Even as a Supreme Court appointed panel recently flagged instances of contractors siphoning off food worth crores of rupees meant for the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) in Maharashtra, flagship scheme workers have been saying so for long.

At a seminar held here last week, women working in flagship schemes in various States said they had been drawing the authorities’ attention to various malpractices, and blamed the policy shift for such instances.

“Basically, the Government is going ahead with “restructuring” these schemes in the form of handing over functions to NGOs and big corporate houses, as per World Bank recommendations to increase public-private partnerships,” A. R. Sindhu, a leader of the All India Federation of Anganwadi Workers and Helpers, said.

There are about 27 lakh women employed as anganwadis, cooks and helpers and about 8.5 lakh as ASHAs (Accredited Social Health Activists) and many more in schemes such as National Rural Health Mission, Mid-day Meal Scheme etc.

“But these women are still considered volunteers, not workers. As a result, they get an ‘honorarium’ or ‘incentives’. No minimum wages or social security benefits,” said Sindhu.

Kamala, who works with anganwadi women in Delhi, said scheme workers will soon start a country-wide campaign to demand the status of ‘worker’ and also oppose any move to ‘dismantle or privatise’ these schemes.

“We sincerely feel that these schemes should be made universal. Food, health, education should be people’s ‘rights’ rather than ‘entitlements’. The fear that these schemes can be suspended any time, apart from impacting social indicators, is also giving rise to insecurity among lakhs of women workers,” she said.

aditi.n@thehindu.co.in

Published on November 5, 2012