IN spite of heavy rains in many states, more than two lakh anganwadi workers from 19 states – Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Pondicherry, Punjab, Tripura, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal – observed “Demands Day” on July 10 at the call of the All India Federation of Angawadi Workers and Helpers.

Anganwadi workers and helpers held rallies, demonstrations, dharnas etc at the project/district headquarters and submitted a charter of demands to the prime minister and the minister for WCD, on their long pending demands.

In Andhra Pradesh, demonstrations were held at project level. In Gujarat also demonstrations were held at project level in which nearly 15,000 workers and helpers participated.

In Haryana and West Bengal state level rallies and demonstrations were held. In West Bengal, 24 hours dharna was organised in Kolkata. Thousands reached Kolkata in spite of heavy rains. The rally was addressed by Biman Bose, chairman Left Front, West Bengal, apart from CITU leaders. Neelima Maitra, president, AIFAWH addressed the gathering. A memorandum was submitted to the governor.

In Haryana, a massive rally was held in Karnal, the home district of the chief minister. After waiting for three hours, the workers marched to the CM’s house for gherao. The march was blocked by the police. A R Sindhu, general secretary, AIFAWH participated in the struggle. The employees blocked the road. Later, the chief minister had called the union for a discussion on July 11.

In all other states, demonstrations, road blockades etc were held at district level. In Kerala, road blocks and railway station marches were organised in 13 districts out of the total 14. In Pathanamthitta, the programme could not be held because of hartal in the district. Expressing their anger against the Modi government as well as the Congress led state government, nearly forty thousand employees participated in the struggle.

In Tripura, demonstrations were held at divisional headquarters. In Assam, in spite of rains, twenty two thousand workers participated in the programme held in 19 districts. In Telangana more than twenty thousand participated in the struggle in ten districts.

In Punjab, in all districts, the anganwadi employees protested by holding demonstrations. In a unique way, to express their anger against the state government and its chief minister whose reply to the demand of the anganwadi workers and helpers always is that his coffers are empty, they collected fifty paise and one rupee coins in a bag and submitted to him through the DCs to “fill his empty coffers”.

In Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and many other states in the country in spite of the heavy rains, thousands gathered to express their anger and concern over the plight of the scheme and the employees.

AIFAWH had given a call to observe July 10, as demands day against the ongoing privatisation of the ICDS, first in the name of ‘ICDS Mission’, now in the name of public private partnership and the drastic cut in central budget 2015-16 for ICDS and for implementation of the recommendations of the 45th Indian Labour Conference, recognising the scheme workers (including the anganwadi workers and helpers) as workers, paying them minimum wages and providing pension, and freedom of association.

In contrary to the promise in the BJP Manifesto to “Review the working conditions and enhance the remuneration of Anganwadi workers”, the Modi government had cut down the budget for ICDS by nearly 60 percent. Many state governments have already started cutting down the allocations to ICDS. In many states including Delhi, employees are not getting the remuneration since last 6-10 months.

Moreover, although Maneka Gandhi, minister for WCD had promised that there will not be any privatisation of ICDS, in the name of PPP and social partnership, the BJP government is handing over the anganwadi centres to big corporates like Vedanta. With a changed name as ‘Nandghar’ a new anganwadi building was opened by Maneka Gandhi with such fanfare in Haryana along with ‘Vedanta’. With the drastic cut in the central budget allocation, the states are advised to search for sponsors who can ‘adopt’ anganwadi centres on yearly contract basis.

After spending a few lakh rupees for some buildings for anganwadis, the Vedanta Company officials started speaking about how they are going to give different services through the anganwadi centres! The massive participation on July 10 has shown that this will not be tolerated by the anganwadi workers and helpers of the country. AIFAWH will oppose all such moves tooth and nail.

AIFAWH demanded that the government must immediately stop all such moves to privatise the ICDS and immediately implement the recommendations of the 45th ILC on scheme workers. 

AIFAWH had already decided to participate in the General Strike called by the Central Trade Unions and employees federations on September 2, 2015.