People's Democracy

(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)

Vol. XXIX

No. 47

November 20, 2005

CALL OF THE 5TH CONFERENCE OF AIFAWH

 

Struggle For Strengthening Of ICDS & Work

For Consolidation Of The Union

Hemalata

 

 

THE 5th conference of All India Federation of Anganwadi Workers and Helpers (AIFAWH) was held in Susheela Gopalan Nagar (Town Hall) in Bangalore on November 8- 11, 2005. It is significant that 561 delegates out of the total quota of 565 participated in the conference. They represented anganwadi employees from 20 states – Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Pondicherry, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal and West Bengal. Delegates from Bihar were not able to participate due to the elections in the state and the Chat festival; Representatives from Jharkhand could not make alternative travel arrangements as their train was cancelled; those from Jammu & Kashmir had to cancel their travel in the last minute because of the situation in the state.

 

The conference emphasised the need to universalise and institutionalise the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme, which has completed 30 years of existence on October 2, 2005. Started experimentally with 33 projects in 1975, today, ICDS is recognised nationally and internationally as one of the most unique and effective services for the benefit of women and children. At present more than 6.5 lakh anganwadi centres in 5,480 ICDS projects are operational. Another 1,88,168 anganwadi centres in 467 projects have been sanctioned by the government this year and are expected to be operationalised by the end of this financial year. But it still will only be a little over half of the anganwadi centres required to universalise ICDS, as per the Supreme Court directive. The number of children below six years of age covered by the Scheme will also be only one third of the total of around 16 crore eligible children in the country.

 

POSITIVE IMPACT OF THE ICDS

 

Over the years, the services provided through the anganwadi centres have diversified and the anganwadi workers and helpers are involved in many jobs other than those originally envisaged under the ICDS. Besides providing immunisation, supplementary nutrition, preschool education, health checkups, health and nutrition education and referral services, the anganwadi workers are also involved in formation of Self Help Groups, small savings groups, conducting several surveys including leprosy survey, handicapped survey, cattle survey, BPL survey etc. They are provided training in identifying and providing simple medical aid in cases of upper respiratory tract infections, diarrhoea, simple fever etc. They are also required to create awareness on HIV/AIDS. Their services are utilised in adult education, non-formal education etc. Most of the basic information about the people in the village – births, deaths, number of handicapped persons, BPL population, etc is invariably available at the anganwadi centres. The anganwadi workers in several states are also asked to actively involve themselves in stopping child marriages and other such practices. In short, over the years, anganwadi centres have developed into multiple service delivery centres for the benefit of children and women at the grassroots level. Their services are generally welcomed and appreciated by the people.

 

Several studies carried out by agencies and institutions like the UNICEF, AIIMS, Planning Commission, NCAER etc to evaluate the functioning of ICDS have noted its positive impact on the community. It was found that the immunisation rate and school enrolment rate have increased while the incidence of severe and moderate malnutrition and the Infant Mortality Rate have come down in the villages with functioning anganwadi centres compared to those without an anganwadi centre. The Planning Commission has strongly recommended that anganwadi centres should be run as ‘Day Care cum Crèches’ so that women agricultural workers, peasant women and other women workers can leave their children in the anganwadi centre for the whole day. This will also help in bringing down the school dropout rate among girls. The Second Labour Commission has also recommended the same.

 

The conditions of the anganwadi workers and helpers, the key functionaries at the local level, are gruesome. They are not recognised even as employees by the government of India, which sponsors the Scheme. They are paid a pittance as ‘honorarium’. They do not have any social security or job guarantee. After working all their lives in the anganwadi centre, they have nothing to fall back upon in their old age.

 

Noting the role of ICDS in ensuring a healthy future for the children and its potential in promoting women’s empowerment, the 5th conference of AIFAWH demanded that ICDS should be institutionalised as a permanent department of the HRD ministry of the government of India and the anganwadi workers and helpers, who are the key functionaries of the ICDS, be recognised as Grade III and Grade IV employees respectively.

 

The conference also noted that achieving this demand would not be possible as long as the government was seeking to wriggle out of its responsibility of providing the basic services like health, education etc to the people, particularly the poor, by implementing policies of liberalisation and globalisation. The conference decided to actively participate in the struggles of the trade unions and other mass organisations in opposing these policies. The need to develop strong bonds with the people in the anganwadi area, particularly the beneficiaries, was emphasised by the conference.

 

The government was also resorting to measures, which, in effect, weaken the ICDS. In several states, nursery centres to provide pre-school education were being opened by the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, which is actually meant to provide elementary education. These centres were being opened in the same areas where the anganwadi centres were already functioning and providing pre-school education. As a result, the number of children in the anganwadi centres was coming down leading to closure of the anganwadi centres. This was also denying the children other benefits provided in the anganwadi centres like immunisation, health and nutrition, education etc. The conference unanimously adopted a resolution opposing the opening of nursery centres by the SSA in the same areas where anganwadi centres were functioning.

 

DISCUSSION IN COMMISSIONS

 

The conference devoted half day session on November 10, 2005 for Commission discussions on four subjects - ‘Strengthening the Relations with the People’, ‘Role of Anganwadi Employees in the Trade Union and Democratic Movements’, ‘Universalisation and Strengthening of ICDS’ and ‘Organisation’.

