Anganwadi workers, helpers, and mini-Anganwadi workers collectively made their demands to the government in the presence of the media. Negi also mentioned, “There is an urgent need to promote Anganwadi helpers to the post of workers, as many posts have been left empty after the retirement of workers. We also want a sum of Rs 5,00,000 as a post-retirement fund/pension; all Anganwadi workers retire from their jobs empty-handed after years of service.”

Streets of Dehradun leading to the CM’s residence were swamped with Anganwadi workers moving towards the CM’s residence. The protest started at 10 am. Pinala Devi and Parvati Devi are an Anganwadi worker and mini-Anganwadi worker from Uttarkashi and Yamunotri respectively. They said, “We have left our kids alone at home, our crops unattended, our cattle neglected for this protest. We won’t leave until our demands are met. We want to be recognised as government employees”. Furthermore, they mentioned that the pay for a regular worker is Rs 9,300, while a mini-worker receives Rs 5,300 for the same work.

(Anganwadi workers marching through the streets of Dehradun)

This is not the first time Anganwadi workers protested or marched to the CM’s house. In 2022, they staged a protest outside the Women Empowerment & Child Development (WECD) office, demanding a hike in their wages. They had locked themselves up in the building with officers of WECD. In 2021, Anganwadi workers in Dehradun performed a “Buddha shuddhi yajna” to purify state government officials’ minds after failing to meet their pay hike demand. In 2020, several Anganwadi workers conducted a candlelight march in Dehradun, while in 2019, their march was halted in Hathibarkala, just like this year.

Shahida, an Anganwadi worker from Uddham Singh Nagar, complained, “ We have a lot of work, from day to night, it goes on for 24 hours. We get calls from our supervisors to submit reports, even at midnight. It is impossible for us to feed our kids from the low wages we receive. We don’t get salaries, we get wages.”

The WECD pays rent for Anganwadi centres at Rs 750 for rural areas and Rs  1500 for urban areas. “The workers have not received the payment for rent since March this year, as a result of this, Anganwadi workers were removed from their offices by the landlords and were forced to start these centres at their homes, and now the government has strictly asked us not to use our homes for centres. We can’t keep paying the rent from our wages,” said Shakuntala Pal. Shushila, another worker from Uttarkashi, added, “A lot of villages don’t have Panchayat Bhawan or Anganwadi centres for conducting our work. Hence, we had to rent rooms to start the centres. We haven’t received rent in the last six months, and now the government wants us to stop using our homes for running them. How do we keep paying the rent, how do we take care of the kids and educate them?”

(Anganwadi workers and the police force at the protest site)

Shakuntala also mentioned that they have been severely overworked and exploited by several government departments like the Election Commission’s Booth Level Office, Department of Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs for work around Ration cards, UIDAI for Aadhar cards, Health Departments, and other government departments for census and surveys.  She stated, “We have been working round the clock for a lot of government departments, and we don’t get paid extra for this. We are unable to work for the kids, which is the job we were hired for.”

In May 2023, WECD came out with a statement, mentioning that kids in Uttrakhand will now receive cooked food with a variety of dishes provided, which will include pulao, snacks, fruits, eggs, stuffed parathas, rajma, millet biscuits, rice pudding, ladoos and more. However, the Anganwadi workers are facing a hard time making it possible.

Lack of cooking infrastructure, issues with transportation ration, and the poor quality of government rations make this new scheme impossible. Sahista, another worker, stated, “The rate of food per child has been reduced from Rs 8 to Rs 7, at this rate, how are we supposed to feed the children?” Rekha Negi addressed the same issue in the protest: “The price of a plate for rice and dal comes at a cost of Rs 60 in the market, and the government expects us to provide five-star restaurant food for Rs 7. The Ration they provide us is so poor that if people keep consuming it they are bound to contract kidney stones.” The WECD has mandated that the Anganwadi workers provide children with cooked food for breakfast and lunch.

Sahida, who was representing Ranjita Arora, the district president of the Anganwadi Union from Uddham Singh Nagar, said, “We receive poor quality rations from ration shops, there is no checking of quality of rations at source, the wheat and eggs received for cooking food for kids is inedible.”

An NGO worker who wanted to remain anonymous said, “I have been working with Anganwadi workers in Dehradun. One of the biggest reasons women from high-altitude regions came together to protest is because they have a very hard time executing the work compared to workers in the plains.” They said that these workers from the hilly regions of the city live in remote villages with no cellular network, and they have to work alone with no help from the government. They have to carry rations, grains, egg trays, and kits up the mountain by themselves and at their own expense, and the government provides no additional remuneration. “Many NGOs speak to the supervisors of the Anganwadi workers and impose a lot of work on them, including taking surveys, making reports, and attending physical and online meetings. They get threats from their supervisor if they don’t prioritise the NGO work and deadlines,” they said

The NGOs don’t visit these remote locations and impose all the work on the Anganwadi workers. Apart from that, they have to attend early morning meetings in Dehradun, from which there is little to no transport, if the meeting is delayed, they have to arrange for their own transportation to go back. Adding to the problem, the Panchayat Bhawan and Anganwadi centres have no infrastructure facilities. There are no lights, fans, or toilets for the kids and the workers. “Recently, Anganwadi workers in Dehradun were given the task of identifying mosquito larvae for dengue in different parts of the city, after which many of them contracted Dengue and were made to work while their physical health was deteriorating,” they said.

(Protestors trying to bring down the barricade in a confrontation with the police force)

The workers were frustrated that there had been no change in their condition after years of protest, and the government had not tried to sit down and listen to their demands. After a couple of speeches and addresses by different regional leaders of the union, the protesters stood up and started to pull and bring down the barricades. After some tussle and minor physical altercation between the police and the protesters, the Anganwadi workers sat down. They raised their slogans, “Us desh ka alam kya hoga, jis desh ki naari sakdon pe.” (What will be the condition of this country whose women are on the streets?)

Laxmi Nautiyal, district president of the Anganwadi union from Uttarkashi, said, “Anganwadi is the only force stopping the migration of people from the hills, given the treacherous terrains, we have been providing services to kids and families with meagre wages and under immense pressure from the government.”

Bhavna Pandey, associated with Janta Cabinet Party, Uttrakhand, an independent Lok Sabha candidate from Haridwar, came to the protest and addressed the workers. She said, “I am standing with Anganwadi workers, I am here for the protesters and will stand beside you until the demands are met. Why did the CM have to be away from the city when he knew we were coming to meet him and put forth our demands? If need be, we’ll go to the Prime Minister with our demands.”

