Anganwadi workers and midday meal workers, under the banner of Karnataka State Akshara Dasoha Nowkara Sangha affiliated to CITU, have demanded minimum wages and termed it “inhuman” to work for seven hours a day for a paltry monthly wage of Rs. 3,000.
Sangha president H.S. Sunanda, secretary Savithramma said Anganwadi workers were given a monthly honorarium of Rs. 3,000 while midday meal workers Rs. 1,500. By paying paltry wages, the government was violating the minimum wages Act, they said.
Workers in other States were being paid more than Rs. 7,500 and the services in many States, including Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, had been regularised, they said.
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Stating that it was not possible to manage family expenses with Rs. 3,000, the members demanded the government give minimum wages of Rs. 20,000 to Anganwadi workers and Rs. 17,000 to midday meal workers.
They also stated that they would not put in more than eight to ten hours a day a day.
Ms. Sunanda took exception to the Centre reducing the allocation to mid-day meal by Rs. 3,979 crore. Cut in allocation would affect the goal, she said. The NCERT in its report had stated that there had been a steady increase in children attending classes and concentrating on subjects in the wake of the introduction of midday meals, she said.
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Anganwadi workers and midday meal workers would chalk out an agitation from March if the government failed to enhance their wages by February end, they said.