All of Maharashtra’s 2 lakh anganwadi workers who have been on strike since December 4 last year in support of their various demands, are marching towards Azad Maidan in Mumbai to stage a rally on Wednesday against the State government. If their demands are not met, they plan to sit on a indefinite strike at the venue.
The quality of food is so poor that only boiled chana with salt is provided to the children by self-help group, said 65-year-old Asha Ganpat Sonavani who has been working as a cook for the past 40 years. “The quality of food has been on decline for the last 10 years. Earlier children used to get pav-bhaji, dry foods, snacks, sprouts, pulao, khichdi and sometimes fruits also. There is also no pension scheme for us, I will retire in two months but I have no savings to support myself,” she said.
The anganwadi workers who have been on strike since December 4, said they have not heard from the government officials yet. “We demand nutritious food for 65 lakh children whose food per day cost for twice a day meal is just ₹8 per child since 2014. We want the food cost for malnourished children to be ₹24 per day and for rest of the children to be ₹16 per day. In villages, the workers beg door-to-door for pulses and cereals to feed the children. Whereas in cities, the self-help group are providing hot cooked meal but of poor quality,” said Shubha Shamim, president of Anganwadi Karmachari Sanghatana affiliated to CITU, convernor of Maharashtra Anganwadi Action Samity and vice president All India Federation of Anganwadi Workers and Helpers and Maharashtra State Anganwadi Staff Action Committee.
Rubal Agarwal, ICDS, Commissioner, Mumbai, Maharashtra rejects the allegations and said, “We have had several discussions with them regarding their demands that are majorly central government policy decisions and not in our hands to resolve. Women and Child Development Department had already increased the building rent of Anganwadi centres in urban, rural and tribal areas. Their remuneration had increased from ₹8,000 to ₹10,000 in April, 2023. We have already passed the tender to issue 1 lakh 10 thousand mobile phones, one at each anganwadi centre in the State. We appeal to all anganwadi workers to join work so that they can take home ration, hot cooked meal, pre-school education to all our our beneficiaries.”
Mumbai has 3,500 anganwadis workers. The Hindu visited anganwadis in the slums of Mumbai’s Dharavi. Every anganwadi here is in a small, congested home of 8/10 square feet that is shared with the residents living in the home. Each anganwadi has at least 40 to 50 children. Meena Sunil Mohite, an anganwadi teacher here, said, “Since we share space with the residents here, we have to step out with all the children when the family sits for lunch. At ₹750 per month rent, nobody allows to operate from 10 a.m. to 3.30 p.m. We are only given two hours time to teach and feed the children. Government doesn’t pay the rent on time, we, teachers pay the rent to keep this small place we have going. We keep few things in the house like weighing scale, snacks, few toys but rest of the educational kits and daily register, blackboard, we have to carry every day.”
Khatija Sheikh who lives on rent in one of the homes here in Dharavi, with her family of five, shares her 8/10 square feet home with the anganwadi workers and 50 children who come here daily for pre-school education and meals daily. “It becomes difficult for us to do our chores, so we have ask them to step out when our family sits for lunch at 1. 30 p.m. daily.”
In Siddivinayak Society, 90 feet road, Dharavi, anganwadi worker Ranjana Gaidunkar who has worked as a helper for 12 years and as a teacher for 11 years has to sit outside the locked room that she is supposed to get as her centre. “Around 55 children, four pregnant mothers and 5 lactating mothers come here and sit down on the floor, right outside the doors of people’s flats. The owner is not letting us have the space because the rent is just ₹750 in a city like Mumbai. We demand the rent to be at least ₹5,000 to ₹8,000 in metro cities, in towns it should be ₹3,000 to ₹5,000 and in rural areas it should be around ₹1,000 to ₹3,000.”
“The Supreme Court of India, in its April 2022 judgment said that ICDS workers are employees and are eligible for gratuity but the government is still calling our payment as honorarium. We are eligible for minimum pension, we are ready for negotiation on this. At least ₹3,000 minimum pension will help the workers to manage their medical bills,” said Ms. Shamim.
