The ongoing protests by ASHA and anganwadi workers in West Bengal demanding their wages be increased to ₹15,000 a month is a sour reminder of efforts to deny them permanent employee status despite their centrality to many national and State welfare schemes. The State of Karnataka vs Ameerbi (1996) — tribunal decision — further excluded anganwadi workers from the set of government employees even as the top court expanded the right to food, and thus the need for these workers, in 2004. Worse, in the 2010s, when the government, employers, and workers’ unions recommended job regularisation, minimum wages, and pension and gratuity for ASHA workers at the 45th Labour Conference, successive UPA and NDA governments chose not to implement this. The Centre also froze its contribution to these workers’ pay in 2018, in effect leaving ASHA and anganwadi personnel to absorb fiscal shocks. Only by institutionalising these protections can India grant these essential workers their rightful dignity.

Source: The Hindu January 24, 2026 14:23 UTC