousands of Anganwadi workers marched towards Parliament. A huge public meeting was organized on Parliament Street, addressed by Com. Shashi Yadav of AICCTU, Dr BB Vijayalaxmi and Com. Amarjeet Kaur of AITUC, Com. SR Sindhu of CITU, Comrades Champa and MA Patil of HMS, and Dharmveer and Lata Yadav of INTUC. The meeting was also addressed by AICCTU leader Com. Uma Netam, CPI leader and Rajya Sabha member Com. D Raja, and CITU leader Com. Tapas Sen.

The meeting gave a call for protests across the country and effigy burning of PM Modi. The meeting also condemned the arrest of JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar. At the conclusion of the meeting a 6member delegation met the Finance Minister and submitted a 4 point charter of demands. The demands were as follows: Rs 36,000 crores should be allocated for ICDS in the coming budget so that the Anganwadi system can be improved and more nutritious food can be provided to women and children; under no circumstances should this project be privatized; Anganwadi sevikas and sahayikas should be declared Class 3 and Class 4 workers respectively; they should get 18,000 as wages apart from other facilities. It was also demanded that 2 other women-centred projects (ASHA and Midday Meal Project) should be given increased funds in the Budget and workers in these projects should get increased honorarium.

The delegation which held talks with the Finance Minister consisted of Comrades D Raja, Tapas Sen, Rajiv Dimri, Shashi Yadav, SR Sindhu, BB Vijayalaxmi, Kamlesh Mahal, and MA Patil.

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