Jaipur: Around 1.40 lakh anganwadi workers across Rajasthan are poised to go on strike from next week over non-payment of their honorarium for the last three months. Despite the state government's recent increase in honorarium from April and the recognition received for its efforts during the national Poshan Pakhwada, workers feel their contributions are being overlooked.
Strike Over Unpaid Dues
Workers are demanding immediate attention to their rights and timely payments. In the state, Sathins (ground workers) receive Rs 7,071 honorarium per month, while anganwadi workers get Rs 10,500 per month. The workers said that payment for February, March, and April is pending.
Chhotelal Bunkar, national coordinator of the All India Anganwadi Employees Federation, who works from Jaipur, said, “Anganwadi workers are given different tasks starting from immunisation, spreading awareness among families for nutrition, conducting surveys, distribution of nutrition supplements, and many other tasks, but they are never paid on time. They are the last-mile connectivity for government schemes, but until we go on protest, their voices are not heard.”
Planned Actions and Demands
The workers have decided to observe a work boycott and stage demonstrations across the state starting next week as part of the strike. They have refused to undertake the online tasks associated with the ‘Udaan Scheme.’ Anganwadi workers in different districts have started submitting memorandums addressed to the Chief Minister, highlighting various grievances.
The workers have demanded that they should be relieved of all non-ICDS-related duties and requested that the distribution of sanitary napkins under the ‘Udaan Scheme’ be changed to offline mode, a key demand of anganwadi workers. They said that with online mapping of the distribution of sanitary napkins, each worker will be responsible for a beneficiary base ranging from 200 to 500 individuals, which is an added task to their existing work.
Additional Workload Concerns
The workers said that, in addition to their core departmental duties, they are being given tasks related to the KYC and facial recognition on the ‘Poshan Tracker’ app, recording children’s attendance online, making online entries for breakfast and hot meals, documenting children’s height and weight, and conducting pre-school education activities.
The strike is expected to affect the implementation of various government schemes, including nutrition and immunisation programmes, as anganwadi workers play a crucial role in last-mile delivery.
