WOMEN ON THE MOVE: MID DAY MEAL WORKERS RALLY IN HARYANA

Hundreds of mid day meal workers rallied at Rohtak to protest against the ongoing privatisation of the Mid Day Meal Scheme and demanding minimum wages, pension and other facilities.

From 1 April 2010, the Haryana Government handed over the preparation of the mid day meals in schools to Self Help Groups. In three districts the Scheme has been given to an NGO on contract. The existing mid day meal workers were being retrenched. The Mid Day Meal Workers Union, Haryana was opposing these moves and was successful in stopping the NGO in Jind district. On 7th March a delegation met the Chief Minister and he assured the delegation to have a detailed discussion on the issue later. Since the government was continuing with these policies, on 22nd June the Union gheraoed the Education Minister. After a two hour discussion with the union leaders, the Education Minister promised to take a decision in favour of the workers within fifteen days. But instead, the Mid Day Meal Scheme in Kurukshetra district was also handed over to ISKCON and the government declared handing over of other two districts also. The union decided to intensify the struggle against privatization, for minimum wages and regular payment and called for a state rally on 31 October 2010.

Rohtak is the home town of the Chief Minister and has been witnessing many protest rallies since he took office. To prevent protests the Rohtak administration has declared Section 144 in Rohtak city! HUDA complex in the city was allotted for the mid day meal workers’ rally, but at the last minute the allotment was cancelled and the union was asked to have the rally at sector 6, which is two kilometers away from the town.

A R Sindhu, Convener of the All India Coordination Committee of Mid day meal workers, in her inaugural address exposed the UPA Government’s policy of backdoor privatization of the central Schemes such as MDMS and ICDS. In many states, the Mid Day Meal Scheme is being handed over to corporates like ‘Vedanta’ and big multinational NGOs like ISKCON. There are no service rules for Mid day meal workers and whatever is legally due to them is not paid to them regularly. She called upon the mid day meal workers to intensify their struggle and join the all India March to Parliament on their demands.

Surender Mallik, the State CITU general Secretary, said that in the name of ‘empowerment of women’ the government is creating a divide among the village women for a share of the pittance of the so called ’honorarium’. Jai Bhagwan, General Secretary of the union, condemned the attitude of the government towards the problems of the MDMWs. The rally was addressed by Lakshmi Rohilla, President of the Union, Surekha, General Secretary of the state ASHA workers union and leaders of the Sarva Karmachari Sangh and state CITU.

The mid day meal workers then marched to the Chief Minister’s residence, but hundreds of police personnel, including women police, stopped them. The DCP and the ADM requested the leaders to meet the Secretary to the CM and later fixed an appointment with the CM, one week after Diwali. While the delegation was having discussions with the ADM and the Secretary to the CM, the mid day meal workers sat on the highway, blocking the traffic. The mobilization was dispersed by the leaders with a call to intensify the struggles, if the CM does not agree to their demand.

(Report from Jai Bhagwan)

Source: www.citucentre.org/