Frontline health workers shouldn’t be short-changed
It is in the interest of young children and mothers that the issue of the salaries of anganwadi workers is resolved
For almost 60 days now, anganwadi workers (AWWs) and helpers (AWHs) in Delhi have been on strike protesting low wages. They have won a partial victory with the Delhi government announcing a doubling of their salaries from ₹5,000 to ₹9,678 per month for AWWs and ₹2,500 to ₹4,839 per month for AWHs. However, the workers’ union continues to be on strike demanding to see the Gazette Notification on wage increase as well as immediate payment of wages.
The workers’ concerns need to be addressed urgently, not only for their sake but also for the sake of the children and women who are beneficiaries of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programme.
Anganwadi workers are responsible for providing a number of vital services, including pre-school education, supplementary nutrition, nutrition counselling, growth monitoring, and so on. Anganwadis are part of the ICDS, a centrally-sponsored scheme, and costs are currently shared on a 60:40 basis. Although AWWs/Hs perform some of the most important services, the Centre has always maintained that they are ‘voluntary’ workers and so what they are paid is an ‘honorarium’ and not a salary. The honorariums were revised last in 2011 to ₹3,000 for workers and ₹1,500 for helpers. Many states make additional contributions to this amount. Experts and activists have highlighted the plight of these workers: AWWs/ Hs also work under hostile conditions: Infrastructure is poor; the supply of food is irregular and of poor quality, education material is inadequate, honorarium is delayed and so on. In such conditions, services for young children, pregnant and lactating women are affected.
The issues that the workers are raising in Delhi are relevant to all states. While a number of states have recently increased workers’ wages, this is not enough. The Centre needs to step in and ensure that the workers are paid at least minimum wages. Since 2015, the central budget for ICDS has been stagnant and decreasing in real terms.
It is in the interest of young children and their mothers that the issue of salaries is resolved. India has among the highest child malnutrition rates in the world and poorest learning outcomes. Both these need sustained efforts in improving early childcare services, which the anganwadi centres provide. AWWs/Hs are the backbone of this system and their role needs to be acknowledged. The first step towards this would be to remunerate them adequately.