People's Democracy

Fourth Conference Of  Anganwadi Workers & Helpers

K Hemalata

ON September 29, Puri, famous for the Jagannath Rath Yatra, witnessed a different kind of Yatra. Thousands of unorganised sector workers and women from different districts of Orissa, marched along with hundreds of anganwadi workers and helpers from all over the country. Held to mark the  4th Conference of the All India Federation of Anganwadi Workers and Helpers (AIFAWH), September 29 to  October 1.  Among those who came to  address the women, were Suryakant Misra, minister for health and panchayat raj, Subhash Chakraborty, minister for transport in the government of West Bengal, Bishnu Mohanty, general secretary, Orissa state committee of CITU, along with the Federation's  general secretary, Hemalata. Neelima Maitra president of the Federation presided over the meeting.

In all 84 delegates and observers from 19 states took part  in the conference, whose deliberations were conducted by an 11 member presidium. Kanai Bannerjee, secretary, CITU inaugurated the conference.

INCREASING MARGINALISATION

The conference noted with grave concern the increasing attacks on the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme as part of the government’s attempts to withdraw from welfare activities, and their impact on the anganwadi workers and helpers who are the key functionaries of the Scheme. In several states, the management of the anganwadi centres was being handed over to the panchayats or to ‘Mother’s Committees’, in the name of community participation. This has led to panchayat pradhans or Mukhias demanding money even for the payment of the meagre honorarium of the anganwadi workers and helpers, who in turn are being  subjected to severe harassment, including sexual harassment. Their services thus became dependent on the mercy of the local political leaders.

The ICDS scheme, appreciated as one of the best schemes in the country and meant for the poor women and children in rural, tribal areas and urban slums, provides supplementary nutrition for the malnourished children below 6 years of age,  pregnant and lactating mothers; immunisation, health education and pre-primary education for the children.

Started in 1975 with 33 ICDS projects in the country, it has now been expanded to 4,568 ICDS projects in all the states, employing more than 11 lakh anganwadi workers and helpers, who are all women. Several studies by the Planning Commission indicate that the infant mortality rate, severe malnutrition among children and the drop-out rate of children from schools, have significantly come down in those villages where anganwadi centres were functioning.

However, now the BJP-led NDA government and its allies, for their own reasons, are trying to dismantle the scheme. In Kerala,  the UDF government, by resorting to a system of grading, is closing down anganwadi and other centres after arbitrarily  grading them as ‘C’ ‘D’ and ‘E’.

Similar attempts were being made in Haryana. In Punjab, the posts of 2,600 anganwadi workers and helpers, which were lying vacant, were abolished and the centres closed down. In Tamilnadu, the government is trying to terminate the services of 30,000 anganwadi and noon-meal employees, on the pretext that they are surplus. The central government has decided to universalise the system of ‘Take Home Ration’  (THR) by which the supplementary nutrition would not be distributed in the anganwadi centres, but would be given to the families once in a month. The conference strongly felt that given the poverty in the rural and tribal areas and the lack of awareness among the parents, this food is most likely to be misused, which would adversely affect the nutritional status of the children. THR was a ploy to gradually dismantle the ICDS.

 The workload on the anganwadi employees was also being increased. While as per the scheme, they have to work only for four and half hours, they were compelled to perform several jobs, unrelated to ICDS, like small savings, insurance, adult literacy, surveys of BPL families, leprosy patients, handicapped, distribution of old age pensions, etc. With the second generation of reforms, many state governments have started reducing the number of regular employees in different departments and this has further increased the workload on the anganwadi workers and helpers. While some states were paying some additional remuneration for these jobs, most of the states did not pay any additional remuneration. These additional responsibilities affected the functioning of the anganwadi centres. The government is closing down those centres on the pretext of poor performance.

REVIEW OF ACTIVITIES

The conference reviewed the activities for the last four years. The general secretary’s report pointed out that broadly three types of activities were taken up by the federation during this period-

Sustained campaigns were conducted on the major demands of anganwadi workers and helpers;

Efforts were made to educate the anganwadi workers and helpers on the relationship between their living conditions and the policies of the government and the need to fight these policies along with other sections of the toiling people;

Efforts were made to strengthen the organisation. The federation made conscious efforts to link these three types of activities and conduct them in a balanced way. Efforts were made to involve the largest number of anganwadi employees in the activities of the federation.

 AIFAWH also participated in all the NPMO programmes and the calls given by the CITU and the joint calls of the central trade unions. Lakhs of anganwadi workers and helpers joined in the all India strike conducted in December 1999 and May 2000. They have also participated in the April 16 strike of this year, which was supported by the central trade unions, against privatisation and anti working class policies of the government. In several states, where the anganwadi employees are being organised by the State Government Employees’ Associations, like Punjab, Pondicherry, Tamilnadu, and Tripura, they have joined the strike calls and other struggles of the State Government Employees’ Federations.

