Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge and Parliamentary Affairs Minister leader Ananth Kumar, both from Karnataka, locked horns in the Lok Sabha on Thursday on the issue of the ongoing agitation by thousands of anganwadi women in Karnataka, which is under Congress rule.

Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Kharge said lakhs of anganwadi women and helpers were on the streets in Bengaluru demanding higher wages, and blamed the Narendra Modi government for lowering the Centre-State ratio of funds for the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) from 90:10 to 60:40​, thereby, increasing the burden on states​.

“The honorarium for anganwadi workers and helpers has not been revised since 2011-12. Please restore the earlier ICDS ratio and hike the honorarium,” said Kharge.

Kumar hit back at Kharge and blamed the Congress government in the State ​for the low salaries of anganwadi workers. He listed out many states, such as Kerala, Telangana, Goa and Tripura, which were paying higher salaries than the Siddaramaiah government in Karnataka, blaming the state for not filling up over 2,000 vacancies in anganwadi posts.

The second day of the agitation by thousands of anganwadi women and helpers is becoming a political hot potato as Karnataka ​gears up for Assembly polls in 2018​, where BJP has big plans ​to grab power ​after its spectacular victory in Uttar Pradesh in the recent Assembly polls,

​Meanwhile, the protest by members of the Karnataka State Anganwadi Workers’ Association is reportedly going strong, with thousands of women spending nights with their children on the streets​ for the second day , demanding hike in salary to at least ₹10,000/month.

At present, anganwadi workers are paid Rs 6,000 and helpers are paid Rs 3,000, with some of them working up to nine hours and even performing election duties. In the recent Budget, Siddaramaiah had announced a hike of Rs 1,000 for anganwadi workers and Rs 500 for helpers.

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