Anganwadi workers urge Karnataka government to ease workload and survey duties

Anganwadi workers in Bengaluru and across Karnataka have urged the state government to ease their workload by exempting them from additional responsibilities, such as the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) survey and the verification of Gruhalakshmi scheme beneficiaries. Represented by the Karnataka Rajya Anganwadi Karyakartheyaru Mathu Sahayakiyara Federation, the workers cited excessive responsibilities, time constraints, and poor pay as reasons for seeking relief from these added duties.

More than 60,000 Anganwadi workers currently manage operational centres across the state. The federation's secretary, M Jayamma, stated that these workers are already working overtime and require quality time to spend with their families. She suggested that the state government assign the survey and verification drive of Gruhalakshmi beneficiaries to the members of the guarantee implementation committee instead of the Anganwadi staff.

Jayamma also highlighted technological challenges faced by the workers, noting that most of the mobile phones provided to them are 4G devices. Workers are already struggling to upload daily data due to network issues. She explained that the additional Gruhalakshmi verification work requires data to be uploaded to a new application, which is difficult to run alongside existing apps on their current 4G phones.

The Special Intensive Revision survey is scheduled to begin on June 30. Nagarathna Reddar, an Anganwadi worker from Haveri, explained that workers are expected to visit between 500 and 1,000 households individually to hand over application forms at their doorsteps.

Reddar stated that Anganwadi workers currently work from 9:30 AM to 4:30 PM. She noted that while an Anganwadi worker receives Rs 12,000 per month and a helper receives Rs 7,500 per month, it remains unclear whether the government will provide any additional monetary benefits for conducting the SIR survey.

Supporting the workers' demands, MB Sharadamma of the Indian Federation of Trade Union stated that Anganwadi workers are already facing numerous challenges. She suggested that the government engage social workers or party workers to conduct the survey instead.