‘Modi govt says our work is essential, but calls us volunteers’
Channel: Peoples Dispatch
Date: 2022-03-21

Scheme workers in India who are responsible for implementing government welfare schemes such as providing healthcare services, running lunch programs in government schools, looking after young and pregnant mothers and their children, have been waging a movement for many years demanding recognition as workers. While successive governments call their work as essential, they are still not regarded as workers and do not receive proper wages or benefits. These workers are primarily women and they provide services in poor and rural areas.
On March 15, over 500 scheme workers gathered in protest in New Delhi demanding recognition of their work, minimum wages, social security, and that the Narendra Modi-led BJP government fulfil its 2018 promise of a wage hike.