Many of the Anganwadi workers show great resolve to continue protesting for days and weeks until their demands are unmet. The workers, who have travelled hundreds of kilometres to the capital, will continue to protest. Whether their demands will be met remains to be seen.

(The authors are independent journalists.)

Courtesy: Newsclick

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Uttar Pradesh Anganwadi Employees Union demanded timely and appropriate delivery of supplementary nutrition to anganwadi centres as per Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) scheme. The demand was reiterated following a conflict between workers and the people of Bulandshahr on February 28, 2022.

On Monday, anganwadi workers protested outside the district administration’s office to demand an FIR and arrest of the people who attacked employees distributing food in Kucheja village. Villagers tried to snatch the meagre rations, enraged by the little supply available. They accused the workers of hoarding ration meant for beneficiaries.

But the truth according to State President Veena Gupta is that many anganwadi centres received the supplementary ration supply after three months. She told SabrangIndia that the growing discontent among the people has begun ruining the relationship between anganwadi workers and society, as such incidents have increased across the state. “Anganwadi workers have to face the wrath of the local community due to lack of nutrition. The incidents of snatching by beneficiaries are becoming common due to low nutrition in many places in India,” said Gupta.

Under the ICDS scheme, beneficiaries, i.e., children in the age group of 0-6 years, pregnant women and lactating mothers receive a supplementary nutrition package as per Supreme Court orders. However, Gupta said that centres have not been receiving appropriate nutrition packages during the tenure of the Yogi Adityanath-led government. “We had to write to human rights authorities to finally avail half a kilogram of rice. Even that is very little,” she said.

Meanwhile, people are enraged that only 30 to 40 percent of the total beneficiaries receive nutrition supplies at the Anganwadi centres. As such, the union demanded that nutrition should be provided based on the number of beneficiaries.

Every district centre must also get a board to display the ration available for the determined number of beneficiaries on that day. Similarly, the government should issue a press release when it sends the ration to publicly announce how many beneficiaries will receive nutrition on that day.

Gupta said that conflicts will escalate if this is not done and the situation may go astray. For example, the angered people in Bulandhahr belonged to the Muslim community. Shortly afterwards, the incident was mistakenly dubbed as a Hindu-Muslim conflict. In reality parents were worried about feeding their children and other family dependents during an economic crisis arising from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Already, anganwadi workers, mid-day meal workers and ASHAs have reiterated time and again about insufficient help from the government in the form of honorariums, health-related gear and scheme-related ration. The union strongly condemned the attack on the anganwadi workers and urged employees to exercise restraint and beware of communal elements.

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The Allahabad High Court has taken note of the important issue of implementation of Anganwadi projects including the scheme of nutritive food. The Bench headed by Chief Justice Govind Mathur has issued a notice to the Uttar Pradesh Government to file a complete response with all necessary details relating to Anganwadis in the State, including the facts relating to nutrition programmes undertaken at such Anganwadis.

The order also read: “As per the petitioners, most of the Anganwadis in the State of Uttar Pradesh are not having adequate means to provide nutritive food to the children. It is asserted that most of the children coming from weaker sections of society are malnourished and the Anganwadis are neither having sufficient means nor the means whatever available are properly utilized for distribution of nutritive food”.

In the beginning of the year, the Supreme Court had directed all states and union territories to take a decision over reopening of the Anganwadi Centres outside the containment zones that were shut due to the lockdown by the end of January.

In the same matter, the court had said that the Government was under constitutional obligation to preserve human life and ensure good health of its citizens.  It held, “It is now statutory obligation of the Centre and the States to provide for nutritional support to the pregnant women and lactating mothers, nutritional support to children and to take steps to identify and provide meals for children who suffer from malnutrition.”

On providing adequate nutrition, the Supreme Court had also said, “Children are the next generation and therefore unless and until the children and the women have the nutritious food, it will affect the next generation and ultimately the country as a whole.…The Centre as well as States are statutorily obliged to implement statutory obligation as imposed under Sections 4,5 and 6 of the National Food Security Act, 2013”.

The matter before the High Court is now listed on March 24.

The order may be read here: 

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A Supreme Court Bench comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan, R. Subhash Reddy and M.R. Shah has directed all states and union territories (UT) to take a decision over reopening of the Anganwadi Centres outside the containment zones that were shut due to the lockdown by the end of January.  

The Court has also directed all states and UTs to ensure that nutritional standards as provided in Schedule II of National Food Security Act, 2013 is fulfilled by providing nutritional support to pregnant women, lactating mothers and children who suffer from malnutrition.

The Court, however, held that the decision of not opening Anganwadi Centres can only be taken after proper consultation with the State Disaster Management Authority in any area situated outside the containment zones. It clarified that no Anganwadi Centres situated inside the containment zones shall be opened.

Importantly, the court also ordered the states and UTs to issue appropriate orders regarding monitoring and supervision of Anganwadi Centres so that the benefits reach the beneficiaries and also a Complaint Redressal Mechanism be put in place in each district.

The top court was hearing a Public Interest Litigation questioning the closure of the Anganwadi Centres through which supplementary nutrition to pregnant women, lactating mothers, adolescent girls and children upto the age of 6 years is provided.

The Bench said that the Government of India was under constitutional obligation to preserve human life and ensure good health of its citizens. It held, “It is now statutory obligation of the Centre and the States to provide for nutritional support to the pregnant women and lactating mothers, nutritional support to children and to take steps to identify and provide meals for children who suffer from malnutrition.”

Noting the importance of physical and mental health which is also endorsed by International Covenants, the court said, “Inadequate supply of nutritious food to the citizens, more particularly to the children and the women shall affect their health. Therefore, the same shall be in violation of their fundamental right to health/right to live with dignity guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.”

Referring to the statutory machinery of the National Food Security Act, 2013 and Schedule II of the Act which provides for nutritional standards for children in the age group of 6 months to 6 years, pregnant women and lactating mothers, the court observed,

“Children are the next generation and therefore unless and until the children and the women have the nutritious food, it will affect the next generation and ultimately the country as a whole.…The Centre as well as States are statutorily obliged to implement statutory obligation as imposed under Sections 4,5 and 6 of the Act, 2013. The nutritional support is required to be of the nutritional standards which have already been laid down to Schedule II of the Act, 2013 and all States/UTs are obliged to implement such Scheme and have to comply with Schedule II.”  

