Anganwadi workers in Raj plan strike over unpaid honorarium

Jaipur: Around 1.40 lakh anganwadi workers statewide are poised to go on strike from next week over non-payment of their honorarium for the last three months.

Despite the state govt’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. They are demanding immediate attention to their rights and timely payments.

In the state, Sathins (ground workers) get Rs 7,071 honorarium per month and anganwadi workers get Rs 10,500 per month. The workers said that payment for the months of Feb, March and April is pending.

Chhotelal Bunkar, national coordinator of 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 govt schemes, but till we go on protest, their voices are not heard.”

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.

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.
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