ICDS Workers Hold Protest Rally in Kolkata, Demand Permanent Employment

Kolkata: Demanding permanent employment, statewide workers of the Centre’s flagship ICDS (Integrated Child Development Scheme) met in Kolkata on Wednesday, demanding that their jobs be made permanent.

At a rally held in the city, ICDS workers noted that even though 65 years had been defined as the age of retirement from the project, yet the nature of their work is not permanent in nature. They also pointed out that an ICDS worker had to run two to three centres simultaneously.

Also, a rule has been made that ICDS workers have to upload all information through a smartphone and send it to the Central government, yet workers have not been provided phones and have been forced to buy these from their meagre wages.

Several workers in the rally noted that through prolonged struggles, a sum of Rs 3 lakh had been allotted for ICDS workers on their retirement, but the pension scheme, another long-standing demand, is yet to be started.

Nazma Haque, 39, of North 24 Parganas district, who was part of the rally, told Newsclick about the stringent working conditions and the meagre remunerations that they get.

“We receive only Rs 8,250 a month. With this low amount, how can we purchase a smartphone worth Rs 10,000, which has been made essential for our work,” she said, demanding that the Central government should immediately provide smartphones to ICDS workers across the country.

Addressing the rally, Communist Party of India (Marxist) West Bengal secretary, Mohd Salim alleged that communal forces were trying to break the unity of the working-class people in the state.

“People of the state are giving feedback, demanding a change in this condition of the state. The fight of the Leftists is garnering support from a large section of the population. Only by intensifying this fight, can this mayhem-like situation be changed,” he said.

The rally, which was held on SN Banerjee Road was attended by hundreds of ICDS workers, clad in their blue uniform. The rally was also addressed ICDS Workers Union leader Ratna Dutta.

Salim also criticised the “scam-laden” Trinamool Congress government and accused it of “theft.”

“Only the Leftists are coming out on the streets and fighting them,” Salim said. He also attacked a section of the media who “are trying to downplay the fight of the Leftists from public view”.

Supporting the demands of ICDS workers, the CPI(M) leader alleged that money meant for the project was being siphoned off by the state government. “Nutrition of the poor is being siphoned off by this state government,” he said, as the mid-day meals fall under the ICDS.

Taking potshots at Syamaprasad Mukherjee (the founder of  Jansangh) who was Bengal's food minister during the great famine of 1943, he said “during his time, there were marked cases of  black marketing and profiteering. During that time, too, the Leftists, with their limited strength, had stood by the people,” he added.

In his speech, CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty urged ICDS workers not to confine themselves to their own demands but to take a proactive role in the people’s movement.

Later, a five-member delegation went to Governor’s house to submit a memorandum. However, as the Governor was preoccupied with another meeting, a copy of the memo was handed over to the secretary of his department. The demands of the ICDS workers have also been mailed to the CM’s office and to the minister Shashi Panja’s office, the union members said.