The judgment may be read here: 

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A group of national women organisations have strongly condemned the January 3, 2021 gang-rape, torture and murder of an anganwadi workerin Badaun, Uttar Pradesh in a joint statement released on January 7.

The All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA,) the National Federation Of Indian Women (NFIW,) the All India Progressive Women’s Association (AIPWA,) the Pragatisheel Mahila Sangathan (PMS) the All India Mahila Sanskritik Sangathan (AIMSS) and the All India Agragami Mahila Samiti (AIAMS) demanded the immediate arrest of the accused: a mahant (chief priest) and his associates.

They also demanded protection for the victim’s family and proper police and administrative action to ensure speedy justice. Organisations called upon all member activists to campaign strongly on the issue to expose the dangers faced by women under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) regime.

The 50-year-old woman was allegedly attacked on Sunday night at the temple she used to visit to offer prayers. Police arrested two of the accused men although the Chief priest is still on the run.

“The mangled body of the woman was brought back in a car and left in front of her home,” said the women’s organisations. “In a repeat of the callousness evidenced in the Hathras case, the police ignored the pleas of the family to lodge the FIR. They turned up only the next morning and after the post mortem revealed severe injuries including injuries in the private parts of the victim’ s body,” they said, condemning the complete apathy of the police.

The Senior Superintendent of Police, Badaun stated that the Inspector of Police has been temporarily relieved of his duties. But organisations claimed that, like earlier cases, there will be efforts to side-line the sexual assault and murder and to subvert justice to cover up the condemnable record of the Adityanath government when it comes to women’s safety. 

“It is shameful that such horrendous crimes against women are being committed at a time when the Uttar Pradesh government is preventing women from holding peaceful demonstrations with their just demands for food and work. It is doubly shameful that in a regime that boasts of religiosity, temples are becoming sites of crimes and mahants are becoming perpetrators,” they said.

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The Committee on Local Bodies and Panchayat Raj for Karnataka tabled its report for 2019 – 20 in both the Houses has expressed concern about the infrastructure in anganwadis, while also mentioning the health risks due to the lack of toilets and ventilation, reported Deccan Herald.

The report stated that while the government was to build 3,026 new toilets in anganwadis across Karnatakas, only 1,663 toilets had been constructed at the time of compiling the report. Also, while 5,011 anganwadis were lined up for repair work, the repairs of only 2,965 had been completed.

It was also mentioned that while the construction of some anganwadis had not begun at all, in several other villages the walls were leaking due to being of poor quality. It was said that the funds for the infrastructure development of anganwadis had been diverted to civil works instead.

In Bagalkot, the toilet construction target was 238, but only 11 new toilets were made. In Ramnagar, no toilets were constructed against the given target of 121 and the same was with Raichur which had a target of 76 toilets to be constructed.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, S Varalakshmi, President of the Karnataka State Anganwadi Workers Association, CITU, said that the infrastructure had suffered due to a scarcity of funds. “Till 2018, the government granted only Rs. 1.80 lakh for infrastructure development per anganwadi. Recently the amount has been increased to Rs. 5 lakhs, as against our demand of Rs. 15 lakh taking present day costs into consideration.”

She also added that in several regions where toilets were made, especially in the Kalyana Karnataka region, there was no water.

“Anganwadi workers fetch water from afar. It is a serious issue. Also, the problem of dingy spaces persists in urban areas where space is a constraint. Here, many anganwadis also run from rented buildings. In such spaces, toilets are not available in the same building. In many instances, the government has not even paid rents and anganwadi workers are paying it from their pockets,” she said.

Meanwhile, it has been reported that 1,206 anganwadi centres in Dakshina Kannada do not have compound walls to prevent encroachers from taking upon the land. This puts the children at risk and the workers of the centre have to work hard to save the food-bearing plants and vegetables that grow in the premises and are consumed by the children there.

While some anganwadi centers across the country will have CCTV cameras set up soon, others are still grappling with problems related to basic amenities like no toilets and no take home ration.

Another issue that anganwadi workers and helpers face is of wages. These front-line workers, mostly women, are an invaluable link between the people and the government. However, till date, they haven’t received the due that they deserve for their work.

Sabrang India had reported the plight of these workers earlier. The Anganwadi workers have been battling for a minimum wage of Rs. 18,000 per month, garnering support from the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) and other outfits affiliated to the Communist Party of India (CPI – M). They complain that the salaries promised to them don’t come on time and sometimes they have to go months without getting their pay. At such times, they selflessly contribute from their own pockets – for charts, toys and other items, for they love the job they do. Not just this, they also prepare food and ensure the kids get a variety in their diet.

Till date, their dues are never mentioned as salaries, but are called honorariums. Their nature of work is never seen as hard labour and they are never looked at as employees, but as someone engaged in voluntary social service.

Regularization of anganwadi workers is still on the cards. The wage increase made in 2018 hasn’t been implemented efficiently yet.

It is rather disappointing to see the government’s apathy with regards to the anganwadi centers and the children and the employees there. With bureaucracy being so convoluted, it is difficult to say if the state of one of the most important pillars of the child development services will ever achieve their full potential, benefiting crores.

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Hope for the justice for Anganwadi workers rose once again as N K Premachandran moved for leave to introduce a Bill to provide for regularization of the services of Anganwadi workers and conferring the status of not less than those of Group ‘C’ employees of the Central Government on such Anganwadi workers.

Premachandran, a member of the Revolutionary Socialist Party had introduced a similar bill in the Lok Sabha last year asking for the service status and welfare of the Anganwadi workers.
 

What is an Anganwadi and who are Anganwadi workers

An Anganwadi is a type of rural child care centre in India started by the Indian government as part of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) to combat child hunger and malnutrition. An Anganwadi is the basic health centre of the village and an important part of the public health care system. Basic healthcare activities provided at an Anganwadi centre include contraceptive counseling, nutrition education and supplementation, immunization and pre-school education among others.

According to the Ministry of Women and Child Development, the total numbers of Anganwadi workers and Anganwadi helpers sanctioned in the country are 1,399,697 and 1,282,847 respectively.

Each worker is responsible for the well-being of around 1,000 people in villages across India. The workers are from the community they operate in and thus have an intimate understanding of the issues surrounding patients.This workforce includes mostly women and is regarded as an acceptable and effective means of employment for women in rural areas.
 

