Anganwadi groups across Mumbai are expected to protest against the funding cuts made to nutrition, Anganwadi, as well as maternity schemes in the recently announced 2021-22 Union Budget. This comes as the Central Government has decided to bring Anganwadi services under the Saksham Anganwadi and Mission Poshan 2.0 schemes.
While Anganwadi services had a budget estimate of around ₹20,532 crores in the 2020-21 budget, the government has now allotted only ₹20,105 crores in the 2021-22 budget for Mission Poshan 2.0 which covers the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), Anganwadi services, Poshan Abhiyaan, Scheme for Adolescent Girls and National Creche Scheme.
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The All India Federation of Anganwadi Workers and Helpers (AIFAWH) called for a protest on February 3 against the 2021-22 Union Budget.
Vice-President at AIFAWH, Shubha Shamim said, “The government has talked about privatisation. It is not clear if anganwadis will be allowed to prepare hot cooked meals or will remain only a channel of food distribution and food will be prepared by private organisations.”
“Anganwadi workers and ASHAs (Accredited Social Health Activist) worked hard during the Covid-19 pandemic. The government has not given any thought to providing pension or other social security to these employees,” the AIFAWH said in a statement.
The 2021-22 budget announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman removes the standalone status of the 2017 Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY). The PMMVY had a budget allocation of ₹2,500 crores in the previous 2020-21 budget.
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This scheme has been merged with other maternity-related programs such as Beti Bachao, Mahila Shakti Kendra, and gender budgeting under a new scheme called ‘Samarthya’. The overall budget allocation for these programs now amounts to ₹2,522 crores.
Further, the central government has slashed the nutrition budget by ₹1,000 crores from ₹3,700 crores in the 2020-21 budget to ₹2,700 crores in the recently announced budget.
Ajit Abhyankar, a State Committee Member of CPI(M) said, “There is a departure from existing schemes. There is no budget mentioned for Integrated Child Development Services. We need clarity from the government on how anganwadis will work. It may mean NGOs will be roped in to manage anganwadis.”
As per the most recent National Family Health Survey-5, there was a decline in the nutritional status in many of the 22 states that underwent the survey. The report found that the rate of underweight and severely waster children aged under five have seen an increase in 16 states while the survey found that stunting of children has increased in 13 states since the NFHS-4 was conducted around 5 years ago.
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