Mumbai: Anganwadi strike puts kids’ health in jeopardy

For the past month 110468 Anganwadi centres across Maharashtra have been closed due to a strike by Anganwadi workers and helpers impacting the nutritional and health status of lakhs of children in the stateldquoFamilies in the village ask us when the school will restart There are many malnourished children who need to be fed We feel bad too but if we do not do this no one will listen to our complaintsrdquo said Sujata Indalkar who was part of about two lakh Anganwadi workers who stormed Azad Maidan staged a roadblock near the BMC head office and even occupied space at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus demanding fair compensation for their decades of efforts contributing to better public health in the stateProtesters Sujata Indalkar and Sangeeta DandeThe women want their salaries to be Rs 26000 up from Rs 10000 for the workers and Rs 20000 increased from the current Rs 5500 for the helpers The quantum of work done by the two is attested by the number of children benefiting under Anganwadi schemes in the stateAnganwadis changing livesAccording to the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development in 2021 a total of 64 lakh 25 thousand 949 children in the age group of 6 months to 6 years benefited from its supplementary nutrition program and 24 lakh 21 thousand 736 children in the age group of 3 to 6 benefited from its preschool education program both carried out by Anganwadi workersStruggle is inhumanldquoWe do not want children to suffer but the conditions under which Anganwadi workers do their job are inhumane They are compelled to also be domestic workers for an additional source of income These are essential service workers is this how we want to treat them They need to be recognised as government employeesrdquo said Shubha Shamim president of Anganwadi Karmachari Sanghatana affiliated with CITU and convener of Maharashtra Anganwadi Kruti SamitiIndalkar arrived in Mumbai early morning on Wednesday from Ramnagar village under Satara district Like her there are at least 50 other workers and helpers from villages of Satara who undertook this 200 km journey together ldquoThe media is covering us now The government is listening to our concerns when we are here where was everyone when Anganwadi centres across Maharashtra were shut for a month Why did we have to come hererdquo questioned Sangeeta Dande a helper at the protest from another village in SataraOne pair of Anganwadi workers and helpers together surveys a little over 1000 pregnant women and children monitoring nutrition levels height and weight They also look after nutritious meals for the two groups counsel teenage girls distribute takehome rations and oversee preprimary educationThe workers are moreover responsible for maintaining all of this data through the Central governmentrsquos Poshan Tracker app ldquoWe do not receive a separate phone for this job or a monthly mobile recharge allowance In a lot of places in villages or hilly areas there are network issues due to which a worker cannot immediately upload the data So her time and money are also spent on searching for a network area to fill up the details if she doesnrsquot do this then she loses her dayrsquos wagerdquo said Pooja Patil a 39yearold worker from Gadap village under Raigad districtGovernment shows no interestMany Anganwadi workers from Mumbai and surrounding areas also participated in the protest Savita Chavan who looks after an Anganwadi centre in Ghatkopar said ldquoThe meals that have been reaching the centres have been of poor quality and so are the rations that we are asked to distribute We face the anger from people even as it is out of our controlrdquoMeanwhile Opposition leaders like Uddhav Thackeray and Varsha Gaikwad visited the protest site By afternoon Education Minister Deepak Kesarkar visited the site who according to the protestors showed very little indication of the government accepting their demandsAll he did was remind us there was a hike of R1000 earlier this year Shamim said ldquoWhat will happen with such small hikes The last hike was also of Rs 1000 that too in 2017 There was a proposal during Uddhav Thackrayrsquos Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government to increase the honorarium to R15000 but their government fell before it could move forwardrdquo Shamim said Attempts were made to contact statersquos Integrated Child Development Services Commissioner Rubal Agarwal who remained unavailable for a commentWorkers paid rent despite delaysIn 2022 the Supreme Court had noted that it was up to the Union as well as state governments to pay gratuity and extend the rightful recognition of being employees to Anganwadi workers Anganwadi centres function out of rented spaces where the state government pays workers R750 per month to rent a space Many protestors midday spoke with said there have been delays in payments and the workers have had to pay this sum from their own pockets2 lakhNo of Anganwadi workers gathered for a protest