Who is N K Premachandran

 Belonging to the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), he is the Member of Parliament from the Kollam Lok Sabha constituency. The former water resources minister from Kerala, he was instrumental in taking up the issue of safety of the Mullaperiyar dam.

He won the Kollam parliament seat in the 2019 elections defeating CPI (M) ideologue MA Baby by a record margin of 1.5 lakh votes. His party was a long-time ally of the CPI (M) in the Left Democratic Front (LDF), but ties had soured after RSP was denied a seat in 2014.

Premachandran is a well-known orator. He has heard delivered upon long pending demands of locals and contributed positively to developmental works.

In his five-year-term, Premachandran (58) participated in a staggering 297 debates in the Lok Sabha and moved more than 2000 amendments to different legislations and motions moved by the government in the Lower House none of which have been accepted.

He was also appointed to the Lok Sabha Speaker’s panel and tabled a bill for the consideration of the Lok Sabha seeking a ban on the entry of women aged 10 – 40 years in the Sabarimala temple.
 

The Anganwadi workers’ fight

With an annual budget allocation (2018-19) of Rs. 16,335 crore, the Anganwadi system forms the backbone of the community-based programme for child development.

The government has specific guidelines for these AWWs—for instance, one task should take you two minutes, another five minutes. There are various “days” that have to be organised and specific functions that must be performed. On certain days eggs have to be given to the children, on another day, vaccines; on a third day, babies have to be brought to the centre to be weighed. Then there are “meeting days”—when they must go to the meeting centres, do home visits, and meet pregnant and lactating women. It’s an impossible schedule.

And if this is not enough, AWWs have now been tasked with additional responsibilities—early childhood education (ECE), where they are expected to teach their young wards, and Self Help Group (SHG) formation and training—neither of which they were recruited or trained for, reports Quartz India.

Anganwadi workers have been fighting for better pay for years. The Government of India has recently enhanced the honorarium of Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) at main-Anganwadi Centres (AWCs) from Rs. 3,000/- to Rs. 4,500/- per month; AWWs at mini-AWCs from Rs. 2,250/- to Rs. 3,500/- per month; Anganwadi Helpers (AWHs) from Rs 1,500/- to Rs. 2,250/- per month; and introduced performance linked incentive of Rs. 250/- per month to AWHs, effective from 1st October, 2018. Further, AWWs are allowed performance linked incentive of ₹ 500/- per month for using ICDS-CAS under POSHAN Abhiyaan.In addition to the honorarium paid by the Government of India, the respective State/UTs are giving monetary incentives to these workers out of their own resources as per details given at Annexure-II, reported the Press Information Bureau.

Such an inadequate amount they say is hardly enough to provide nutrition to their own children. The Anganwadi workers have been battling for a minimum wage of Rs. 18,000 per month, garnering support from the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) and other outfits affiliated to the Communist Party of India (CPI – M). They complain that the salaries promised to them don’t come on time and sometimes they have to go months without getting their pay. At such times, they selflessly contribute from their own pockets – for charts, toys and other items, for they love the job they do. Not just this, they also prepare food and ensure the kids get a variety in their diet.

While the Ministry of Women and Child Development has enlisted provisions for insurance and maternity leave, they are only still on paper and have not been implemented yet. Ironical, for these women who take care of pregnant women and look after children, get no such benefits for the same.

The Wire also reports of them being overburdened with tasks like Booth Level Officer (BLO) duties, surveys, maintenance of innumerable registers and even tasks that do not come under the ICDS.

Another fresh obstacle facing them is the change in the attendance system. Many have to mark their attendance by sending live locations and photographs on WhatsApp groups managed by their supervisors. Those who do not have smartphones are either asked to buy one or to use a neighbour’s phone.

“The nature of work is voluntary social service. The government is running away from its responsibility of treating these women as regular employees because of which women are losing out on so many things,” says Shivani Kaul, president of the Delhi State Anganwadi Workers and Helpers’ Union. “The government employs women from the most deprived sections of the society for this scheme and the entire system considers women as the cheapest source of labour. Be it in domestic work or the caregiving sector, women are taken for granted everywhere,” Kaul added.

Many governments have looked at privatizing the social welfare scheme and neglecting the impact it will have on these women who have been toiling away for years seeing the government’s vision through.

“Regardless of the party in power, the government, since 1991, has been trying to involve private players in social welfare schemes and step away from its responsibilities and this attitude is affecting the workers severely. ICDS is a central government scheme and the Centre should take full responsibility,” Kamala, general secretary of Delhi anganwadi workers and helpers affiliated with CITU told The Wire.

According to Kamala and Kaul, ICDS should be made into a separate department which will open the doors to the regularisation of anganwadi workers. “Until the workers are given the status of employees, they should at least be given a minimum wage.” Kamala added.

Speaking to Sabrang India, Armaity Irani from the Anganwadi KarmachariSangathana (Maharashtra) said that Anganwadi workers are critical providers of education for children of the poor, which is one of the six services provided by them. They look after children aged 0 – 6 years by providing them important education, a period which is extremely important for brain development. Yet, the government is overlooking their contribution as education providers and focusing solely on the issue of food. Even that, is way below the mark, as the children who need hot meals, are instead being given THR (Take Home Ration), powders to be boiled in water which is unpalatable, thus leading to severe starvation and malnutrition.

Another problem, Irani added, was the problem of cumbersome technology. As mentioned above, Anganwadi workers are now given phones to mark their attendance with and some, over the age of 60, find it especially difficult to operate the same. Plus network issues in rural areas mean that they aren’t able to log in, thus leading to pay cuts. They also have to use this to report other details like the data of beneficiaries, their age, weight, details of home visits, etc.

There is an additional burden of rent. The Anganwadi workers do not get their salaries or rent for the centres in time and often have to rely on their own means to gather money and pay for the Anganwadi Centre rent out of their own wages.

Regularisation is a far-fetched dream, says Irani, about the hard-working Anganwadi workers who even work on Sundays, providing food to the kids. The Centre has a stipulated wage package for the workers and the helpers, with the rest being provided by the State governments. Currently, the Centre pays Rs. 4,500 to workers and Rs. 2,250 to helpers. There is also a disparity here for some governments do not contribute to salaries or benefits at all. The unions are now demanding a minimum wage of Rs. 21,000 per month for all anganwadi workers from the Central government.

