JOIN USThe Karnataka State Anganwadi Workers’ Union, who have been on a strike from Friday, withdrew their protest on Monday after getting an assurance from the Bangalore Rural zilla panchayat that their demands would be acceded to.
The workers have been protesting against the decision to include Vedanta Foundation as a private partner in the Integrated Child Development Scheme, and they have been demanding that no supervisors from Vedanta be allowed to oversee operations at the anganwadi centres. They were also demanding that the state drop the idea to allow Vedanta to put up boards indicating their involvement as it would amount to advertising.
The anganwadi workers have insisted on the doing away with village committees started by Vedanta.
Shantha Rajakumar, an anganwadi worker said that all the materials that were being supplied by Vedanta should be routed through the Department of Women and Child Development and not directly supplied to the anganwadis.
The strike has yielded some positive result for the workers as the Chikkaballapur zilla panchayat has issued an order stating that Vedanta’s male supervisors will collect all the information required from the local Child Development Project Officer.
The order also states that an attempt would be made to strengthen the already existing local committees appointed by the government rather than appointing new committees. A similar order will be issued by the Bangalore Rural ZP.