Haryana: In Karnal, Amidst Show of Strength, Striking Anganwadi Workers Announce to Intensify Struggle

Karnal/Haryana: Unions leading the striking Anganwadi workers and helpers in Haryana announced on Wednesday to intensify their struggle with a Jail Bharo agitation on January 12, after the Manohar Lal Khattar-led government refused to budge on granting an increment to the all-women workforce in the state, promised to them by the Central Government in 2018.

According to the union leaders, the state government did accept a "few demands" of the agitating unions on Wednesday, when both the parties met for the third time within a month but didn't agree to the major demand.

Operations at almost all the 26,000 Anganwadi centres in 22 districts across Haryana have been hit since December 8 last year, as workers and helpers, led by one coordination committee of state-based unions, have been on strike.

On Wednesday, braving inclement weather, close to 20,000 of these workers travelled from across the state and participated in a demonstration at Karnal's New Anaj Mandi, ostensibly in a show of strength, to exert pressure on the state government. The demonstration was also joined by trade union and farmer organisation leaders and representatives of the Haryana-based Sarv Karamchari Sangh (SKS).

"The [state] government agreed on few of our demands - two out of three - but they didn't agree to implement the increment that was announced in 2018," Jai Bhagwan of Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU)-Haryana told NewsClick over the phone from Panchkula.

Bhagwan was part of the union delegation that met the Chief Secretary, Women and Child Development Department, Haryana. The union leaders of CITU-led Haryana Anganwadi Workers and Helpers Union and AIUTUC-led Anganwadi Karyakarta Sahayika Union, the two unions spearheading the agitation, were also part of this delegation.

The Anganwadi workers and helpers in Haryana are pressing to implement the increment in their honorarium, which was announced earlier in 2018 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. According to the press statement issued then, an increment of Rs 1500 and Rs 750 for workers and helpers respectively was announced.

Not implementing the same in Haryana, where the monthly income is Rs 12,000 and Rs 6,000 for the workers and the helpers, the Khattar-led government, refused to accept it even now, Bhagwan said.

"They, however, had agreed over disbursing Rs. 3 lakh as an ex-gratia amount and also introducing DA (dearness allowance) in the monthly honorariums of the workers and helpers," he added.

As word reached Karnal in the afternoon, announcements were made to the demonstrating workers and helpers to continue with the strike action. "20,000 women, in around thousand vehicles - small and big - have reached Karnal today, and they will continue the strike," Surekha, president, CITU, told NewsClick.

Informing about the decision of Jail Bharo agitation, Usha Rani, national president, All India Federation of Anganwadi Workers and Federation, said that if the government refuses to accept our demands, they must be ready for even more actions.

"Because, from here on, we are not going to turn back," she said.

The latest stalemate between the Anganwadi workers' unions and the Haryana government comes when the state is witnessing a resurgence in COVID-19 cases after the emergence of the Omicron variant.

Incidentally, last month, Khattar did announce several financial incentives for the striking staff, including a hike in the monthly honorarium - of Rs 400 from September 2020 and Rs 450 from September 2021 - and an additional COVID-19 incentive for the workers and a promotion policy.

But it had failed to persuade the two unions to withdraw the strike action, even as one organisation, which had earlier been part of the coordination committee leading the strike, withdrew its support.