 It is pitiable to see that one of the most important links in the chain of women and child welfare is being treated so apathetically by every government. With demands being ignored for years, these women have now taken to the streets to protest against the step-motherly treatment meted out to them by the same government that they help so smoothly run.

Shubha Shamim, Vice-President, All-India Federation of Anganwadi Workers and Helpers (AIFAWH) told Sabrang India that the current policies of the government are completely opposite to those that we require for regularization. She said, “I don’t think the government will take any step towards regularization. The wage increase last year has not been implemented in many places yet. The Centre will pass on the responsibility to the states to take care of the wage problem. The government isn’t willing to increase wages citing that the work of the Anganwadi workers is not a full-time job, though the reality is quite the opposite. We do not have any hopes from the current government as it is anti-people, anti-workers and anti-welfare schemes. They are only aiming for privatisation and when they do heed to our demands, it is woefully inadequate.”

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A gram sabha (village committee) meeting organised in the Chasagurjang panchayat of Pallahara block of Odisha. The panchayat has a population of 5,000 and has asked the state government to open mini anganwadi centres for distant hamlets that do not have a full-fledged anganwadi.

“Our child’s nutrition has been compromised because we don’t have an anganwadi centre in the village,” said Munda, who lives in a small hamlet in the Pallahara block of Odisha’s Angul district. “We have to cross a river to get to the nearest anganwadi. How am I supposed to send my four-year-old son to the centre every day?”

The poorest people–those in the “lowest wealth quintile” or the 20% with the least amount of wealth–and other disadvantaged social groups such as the scheduled castes (SCs) and scheduled tribes (ST) living in small hamlets such as in Pallahara have the least access to anganwadi services, data from the fourth National Family Health Survey (NFHS) show. Living in remote areas, as many from STs do, exacerbates this inaccessibility.

STs comprise 8% of India’s population (104 million) but 45.9% of those from STs were in the lowest wealth bracket, more than any other social group, as IndiaSpend reported in February 2018. In 2015-16, as many as 19.7% of ST children under five years were stunted–had short height for age–and 19.0% of SC children, as compared to 16.4% of other backward castes and 11.9% of ‘general’ castes, NFHS data show.

Mini anganwadis for vulnerable populations

Low- to middle-income social groups are more likely to get food supplements, health check-ups and other ICDS services, NFHS-4 data show. In 2015-16, 63.3% of the poorest children did not get a health check-up as against 54.9% children from the second wealth quintile (poorest 21% to 40% of the population). Those better off prefer private services and hence have a low utilisation of ICDS services.

In 2015-16, a higher proportion of ST children received food supplements, health check-ups and pre-school education than other social groups, but this is low as compared to the proportion of poor people belonging to STs that need these services. For instance, even though almost half of the ST population (45.9%) belongs to the poorest quintile (poorest 20%), and 24.8% to the second lowest quintile, 60.4% of their children received food supplements under ICDS, NFHS data show.

Compare this to other backward castes: 18.3% of their population belongs to the lowest wealth bracket, and 19.3% to the second lowest, while 45.6% of children received food supplements under ICDS, data show.

Administrative shortcomings

The meeting that Munda attended was organised by members of the gram panchayat (elected village committee) and community leaders to hear people’s concerns and educate them about the need for a mini anganwadi.

“We are proposing two mini anganwadi centres in distant hamlets,” said Sashank Shekhar Naik, 47, sarpanch (village head) of Chasagurujang. “Our priority is to make mini-anganwadi centres available to children from the scheduled tribes who live in faraway villages. Children from here never get their take-home rations. It is impossible for parents to take them to the anganwadi centre every day and lose their wages.”

Since 1975, the government has run a supplementary nutrition programme under ICDS, which provides take-home rations–chhatua (powdered grain), eggs and pulses in the case of Odisha–for pregnant women, lactating mothers and children. It also provides hot, cooked meals for children, as well as pre-school education for children aged three to six, at anganwadi centres, as IndiaSpend reported in August 2019.

This helps support a child’s first 1,000 days–a window of opportunity in early childhood when a child’s growth and cognitive development are the fastest.

ICDS was universalised in 1995-96 to cover all community development blocks, and now reaches remote corners of the country. However, the poor, especially those from disadvantaged groups, are still left behind, as IndiaSpend reported in February 2018. Even in better-performing states such as Odisha, the lowest on the social ladder are excluded as they often live in remote areas.

“Anganwadi workers are not from our village, even if our children go to the centres, they are the last ones to be fed,” said Munda Saunto, 44, a panchayat member. “Auxiliary nurse midwives and ASHAs (grassroot health workers) hardly ever visit our village because of the rough terrain.”
“Children from distant hamlets are supposed to come to my anganwadi centre, but their attendance is the lowest,” said Nirupama Nayak, 31, an anganwadi worker in Udayapur village, which also covers Jayapur village. “They cannot travel 3 km every day, alone, to visit the centre. As a result, they miss out on their hot cooked meals, neither do they get pre-school education.”

The government sanctioned 116,848 mini anganwadi centres in 23 states and union territories in 2007, data from the National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development show. There are no data on how many mini anganwadis are currently operational.

Until 2005, only one of the six services–hot cooked meals–were provided in a mini anganwadi under the ICDS. In 2007, norms were revised so that all six services were to be provided, ICDS guidelines show.

Even though the villagers in Pallahara want an anganwadi, there is an administrative issue: Kuna Munda’s village, Jayapur, overlaps with another gram panchayat; half the population comes under that panchayat, which means that Jayapur does not have the minimum 150 people to make it  eligible for a mini anganwadi centre. The villagers have proposed two mini anganwadis, one in each gram panchayat.

Even the panchayat members were unsure whether Munda’s village belonged to the panchayat of Chasagurujang, where the meeting was taking place, or if he should have gone to the other panchayat that Jayapur is also a part of.

“We have submitted proposals to the government for a mini anganwadi centre especially in the hamlets without an anganwadi, where children cannot reach the nearest centre by foot. It is under consideration and the government will sanction it soon,” said Manoj Mohanty, district collector of Angul.

Renu Pati, the child development project officer for Angul district who oversees ICDS services, and should have been involved in sending the proposal, said she had not received any proposals yet for a mini anganwadi. She refused to answer any other questions.

Reduced government burden, improved health
The lack of access to nutrition could be felt most acutely in disadvantaged communities. For instance, in 2013, 19 infants died due to malnutrition when the Odisha government ran a special project for the development of vulnerable tribal groups–the most disadvantaged among STs. Under the project, 216 children were identified as severely underweight and suffering from severe acute malnourishment, but 60 of these were not referred to any hospital, found the 2017 Comptroller and Auditor General report, the latest on particularly vulnerable groups. “No remedial measures were taken by micro-projects to eradicate malnutrition,” the report said.

In addition to helping children and families, mini anganwadi centres would also reduce the burden on the government. Currently, nutritional rehabilitation centres support highly malnourished children and mothers, spending Rs 125 a day per child and mother in Odisha. A malnourished child, along with their mother, is kept for a minimum of 15 days at the nutritional rehabilitation centre under close observation, while focusing on their nutrition.

In January 2019, Nayak, the anganwadi worker, sent three children to the nutritional rehabilitation centre in Pallahara block’s community health centre, 40 km from the village. Two of the children were in the red zone–signifying severe malnourishment with very low weight for height–and the third child was in the orange zone, showing moderate malnourishment. A closer anganwadi centre could have helped these mothers and children supplement their nutrition and avoid severe malnourishment. 

(Ali is an IndiaSpend reporting fellow.)

Courtesy: India Spend

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Children having their meals at the AWC in Kandhei posh, Odisha. Picture Credits – Sweta Dash

Tulasa serves them the hot cooked meals – rice and the much awaited egg curry. Eggs are served in the AWC mid-day meals regularly from Tuesday to Saturday. “Not even the sweet badam laddoo we serve for breakfast excites them as much,” she says and takes a seat in one corner to see everyone’s plates. “Some of them mash the yolk with rice while others save it for a last bite, but eventually there is no trace of the egg left. It’s almost as if it was just never there!” she exclaims.

Across the road from the Kandhei posh anganwadi, a few men rested in the shade of trees after ploughing in their open agricultural lands.

Agriculture has not proven to be a financially sustainable option for the village, as is the unfortunate case in most agricultural areas, in the last many years. Most families here depend on their mahul flower produce, the oil extraction, however, is a long tedious process which fetches only a meagre price in the market. Further, as Kandhei posh village is situated at on a rocky uphill terrain four kilometre from even the Kasada Gram Panchayat, access to the market is severely limited. Coupled together, these factors make the villagers all the more reliant on welfare schemes like the Supplementary Nutrition Programme (SNP) assuring hot cooked mid-day meals, and take-home rations to children and women.

Egging on for Health and Nutrition of Women

Tapaswini Naik carrying eggs for her mother. Photo Credits – Sweta Dash

When Tapaswini Naik, a four year old in that AWC, was dancing around with her friends and getting ready to leave, Tulasa called her back again. Tapaswini looked confused for a brief moment and then her eyes lit up. She sprints to the verandah and hugs Tulasa tight. That was her day to carry eggs back home to her mother. With one egg in her hand and another hidden in her tunic, she twirls around gleefully and says, “My mother will eat eggs and become stronger soon. And then, I and my baby brother will play with her all day!”

Tulasa explains that sometimes the women find it difficult to collect their THR and eggs from the AWC themselves, and in such cases the AWW or AWH hand it over to their trusted family members. “It’s better to give it to Tapaswini, I feel. No adult can ever carry the eggs with that much care for the women,” she adds.

During a 15-day survey across 12 villages in Odisha last month, it was observed that the necessity of eggs for pregnant and lactating mothers cannot be emphasized enough. Most pregnant women weighed less than 50kgs, suffered from low haemoglobin count and low blood pressure. Their diets were severely limited, more so with milk and fruits being inaccessible and/or unaffordable for most women. Anaemia remained a common ailment that has even resulted in medical complications during delivery.

The provision of eggs for pregnant and lactating mothers also goes a long way in addressing the persistent inequality of nutrition within the household. Kanika Sharma asserts, “Access and freedom to nutrition outside the household provided by government programmes are, by most measures, a concrete step towards gender equality.”

The case for sustained Government Interventions

In July 2018, the Odisha government revised the menu for the mid-day meals and take home ration (THR) provided in anganwadi centres for both children and women. The cost of SNP per head was enhanced to accommodate at least five eggs a week per child and twelve eggs per month for pregnant and lactating mothers. In fact, the take home ration was also revised to include dry ration like suji, besan, sugar, in addition to chhattua (chickpea flour) supplied on a monthly basis. An earlier revision in March, 2018 even goes further ahead to include millet based foods in the mid-day meals.

These revisions remains cognisant to the National Family Health Survey in 2015-16 (NFHS-4) data for Odisha which clearly illustrates the abysmal condition of food security and its repercussions on the health of women and children. 34% of children under the age of five are underweight, 20% are wasted (too thin for their height) and 34% are stunted. More than half (51%, to be precise) of women in Odisha are affected by mild to severe anaemia. The NFHS-4 also notes how these broader data units are fractured based on social positions and geographical locations. A crucial observation that notes this is how anaemia is particularly high for scheduled tribe women, Christian women, and women with no schooling.

The provision of eggs for women and children in the hot cooked meals and take home rations provided at anganwadis was set in place by the State government in 2011. Prior to that, soya chunks, pulses and vegetables formed a regular component of the food provided at anganwadis. With the beginning of a decentralised procurement, the State government also took into account the immense necessity of eggs in the diet. As Reetika Khera notes in a concise primer, eggs are indeed an excellent source of nutrition.

Standing tall against anti-egg resistances

The state government under the leadership of Pattnaik has been repeatedly criticised for doling out too many “freebie schemes”, as they often say in colloquial and rather elitist condescension but the state government has vehemently refused to give up. The continuous improvements in nutrition indicators in the NFHS-4 are a direct testament to the continuous systemic government interventions.

Sameet Panda, a Right to Food activist in Odisha comments that although there have surely been disparate opinion pieces about the opposition to the inclusion of eggs, there has been no such wider on-ground political discourse around the same. “For me, the anti-egg resistance in other states must be called out for what it is really – an anti-people resistance. That is a means to assert the hegemony of the upper caste and class population, while relegating others to the perils of food insecurity”, he notes and shares that he firmly believes there is no scope for such a phenomenon in Odisha anymore, irrespective of the fate of the political party in power.

The provision of eggs for women and children in Odisha should, perhaps, act as a timely reminder that there is surely no need for a regressive politicisation at the cost of their health and nutrition, as has been observed in the case of Chattisgarh and Karnataka recently. The right to food is far from realised anywhere in India, and with the central government trying to restrict welfare entitlements, rethinking social policies from below is more urgent than ever before.

Sweta Dash is pursuing Master’s in Gender Studies from Ambedkar University, Delhi, and is associated with the Right to Food campaign.

The writer is grateful to Jean Dreze and Reetika Khera for their comments and suggestions.

Right to Food campaigners from Odisha – Raj Kishor Mishra, Sameet Panda and Bidyut Mohanty have also been of incredible assistance.

Courtesy: Counter Current

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Karnataka has the highest maternal mortality ratio in south India. The state is trying to combat it with a programme called Mathrupoorna, which provides nutritious meals, counselling and other health facilities to pregnant and lactating women at anganwadi centres. Here, Rupa Manju of Maladahadi village in Mysuru district, who is eight months pregnant with her third child and a Mathrupoorna beneficiary, gets a health check.

In 1975, when the Indian government launched the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), Karnataka was one of the first beneficiaries. The programme tackled maternal malnutrition and morbidity by providing mother and child with supplementary nutrition, immunisation, health check-ups and referral services on nutrition, health education and pre-school education.

Yet, in 2015-16, after four decades of ICDS, Karnataka had the highest maternal mortality ratio (MMR, which measures mothers’ deaths per 100,000 live births) among all the states in southern India–108.

It also had a high rate of stunting (low height for age) and wasting (low weight for height) in children under the age of five–more than a third (36%) of its children were stunted and more than a fourth (26%) were wasted, according to the National Family Health Survey 4, 2015-16 (NFHS-4), the latest available data.

To improve the situation, Karnataka launched the Mathrupoorna scheme in 2017 to fulfil the nutritional needs of pregnant and lactating women.

Similar to ICDS, Mathrupoorna seeks to meet the nutritional needs of pregnant and lactating (till six months post pregnancy) women.The difference being: while ICDS gave the beneficiaries dry rations once a month, Mathrupoorna offers them nourishing hot meals, six times a week. The meals are served at 65,911 anganwadi centres across the state. Women in their ninth month of pregnancy or 45 days post-delivery can have their meals picked up from the anganwadi.

In two years of operation, Mathrupoorna has reached 75% of its target population, according to Karnataka’s women and child development department (WCD), at an annual cost of Rs 645 crore ($91.4 million).

A different approach

It is a hot summer afternoon, and 11 women–eight pregnant and three lactating–are gathered at the anganwadi in Shankarbande village in drought-hit Ballari district. Vandaramma, 62, who goes by one name only, joins the group with an empty steel tiffin box in hand. These women are here for Mathrupoorna.

Anganwadi worker Sulochana and helper Sumitra walk in with large aluminium pots of freshly cooked lunch. Sumitra places a clean steel plate in front of each woman, and Sulochana serves them hot rice, sambhar (south Indian curry consisting of lentils and vegetables) and payasam (a dessert made of rice or vermicelli, and milk). Sumitra informs the women that she has added spinach to the sambhar along with other vegetables to “make it more nutritious”. The women are also given chikki (a jaggery-and-peanut sweetmeat), a glass of hot milk and one boiled egg each. Those who do not like eggs get sprout-salad.

While the women eat, Sulochana packs Vandaramma’s tiffin box with the same meal. It is for her daughter who gave birth 15 days ago and is now resting at home.

Mathrupoorna beneficiaries at the anganwadi in the tribal Maladahadi village in HD Kote taluka (sub-district) of Mysuru district, on the border of the Nagarhole Tiger Reserve. The wholesome meals provided to pregnant and lactating women six times a week take care of 40-45% of their daily calories, protein and calcium intake.

Inspired by similar nutritious meals programmes in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Mathrupoorna meals take care of 40-45% of the daily calories, protein and calcium intake of the target group. Mathrupoorna also focuses on the administration of iron and folic acid tablets, deworming, tetanus injection, gestational weight monitoring and counselling of the women.

The ICDS supplementary nutrition programme, which ran earlier, gave pregnant and lactating women and children up to three years of age 1,300 gm of a rice-and-soya mix, 1,200 gm of a wheat-and-soya mix, 900 gm of Bengal gram, 460 gm of green gram and 1 kg jaggery. Though this made up for some of the nutrition gaps, the rations were often shared by other family members. Sometimes the provisions were inadequate or pilfered. Under Mathrupoorna, since women must visit the anganwadi to eat, the aid reaches them in its entirety.

The Mathrupoorna scheme aspires to reach around 1 million (1,023,956) women in the state. Currently, it aids 772,104 pregnant and lactating mothers (including anganwadi workers and helpers who are also beneficiaries), according to the WCD, which implements the programme.
The central and state governments share the cost of the meals, which works out to Rs 21 per meal. While ICDS chips in with Rs 9.50 per meal, the rest is provided by the Karnataka government. “The cost of implementing Mathrupoorna may seem high. However, the cost of inaction is much higher,” said Uma Mahadevan, former principal secretary of WCD.

In February 2017, WCD launched a Mathrupoorna pilot project in four talukas of Karnataka–Manvi in Raichur district, HD Kote in Mysuru, Madhugiri in Tumkur and Jamkhandi in Bagalkot. “The money for the pilot project came from the department’s savings,” said Mahadevan. On October 2, 2017, the state government scaled up the programme to cover the entire state. Mahadevan played a crucial role.

Disturbing facts: stunting and wasting in children

The first 1,000 days of life comprise a unique period of opportunity when the foundations of optimum health, growth and neurodevelopment across the lifespan are established, according to the World Health Organization. “To tackle malnutrition, addressing nutritional needs in the first 1,000 days of life is important,” said Abid Ahmed, a UNICEF consultant assisting Karnataka’s WCD in the implementation of Mathrupoorna.
Stunting in children under five years of age is also worrisome in Karnataka (See graph 1: Nutrition status of under-five children in Karnataka)–36% of its children are stunted and 26% are wasted, according to NFHS-4 data. Between NFHS-3 (2005-06) and NFHS-4 [2015-16], children suffering from wasting and severe wasting have gone up in the state, which is a matter of high concern, said Ahmed.
Regional disparity in stunted children is also stark. (See map 1: District-wise ‘stunting’ in under-five children in Karnataka).

