The recently notified labour codes have excluded lakhs of anganwadi, midday meal and Asha workers from welfare benefits because they are categorised as “honorary workers”.
Last month, the ministry of labour and employment notified the Code on Wages, Industrial Relations Code, Code on Social Security and Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code. These laws guarantee social security, payment of minimum wage and occupational safety to all employees.
However, 28 lakh people working as anganwadi workers and helpers under Mission Saksham Anganwadi, 25 lakh people engaged as cook-cum-helpers under the midday meal scheme and 10 lakh Asha workers under the National Health Mission (NHM) are not entitled to the benefits promised by the labour codes.
Two official sources said the government scheme workers had been kept outside the purview of the labour codes. They were also not covered by the 29 labour laws that the codes have subsumed.
These workers are paid much less than the minimum wage set by any state. For instance, anganwadi workers are paid ₹4,500 a month while anganwadi helpers get ₹2,250 a month. The education ministry pays ₹1,000 per month to every cook-cum-helper for 10 months in a year. The health ministry pays an honorarium of ₹2,000 to Asha workers per month.
“The scheme workers are neither workers nor employees. They work voluntarily. That is why they are not covered by the labour codes,” said an official source.
On December 12, Congress’s Lok Sabha member Angomcha Bimol Akoijam wanted to know about the workers engaged in anganwadis and schools to prepare midday meals.
Minister of state for women and child development Savitri Thakur said there were over 14 lakh anganwadi centres across the country. Each centre is managed by one anganwadi worker and one helper. They take care of supplementary nutrition, pre-school education, immunisation, health check-up and referral services.
“Anganwadi workers and anganwadi helpers are ‘honorary workers’ from the local community who voluntarily come forward to render their services in the area of childcare and development to help the local community for which they are paid a monthly honorarium,” the minister said.
She said the states and Union Territories were paying additional cash incentives to these workers from their own resources, which varied from state to state. They are also provided annual healthcare coverage of ₹5 lakh under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), the minister said.
On the midday meal workers, the minister said many states and Union Territories had supplemented their honorarium by providing additional funds.
A.R. Sindhu, general secretary of the CPM-backed Centre of Indian Trade Unions (Citu), said these workers should have got a statutory guarantee of minimum wage, job security and social security under the labour laws.
“The government is claiming that the new labour codes will provide social security like pension and health insurance to all organised and unorganised sector workers. This claim flies in the face of the exclusion of their own workers, who are the foot soldiers of key social welfare schemes of the government. Asha workers provide maternity care to rural women, but are not entitled to maternity leave,” Sindhu said.
A government source said Gujarat High Court had directed the state and the Centre to consider the anganwadi workers and helpers as employees and regularise their services.
“The case of anganwadi workers and helpers is different from other scheme workers. These people are appointed against sanctioned posts of the government. But others are appointed on the basis of local requirements. The high court has also directed the government to treat the anganwadi workers and helpers on a par with regularly selected permanent employees holding civil posts. No decision has been taken yet,” the source said.
A retired official said the midday meal and Asha workers should at least be paid on a pro-rata basis for the number of hours put in by them.