RESENTMENT among anganwadi workers and helpers in Uttar Pradesh has been growing in the past year due to excessive work load. Increasing price rise, very low honorarium, lack of basic infrastructure in anganwadi centres, status of the scheme even after 41 years of its inception and cut in funding in the recent budget have added to their woes. Beginning with the all-India general strike on September 2, 2015, the struggle of anganwadi workers and helpers continued over their demands. In this year-long struggle, participation of workers in all protest demonstrations has been overwhelming.

THE 50,000-strong statewide adivasi struggle at Wada in Palghar district on October 3-4, 2016 was a mass struggle to remember and cherish. The earlier one lakh-strong two-day statewide peasant siege under AIKS leadership at Nashik on March 29-30, 2016, on the four burning issues of peasants – loan-waiver, remunerative prices, drought relief and land rights (see report in People’s Democracy/Loklahar, April 4-10, 2016) had brought the chief minister of Maharashtra to the negotiating table and he had then conceded some important demands.