Rahul Gandhi’s convoy was stopped today by protesting Anganwadi workers (AWW) in Gauriganj (Uttar Pradesh) while he was on his way to Lucknow. The Anganwadi workers were demanding a pay hike. The government on 30th August had announced that the minimum wage of the unskilled labourers’ would be hiked from Rs 246 to Rs 350 per day and had also announced that the pending bonuses of the central government employees would also be released. The step was taken in an effort to get the trade unions call off the nationwide labour strike on the 2nd of September.
AWW which falls under Ministry of Women and Child Development was started by the government in 1975 in an effort to curb child hunger and malnutrition.
However, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, making it clear that the government will not make Anganwadi, Accredited Social Health Activist (Asha) and mid-day meal worker permanent, had said, “The nature of such jobs is voluntary and that’s very clear.”
The Anganwadi workers take care of the new-born babies, the new mothers and ensure that the mother and child are immunized. Providing pre-school education and access to free check-ups for women between the age of 15 and 49 is also one of the jobs assigned to Anganwadi workers.
The women health workers did not call off the scheduled strike and stopped Rahul Gandhi’s convoy while he was on his way to Lucknow for a public meeting. He was to attend several political and non-political meetings and was also scheduled to chair a party leaders’ meeting at Munshiganj.