After 21 years of service when Maniben Maganbhai Bhariya, an Adivasi women working as an anganwadi helper in district Dahod, Gujarat, retired on February 20, 2006 she was drawing a salary of Rs 1,250 a month. Based on this, Maniben was entitled to a one-time gratuity of Rs 14,423.
Seven years later when even that sum hadn’t been paid to her, she filed an application to the prescribed authority. Yes, she was owed the money, the authority agreed. Yes, she was owed the money, an appellate authority confirmed. Yes, she was owed gratuity ruled a single judge bench of the Gujarat High Court in 2016.
But the state government appealed against the verdict and a division bench then ruled that Maniben and four others, Lunjiben Vasoya, Champaben Bhariya, Mangaliben and Rupliben Dangya, all Adivasi women who worked as anganwadi workers and helpers and who had retired after 21 to 31 years of service, were not employees and, hence, could not receive gratuity.
Undaunted, the five women, now in their seventies, aided by Jayantgiri H Goswami, a Gandhian activist with the Majdoor Mahajan Sangh, a union set up by Mahatma Gandhi for textile workers in 1917, went to the Supreme Court.
Landmark judgement
On April 25, a two-judge bench ruled that not just the five women who went to court, but all anganwadi workers and helpers are entitled to gratuity.
Going beyond the payment of gratuity, the two-judge bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and Abhay S Oka noted that for their ‘all pervasive duties’ anganwadi workers and anganwadi helpers are ‘paid very meagre renumeration and paltry benefits’ and called upon the central and state governments to ‘take serious note of their plight’.
The judges said the women could not be seen as part-time volunteers as they undertake statutory obligations of the government.
“Our short plea was whether the women were entitled to gratuity or not,” says Pyoli, the advocate-on-record for the women who uses only one name. “In fact, the court has held that the relationship is one of full-time employees and employer. This is now the law of the land.”
“It’s a landmark judgement that will give gratuity benefits to lakhs of women,” added Sanjay Parikh, senior advocate who argued in court. “As volunteers they were subject to virtual exploitation. The least they deserve is a good amount of money for the services they render to the nation.”
Who are anganwadi workers?
The 1.3 million anganwadi workers and 1.2 million anganwadi helpers across India’s 1.36 million functional anganwadi centres are an integral part of Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) which was launched in 1975 and is the world’s largest programme for early childhood care and development.
According to the 2011 census, ICDS caters to 158 million children as well as pregnant and lactating mothers in a country where 48% of children under five are stunted and 43% are underweight for their age, according to the National Family Health Survey.
The all-women force of frontline workers, many of them who are, like Maniben, from marginalised backgrounds, are classified by the government as ‘volunteers’. Over time with new laws such as Right to Education in 2009 and the Food Security Act in 2013, the women’s duties have expanded.
Not only do they provide supplementary nutrition to children by cooking and serving them healthy meals, they are responsible to see that they are properly immunised and have regular health check-ups. They must maintain records of growth and weight charts of each child. They also provide nutritional support to pregnant and lactating women. It is their responsibility to make those under their care aware of various government schemes. In states like Gujarat, they conduct pre-primary educational activities for children aged between three and six.
During the pandemic, they were tasked with additional duties: delivering rations door-to-door, educating those under their charge about coronavirus and preparing lists of outsiders who came to visit the village. In the early months, they did this without protective gear, masks or even adequate hand sanitisers.
A 10-state survey by Behanbox found that their daily hours during the pandemic had increased from six to eight to 12-15 hours.
For all this work, anganwadi workers and helpers receive an ‘honorarium’ that varies from state to state. In Gujarat, it is at present Rs 7,800 a month for workers and Rs 3,950 for helpers.
Why anganwadi workers and helpers are angry
The women are the ‘backbone of the ICDS’, notes the judgement. ICDS, it says, is not just a welfare scheme but a ‘means of protecting the rights of children under six – including their right to nutrition, health and joyful learning and rights of pregnant and lactating mothers’ guaranteed by the Constitution.
In September 2021, anganwadi workers and helpers went on a nationwide strike to press for their demands. These included retirement benefits, medical insurance and the entry of non-governmental organisations into ICDS. The demands went unheard and in January 2022 in Delhi they went on strike again.
