Anganwadi, ASHA, Midday Meal Workers Seek Labour Rights As Bhopal Declaration Raises Nationwide Demands

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): More than 60 lakh women engaged in providing the crucial Anganwadi, midday meals and National Health Mission services to children, pregnant women and lactating mothers are being classified as ‘volunteers’ and not ‘workers’, thus depriving them of the protection and benefits of labour laws.

The three-day third National Convention on Children’s Right to Food and Nutrition, which ended in the city on Sunday, demanded that the 27 lakh Anganwadi workers and assistants, 10 lakh ASHA workers and 25 lakh cooks-cum-helpers should be officially designated as workers.

More than 400 representatives from 18 states participated in the convention.

No child should be denied access to Anganwadi services, mid-day meals, scholarships or other entitlements due to the absence of Aadhaar or Aadhaar-related technical problems. Systems such as facial recognition, e-KYC and mandatory apps for children should be stopped.

Anganwadi centres and schools should provide hot cooked meals using locally available nutritious food. Privatisation and commercialisation of government food and nutrition programmes for children should also be stopped.

The convention also decided to take up the ‘Anganwadi Theek Karo’ campaign at the national level, organise state-level conventions on children’s right to food, and undertake joint action at the national level for children’s right to food.

The declaration issued on the final day of the three-day convention called for effective social audits of ICDS and PM POSHAN, an increase in the number of Anganwadi centres in Tribal and remote areas, and improvement in their basic infrastructure.

It also demanded restrictions on the availability of junk food within 200 metres of schools and the development of kitchen gardens in schools.