 

It was observed that though the anganwadi employees had in general good relationship with the people, sometimes, the negligence of the government created some tensions between the beneficiaries and the anganwadi employees. Several state governments were not supplying supplementary nutrition, sometimes for years at a stretch. Even when it was supplied, the quality was so bad that children refused to eat it. The Commission on ‘Strengthening Relationship with the People’ called upon the anganwadi employees to place their difficulties before the people, mobilise their support and organise campaigns on such issues by involving the beneficiaries also. It also called upon the activists of the unions to actively intervene to ensure that benefits from various government programmes reach the beneficiaries. The conference called upon the anganwadi employees to ensure that the eligible persons in the anganwadi area, particularly the women, get the benefit of the Rural Employment Guarantee Act.

 

Experiences in several states like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra etc showed the potential of the unions of anganwadi employees in helping other sections of the unorganised sector workers, women etc to get organised. While actively participating in the struggles on their own demands, the anganwadi employees in these states also helped the domestic workers, community health workers, mid-day meal employees etc to form unions. They also helped in organising the women, agricultural workers, youth etc in their areas.

 

The Commission on ‘Role of Anganwadi Employees in Trade Union and Democratic Movements’ emphasised that strengthening the trade union and democratic movement in the anganwadi areas will help in advancing the movement of the anganwadi employees. The conference called upon all the state committees to replicate these efforts in all the states. It has also decided to organise a national-level workshop/ meeting with trade unions and organisations of women, agricultural workers and peasants, followed by state-level workshops/ meetings to discuss on how to develop and strengthen mutual cooperation.

 

The Commission on ‘Organisation’ noted that the membership of the Federation has increased by 92,906 (68 per cent) after the last conference. Membership has increased in all the states except Jharkhand. Because of the advance in states like Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab etc, the unevenness in membership has come down to some extent. The membership of West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, which was 58.18 per cent of the total membership at the time of the last conference, has come down to 54.88 per cent in 2004. In Pondicherry and Tripura more than 90 per cent of the anganwadi employees in the state are members of our unions. In Punjab more than 66 per cent of anganwadi employees in the state are our members. But at the same time, the conference expressed its concern at the continued weakness in the vast stretch of the Hindi-speaking region, where the unions could not make much progress. Because of this, at the all-India level the membership of the Federation was only around 18 per cent of the total anganwadi employees in the country. It was decided to concentrate on developing the organisation in the Hindi-speaking states.

 

TOWARDS A STRONG ALL INDIA ORGANISATION

 

The conference called upon all its affiliate unions and state committees to reorient their work to build a strong all India organisation. It reiterated the decision of the 4th conference to link up the campaigns and struggles with education and training programmes; identify the activists during the campaigns, train them, raise their consciousness and involve them in the organisation. Emphasising the importance of developing committed, conscious and capable cadres in strengthening the organisation, the conference gave a call to concentrate on cadre development.

 

The conference started with the hoisting of the AIFAWH flag by Neelima Maitra, president of the Federation. V J K Nair, vice president of CITU, inaugurated the conference. M K Pandhe, president of CITU greeted the conference. The presidium for the conference comprised Neelima Maitra, Bhabatosh Roy (working president), Sandhya Rani (Andhra Pradesh), Khirala Brahma (Assam), Sabita (Karnataka), Padmini (Kerala) Bhuvaneswari (Tamil Nadu), Harjeet Kaur (Punjab) and Sushmita Biswas (West Bengal).

 

A massive procession and rally of anganwadi employees was held on the first day of the Conference on November 8. Thousands of anganwadi employees, not only from across Karnataka, but also from the neighbouring states of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu participated in the procession. A colourful calendar for the year 2006 depicting the struggles of the anganwadi employees in different states was released in the rally by Kanai Bannerjee, secretary, CITU.

 

A seminar on ‘ICDS – Role of Government’ was organised on the occasion of the conference, on November 9. Those who addressed this well-attended seminar, which was inaugurated by the former prime minister Deve Gowda, were Prakash Karat, general secretary of CPI (M), Dharam Singh, chief minister of Karnataka, Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan, union minister of state for social justice and empowerment and Jayati Ghosh, well known economist. All of them supported the just demands of the anganwadi employees. Bhageerathi Marulasiddanagowda, minister for women and child development in Karnataka released the souvenir on the occasion.

 

A booklet ‘Scaling New Heights’ (Episodes of Anganwadi Employees’ Struggles), published by AIFAWH, was released by Nirupama Chatterjee, a veteran communist, former minister for social welfare in the Left Front government of West Bengal and a founder office bearer of AIFAWH.

 

The conference unanimously adopted the general secretary’s report, including a charter of demands, placed by Hemalata and elected a 67-member working committee with 21 office bearers. Neelima Maitra, Hemalata and A R Sindhu were re-elected as president, general secretary and treasurer. Kanai Bannerjee, who participated in the conference throughout, made the concluding remarks. A R Sindhu presented the vote of thanks.

 

The conference was greeted by leaders of various fraternal organisations. Among them were S Malla Reddy, AIKS vice president, A Vijayraghavan, AIAWU general secretary and MP and K S Vimala, AIDWA leader.    

 

TASKS

 

The 5th conference of All India Federation of Anganwadi Workers and Helpers (AIFAWH) decided to conduct an intensive campaign on the demand of universalisation and strengthening of the ICDS and regularisation of the anganwadi employees. Towards this end, the following tasks have been identified: