Anganwadi, midday meal workers demand wage revision, job security

Following a nationwide call, hundreds of anganwadi and midday meal workers under the banners of the Karnataka State Anganwadi Employees Association and the Akshara Dasoha Workers Association observed a black day in Kalaburagi on Friday.

The workers, holding flags and placards, took out a protest march from Kannada Bhavan via Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Chowk to the Deputy Commissioner’s office, staging a demonstration to highlight their long-pending demands, including a comprehensive wage revision and social security benefits.

Addressing the gathering, Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) district president M.B. Sajjan and general secretary Shanta Ghanti strongly criticised both the Union and State governments for neglecting scheme workers.

They pointed out that despite the soaring prices of essential commodities, the honorarium for these workers has not been increased since 2018.

The leaders urged the governments to implement the recommendations of the 45th Indian Labour Conference which advocates recognizing scheme workers as regular employees, implementing minimum wages and providing pension benefits.

The memorandums submitted to the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister through the district administration highlighted severe structural grievances.

They noted that the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 has emerged as a major threat to anganwadi workers, as the introduction of LKG and UKG classes in government schools is drawing children aged three to six away from anganwadis and significantly reducing the number of beneficiaries.

Consequently, the association demanded the immediate fulfillment of the State government’s pre-poll promise to increase monthly wages to ₹15,000 for workers and ₹10,000 for helpers.

The agitating workers also sought a rollback of what they termed as corporate-driven centralisation of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), opposing measures like packed food distribution and cash transfers.

They also criticised the mandatory imposition of digital tools like FRS, e-KYC and Poshan Tracker pointing out that the government expects online work without providing requisite smartphones, high-speed 5G data or Wi-Fi connectivity.

Midday meal workers, represented by the Akshara Dasoha Workers Association, voiced strong opposition against assigning the preparation of school meals to private NGOs, maths or entities like ISKCON.

Highlighting their 25 years of dedicated service in preventing student dropouts, the workers demanded a monthly wage hike to ₹7,000 as promised by the ruling Congress government before the elections.

They also demanded a fixed six-hour workday circular, health insurance, a monthly pension of ₹10,000 and an immediate halt to the practice of transferring joint account responsibilities from the head cook to the School Development and Monitoring Committee (SDMC).