 ADDRESSING THE PROBLEMS

 The conference emphasised the importance of addressing the local problems of the anganwadi employees, particularly the helpers. Many state committees were addressing the local issues, Of particular significance were the struggles in states against the handing over the management of the anganwadi centres to the panchayats and the so called ‘Mothers’ Committees’. In Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka, the unions conducted big struggles against this and achieved success in forcing the respective state governments to retreat their steps. In several States like Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Pondicherry, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Tripura and West Bengal, the anganwadi employees could achieve some benefits from the respective state governments, through sustained agitations and struggles. In many states like Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Karnataka, Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh etc, anganwadi employees braved state repression, but continued undeterred with their struggles. It was observed that the success particularly of the struggle against handing over the anganwadi centres to the panchayats/ Mothers’ Committees was possible because of the efforts made by the unions to gain the support of the general public, particularly the beneficiaries, the sustained campaign and determined struggle uniting all the anganwadi employees and the support extended by the trade unions, particularly the CITU.

 At the same time, the general secretary’s report warned the unions against being complacent as the government was going ahead with the same policy of withdrawing from welfare benefits and privatisation. Unless these policies are rejected lock, stock and barrel by uniting with all the other sections of the toiling masses like the unorganised sector workers, agricultural workers, poor peasants, women etc it would not be possible to save the ICDS and the interests of the anganwadi employees.

 RAISING THE CONSCIOUSNESS

 The importance of raising the consciousness of the anganwadi employees was also stressed in the conference. Though a few central trade union classes were organised for the Hindi states, it was felt that this was not enough. Many States did not pay proper attention to this aspect and as a result in most of the States the scarcity of trained cadres was felt. The conference decided that such efforts should be more consistent.

 Efforts were also made to strengthen the organisation and increase the membership. The federation has organised two workshops on organisation to identify the weakness and initiate the necessary steps to overcome them. As a result of these efforts, the membership of the Federation has increased from 85,287 at the time of the last conference to 1, 37,929 in 2001, i.e. an increase of more than 61 per cent. During this period, unions of anganwadi workers and helpers have been registered in Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh and Chattisgarh at the initiative of CITU and affiliated to AIFAWH. In Jharkhand, an independent union also got affiliated to the federation. Efforts to organise anganwadi employees have also started in Delhi. The conference felt that though these efforts were commendable, these were not enough, and there was a large scope to expand the organisation, by improving the functioning of the committees at different levels, particularly the ground level Project Committees. It has also emphasised the need to form and strengthen state centres. It has called upon the new Working Committee to pay more sustained attention to the development of the movement in the Hindi states.

 MK Pandhe, general secretary, CITU greeted the conference and spoke on the anti-working class policies of the central government. He asked the anganwadi employees to play more active part in the general trade union activities and to help the other sections like agricultural workers and poor peasants to organise. Krishna Prasad, president, SFI and Brinda Karat, general secretary, AIDWA sent messages greeting the conference.

 52 delegates spoke on the general secretary’s report after which it was adopted unanimously. The conference adopted a new Charter of Demands and several resolutions - against the recommendations of the Second National Commission on Labour, against Communalism, on Violence against women, sexual harassment at work place, comprehensive legislation for agricultural workers, against removal of quantitative restrictions, on unemployment, on 93rd Constitutional Amendment Act etc.

 The conference decided some immediate tasks, which include collection of one notebook and pencil from each anganwadi centre for the riot affected anganwadi children in Gujarat in October and November and their distribution in December. A struggle programme for the immediate release of the GO on the declared enhancement of honorarium was also decided.

 The conference felt that there were immense possibilities to strengthen the organisation and expand its influence in almost all the states. It called upon the activists of the unions to work hard to prepare themselves to face the challenge posed by the BJP-led NDA government, which was encouraging communal divisions and threaten the unity of the people.

 The Conference ended with a call to all the activists of the unions that ‘our aspirations should not be confined to narrow boundaries. We must constantly and consciously try to improve our abilities, enlarge the scope, overcome the limitations and  attain our goals. In fine, we must give a new orientation to our work to take on the challenges ahead’.

 The conference elected a 51 member Working Committee. Neelima Maitra, Bhabatosh Roy and Hemalata were re-elected president, working president and general secretary. The Orissa state committee of CITU and the Orissa State Anganwadi Workers and Helpers Association made excellent arrangements for the conference.