On the 25th day of the strike, the Delhi government agreed to raise ‘honorariums’ by Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000. Not enough, the women said, as it did not reflect inflation levels.
On February 23, the Delhi government threatened to take disciplinary action. Then, it imposed the Haryana Essential Services Maintainance Act, which extends to Delhi as well, under which workers who go on strike can be jailed for up to six months. Many women returned back to work after being made to sign an ‘apology’ but some—the number ranges between 26 and 90, depending on who you speak to—were issued termination notices anyway.
Judgement implications
The Supreme Court judgment comes as a huge relief to anganwadi workers and helpers who have been fighting for years for fair wages and for their work to be regularised
The government’s opposition to the payment of gratuity is on the grounds of the substantial bill it will end up with. Advocate Aastha Mehta told the court that in Gujarat alone the financial burden on the exchequer toward payment of gratuity would be more than Rs 25 crore.
But the larger issue is the question of women’s labour and bestowing it with dignity. Anganwadi workers and helpers are integral to improving the nutritional status of children in India. It’s time for them to get their due.
GENDER TRACKER
6,852 are the number of children who have died of malnutrition in Maharashtra in the past three years. Of these, 601 were born to under-age mothers. Overall, 1.36 lakh children continue to be affected by malnutrition in the state.
Source: Survey conducted by Anganwadi workers and helpers submitted to the Bombay High Court.
GOING PLACES
Deepika Padukone is one of eight global artists to be appointed to the jury panel of the Cannes Film Festival 2022. She is the fifth Indian woman after Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in 2003, Nandita Das in 2005 and Sharmila Tagore in 2009 and Vidya Balan in 2013 to be appointed to the jury
WATCH
When Erin Maye Quade went into labour, the timing couldn’t have been worse. In just a few hours, the 36-year-old was scheduled to give a speech to win the endorsement as the Minnesota state senate candidate of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor party.
Undaunted, Maye Quade pushed through, stopping to lean over as she had contractions. In the end, she had to withdraw from the race when she couldn’t wait any longer and had to go to the hospital to give birth.
Why didn’t her male opponent ask for the convention to be postponed? Your guess is as good as mine.
Watch an excerpt of her speech here.
STORIES YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED
Where is rape-accused actor-producer Vijay Babu?
Kerala police has issued a lookout notice for absconding rape-accused Malayalam actor and producer Vijay Babu. Babu could not be found a day after he was booked for rape in Kochi. Police have said an initial probe has confirmed sexual assault and investigators have collected evidence from the crime scene. In a Facebook live post, Babu denied the charges but then chose to name the rape survivor in contravention of the law. He has now also been charged him with revealing her identity.
Women log out of paid work
Millions of Indians, particularly women, are exiting the labour force, according to new data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy. About 21 million women have disappeared from the workforce, leaving just 9% of the eligible population employed or looking for positions.
Kiran Bedi to head panel to oversee ashram operations
Kiran Bedi, former Puducherry lieutenant governor has been appointed by the Delhi High Court to head a six-member panel to oversee the operations of an ashram in Rohini, Delhi run by rape-accused absconder and self-styled godman Virendra Dixit. I had written about the ashram where women have been living in ‘animal-like conditions’ in my last newsletter.
AROUND THE WORLD
New voice in Colombia
Black female social activist Francia Marquez caused a sensation by winning the third-largest number of votes in the presidential primaries last month, giving, says Financial Times, a ‘strong voice’ to the 4.7 million strong Afro-Colombian community for the first time. Marquez is now aiming for the vice presidency as the running mate of Gustavo Petro, the ex-Marxist guerrilla most likely to win.
Protest in Mexico
The murder of 18-year-old Debanhi Escobar whose body was found 13 days after she was reported missing by her family has reignited anger over gender violence in Mexico, where almost three women a day are killed on average and tens of thousands more are counted as missing. Hundreds of women took to the streets in protest, shutting down traffic across Monterrey, one of the wealthiest cities in the country.
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| That’s it for this week. If you have a tip or information on gender-related developments that you would like to share write to me at: namita.bhandare@gmail.com. |