Thane Anganwadi Workers Seek More Than Just a Paycheck

Anganwadi workers across Thane are on strike, demanding increased wages, improved working conditions, and recognition as government employees. Their protest has shuttered most anganwadis in the city, leaving young children without access to vital early childhood education services.

LokmatTimes.com visited a house of anganwadi worker Usha Adsule who runs an anganwadi in her house itself in Manpada, Thane. She explained how her day starts from morning 10:30 am to afternoon 3:30 pm in teaching students from 3 to 6 years old.  She seemed to be restless as the anganwadi was not functioning due to the strike. After completing her daily house-hold chores, she was sitting and thinking about the days when her house was filled with the screams, joys, chants of small kids. “I miss the good old days. Cant see the faces of small children due to our strike. It is true that this is leading in loss of their education but what about our economic losses? Can the government spare time for us too?” asks Adsule. 

No  Separate Space Allocation for Anganwadis

LokmatTimes.com found that there are no separate schools or buildings dedicated for anganwadis in Manpada and nearly 13 anganwadis in the area function in the rented houses. Adsule informed, “We have to start from the starting. Why arent we given separate schools or buildings. It is not feasible to run an anganwadi in a house as the house rent ranges from Rs 6000 to 7000. Additionally water bill and light bill also needs to be considered. Government is not willing to pay the rent.” She informed that the anganwadi workers are protesting since December 4, 2023  against a range of issues be addressed – from increase of wages, and lack of pension to other retirement benefits and regularization of their services. Mainly, they want recognition as government employees. 

Lack of Tech Training; Anganwadi Workers Demands for Separate Mobile Phones

Adsule later called other anganwadi workers to her house so that media and the government get a glimpse of their daily issues. Sushila Gadekar, who runs the angawanwadi since last 23 years told LokmatTimes.com that there are no proper training facilities and it gets difficult to adapt to the latest technology while doing the data entry work. “I am 61 year old and find its not easy for me to use the Poshan Tracker app. We need separate mobiles to deal with the online work. ” 

POSHAN Tracker app by the Ministry of Women and Child Development  provides a 360-degree view of the activities of Anganwadi Centres (AWCs), service deliveries of Anganwadi Workers (AWWs), and complete beneficiary management for pregnant women, lactating mothers, children 0 - 6 years, and adolescent girls. Anganwadi workers have to maintain a separate register for hard copy and also enter the same data on the app. “If we have to enter the data on the app, then why not discard the register as the double paper work becomes too tedious,” tells an anganwadi worker named Mandakini Waghmare. They are pressured to fill the application every day to show “100% statistics”.

They have to keep a track of daily attendance of the students. But sometimes, due to the software glitches, lack of functional smartphones, delayed funds for internet data packs, language barrier in the app, things become uneasy especially for the senior workers who are in the field since 30 to 35 years. 

No Mediclaim Policies and Health Insurance Facilities 

Despite several accidents, hospital cases, government doesn’t provide adequate health insurance facilities. “We have seen anganwadi workers being injured, hospitalized and even face deaths due to heart attacks but government doesn’t care about our health,” says worker Nila Bhise. 

They are kept void of the basic facilities like pension and gratuity, incentives. “We are facing hard times. Earlier our salary was Rs 8,000  per month but since last year, we are getting Rs 10,000. How can we manage our house in such a minimum amount. Since we are on strike, we did not receive salary of December,” informs Bhise. 

“Jithe Kami Tithe Amhi”

Anganwadi workers have to work from Monday to Saturday and have a weekly off on Sundays. They get 16 CL (Casual Leaves) per year. Apart from teaching and nurturing students, they are required to go for field visits and convey all the information to common people about new schemes by the government. They complain that extra work is not compensated. From setting Aadhar card camps to tracking the THR (Take Home Ration), everything is expected by the anganwadi workers. 

Despite several problems, what keeps them motivated?

Anganwadi employees tell that parents of the small kids keep on calling them to enquire when will they withdraw their strike. They don’t want the students to suffer and be a hindrance for their education but are firm on their demands. “Social service is our passion and we will continue to fight for our demands. Giving primary education to students is not just our job, but we want those students to be able to differentiate between right and wrong”, tells anganwadi worker Adsule with a hopeful face. The workers also showed the anganwadi saree and highlighted how they respected the uniform but wont wear it until their demands are fulfilled.