Gurugram: Anganwadi workers have decided to stage a protest outside the Women and Child Development Department office in Gurugram on June 24 to protest the suspension of workers who were part of a four-month-long strike in December last year.Also read – UGC urges universities, colleges to ensure speedy implementation of guidelines for ‘Gender Champions’
The decision to resume their long-running fight after a two-month hiatus came during a coordinating committee meeting on Wednesday. The workers decided that they would revive their protest that they had ended in April because the promises made by the government have not been fulfilled yet. The workers will demand the reinstatement of more than 900 workers who were suspended last time. Also read – Donkey’s milk soap catches eyeballs at Organic Festival in Chandigarh
Anganwadi workers and helpers have been protesting across the state since December 2021. Their demands include regular wages instead of honorarium, bonuses, permanent jobs, cancellation of the nutrition tracker app and honorarium for the months during which they have been protesting. Also read – The center was opened to provide shelter to survivors of rape and violence
The central government decided in 2018 to integrate the old ICDS scheme with some other child care and nutrition schemes. Now, it has been merged with Saksham Anganwadi and other related schemes under Nutrition 2.0 which makes it the largest scheme under the Union Ministry of Women. Child development. The cost of operation and execution is shared by the center and the state in a ratio of 60:40 but for salary, it is 25:75.
An Anganwadi worker in Haryana gets an honorarium of Rs. 12,661 as claimed by Haryana CM Mohanlal Khattar when he declared that Haryana pays workers the highest honorarium. The workers, on the other hand, said, “We were fed up with the inhumane attitude of the department towards us. Neither our honorarium has increased nor our working conditions have improved. Instead, we were placed under surveillance and told to use the Potion Tracker app without proper training, ”the Times of India (TOI) reported.
The workers allege that the government released only 25% honorarium for the period they were protesting. They said their salaries are negligible anyway and if the government plans to reduce them by 75%, it shows a decrease in the spirit of workers to present their demands. “We were forced to protest, we did not make that choice,” said a Times of India activist.
Anganwadi workers have demanded to either remove the potion tracker app or provide adequate training and resources to use it. “We want our salaries to be in line with the minimum wage and also in view of rising inflation. Only Rs. 8,000 or Rs. 10,000 salary is not acceptable, ”the workers told ToI.