District-wise Stunting In Under-Five Children In Karnataka

“Child stunting in Karnataka is a concern. In 2013, the state government launched the Ksheera Bhagya scheme to provide hot milk (150 ml per child per day) to all the children in anganwadis and government schools thrice a week. This was increased to five times a week in 2017-18, providing valuable calcium, protein and other nutrients,” said Mahadevan. Also, anganwadi children are given eggs twice a week. Eggs provide high-quality protein and choline (essential for the structural development of the body), necessary for young children.

The comfort of a hot meal

“Daily wage labourers like us cannot afford to have milk and eggs,” said Vandaramma at the Shankarbande anganwadi, who belongs to a scheduled caste (traditionally “lower” caste). “Even family members will not feed us if we do not go to work and earn a living.”

Mamtha G is nine months pregnant but continues to visit the anganwadi in Tungoti village in Madhugiri block of drought-hit Tumkur district. Apart from the hot meals, it is also the chance to “step out of the house and interact with other women” that draws her to the anganwadi every day.

Meeting other women at the anganwadi also helps deal with postpartum emotional upheavals, she said. Her first child is two-and-a-half years old.

Sudha Ramesh is the mother of a one-and-a-half-month-old baby and is also a regular at the anganwadi. “In our homes, post-childbirth women are offered only rice and watery sambhar; nothing else. At the anganwadi we get vegetables, eggs and hot milk,” she said.

More than 250 km away, similar voices emerge at Maladahadi village in HD Kote taluka of Mysuru district, which lies on the border of the Nagarhole National Park and Tiger Reserve, and is home to the Jenu Kuruba tribe.

Yamuna Ramesh is a native of the village and was registered under the Mathrupoorna scheme from the beginning of her pregnancy. One month back, she gave birth to a healthy baby girl weighing 3 kg. “Traditionally, we eat only two meals a day; rice and sambhar in the morning and ragi [finger millet] balls in the evening,” she said. At the anganwadi, the young mother gets eggs, her favourite, and also leafy vegetables.

Anganwadi workers regularly monitor pregnant women like herself for weight gain and mid-upper-arm circumference to check for malnutrition. “We counsel the tribal women to consume lentils and vegetables,” said anganwadi worker Rukmini.

Apart from providing hot meals to pregnant and lactating mothers, Mathrupoorna also focuses on the administration of iron and folic acid tablets, deworming, tetanus injection, gestational weight monitoring and counselling. Here, the anganwadi worker measures a beneficiary’s mid-upper-arm circumference to check for malnutrition.

The challenges

Although Mathrupoorna covers 75% of pregnant and lactating women in Karnataka, there is a wide variation in district-wise coverage. For instance, in Bagalkot district, it is 92%, whereas, in Dakshin Kannada district, it is 27% (See graph 2: District-wise coverage under Mathrupoorna).

Source: Department of women and child development, Karnataka

“The difference in coverage reflects the divergent needs and socio-economic contexts of various districts,” said Mahadevan. “Karnataka has significant regional differences in poverty levels and human development indicators among its districts.”

Other stumbling blocks include seasonal migration for work.

A large number of women at the anganwadi in Ibrahimpura village, Ballari taluka, where Bashira has worked for the last five years, are daily wage farm labourers. Seven pregnant and four lactating mothers are enrolled under Mathrupoorna here. Child stunting and malnutrition are high in this region of north Karnataka, and mothers are malnourished. “In the summer, the enrolled women, along with their families, migrate to Bengaluru in search of work and often fall out of the anganwadi network,” said Bashira.

To prevent such exigencies, Karnataka government has introduced Thayi cards (mother’s card/a mother and child registration booklet) for pregnant and lactating mothers, which can be used in any district to avail the benefits of Mathrupoorna. However, more often than not, poor women are unable to do so.

There are daily wage earners like eight months pregnant Laxmi, a resident of Shankarbande village, Ballari, who do not get the full benefits of Mathrupoorna. Laxmi leaves home at seven in the morning and returns only around five in the evening. As a farm labourer, she earns Rs 200 a day; men earn Rs 300. “It is not possible for me to leave work mid-way and go to the anganwadi to eat,” she said. She visits the anganwadi on rare occasions when she is not at work.

Social taboos, migration and varying poverty levels are major stumbling blocks for Mathrupoorna. However, one obstacle is overworked and underpaid anganwadi workers. The government programme has increased the burden of anganwadi workers and helpers, according to health sector activists.

Culture and social stigma also prevent women from using the programme. “The local culture does not allow a pregnant woman to step out of the village until she completes five months of pregnancy. So, if the anganwadi is slightly far away, the family does not send a pregnant woman,” informed Bashira. In other areas, sending a pregnant woman to the anganwadi for a meal becomes a “prestige issue”. In Shankarbande village, there are three pregnant women and two lactating mothers who have never visited the anganwadi. “In spite of counselling, their families don’t approve of it,” said Sulochana, an anganwadi worker.

“There is no doubt that decentralised kitchens that serve hot meals and provide basic access to nutrition are welcome. In that sense, Mathrupoorna is a good programme,” said Sylvia Karpagam, a public health doctor and researcher from Bengaluru. “But, there are implementation issues that overburden anganwadi workers and helpers, and exclude some women due to poverty and caste factors.” Anganwadis are primarily child care centres. Mathrupoorna has put an additional burden on anganwadi workers and helpers, Karpagam said. “They spend too much time cooking and serving meals and in the process anganwadi children get neglected. The workers are also underpaid.”
To ease the burden on the workers, the government has provided twin-burner stoves, additional LPG cylinders, pressure cookers and large cooking vessels to anganwadis. “So that the helpers do not spend too much time cooking,” said Mahadevan. The monthly salary of anganwadi workers and helpers has been raised from Rs 4,000 and Rs 3,000 a month to Rs 8,000 and Rs 4,000, respectively. “They also receive Rs 50,000 medical reimbursements,” Mahadevan said.

However, anganwadi workers have demanded better compensation for frontline workers–Rs 18,000 per month for anganwadi workers and Rs 12,000 for helpers.

The success of any such large-scale health programme depends on the frontline staff, Karpagam said. In case of Mathrupoorna, there are 64,800 anganwadi workers and 60,207 anganwadi helpers implementing the programme even in the remotest parts of the state, including inside forest areas. Adequate compensation and regular training of these is vital for further increasing coverage of Mathrupoorna, she added.
 

(Nidhi Jamwal is environment editor with Gaon Connection.)

Courtesy: India Spend

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