Context

• In a country as vast and complex as India, the effective delivery of welfare services hinges on the dedication of a massive workforce engaged under various government schemes.
• While millions of regular and contract employees enjoy formal recognition and associated benefits, another category of government-employed individuals, the scheme-based workers (SBWs), continues to labour in precarity.
• Despite their central role in executing the nation’s social welfare agenda, these workers are denied the rights and protections guaranteed to other government employees.
• Their struggle is not just for fair wages or job security, but for recognition of their basic identity as workers within the formal labour market. 

The Backbone of India’s Welfare State

• SBWs, including Anganwadi Workers (AWWs), Anganwadi Helpers (AWHs), Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs), and Mid-Day Meal Workers (MDMWs), form the core of India's community-based welfare services.
• Employed under landmark schemes like the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), and the Mid-Day Meal Scheme, they collectively number in the tens of millions.
• These schemes aim to address critical social functions such as early childhood care, maternal health, nutrition, education, and public health, tasks fundamental to the nation's development.
• Despite global and national recognition, including praise from the Prime Minister and the World Health Organization, SBWs face consistent denial of basic labour rights.
• They are treated neither as regular employees nor as legitimate workers deserving of minimum wages and social security benefits.
• Instead, they are often referred to as volunteers or honorary workers, a classification that strips them of institutional protections and fair compensation.

The Core Issues: Identity, Wages, and Security

• At the heart of the SBWs’ struggle lie three principal demands: recognition as workers, the right to minimum wages, and access to social security.
• These are not radical requests, but rather fundamental entitlements consistent with international labour standards.
• Yet, successive governments have failed to address these concerns
• In response, SBWs have adopted a tri-pronged strategy: organised strikes, legal action, and participation in social dialogue forums.
• Trade unions like AITUC, BMS, and CITU have mobilised these workers, leading mass protests and strikes to demand wage revisions and formal recognition.
• These actions have sometimes yielded incremental gains, but often face resistance from state machinery.
• For instance, the Maharashtra government used the Essential Services Maintenance Act in 2017 to curtail the striking rights of Anganwadi workers, effectively acknowledging the "essential" nature of their services while denying them the rights typically granted to essential service providers.

Judicial and Government’s Stance

• Judicial Responses: Progress and Limitations
  • The judiciary has offered a mixed record in addressing the rights of SBWs.
  • A major setback occurred in State Of Karnataka & Ors vs Ameerbi (2006), where the Supreme Court held that Anganwadi workers were not government employees since they did not carry out a function of the state under a statutory post.
  • However, more recent rulings suggest a gradual shift in judicial attitude.
  • In Maniben Maganbhai Bhariya vs District Development Officer (2022), the Supreme Court extended gratuity rights to Anganwadi workers, acknowledging them as employees under the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972.
  • Further, in 2024, the Gujarat High Court recognised their critical role under both the Right to Education Act and the National Food Security Act.
  • It directed the central and state governments to develop a policy for their regularisation and stipulated that they be paid minimum wages equivalent to Class III and IV employees until then.
  • These rulings provide a glimmer of hope, but without executive action, they remain under-implemented promises.
• The Government’s Evasive Stance
  • The central government’s approach to SBWs has largely been marked by policy ambiguity and delay.
  • Cost considerations are often cited as barriers to granting full worker status to this massive workforce.
  • Yet, such justifications appear increasingly untenable in light of the essential services SBWs provide and the growing reliance on them in expanding welfare schemes.
  • Though the Indian Labour Conference (ILC), a tripartite forum for social dialogue, unanimously recommended treating SBWs as regular workers with benefits such as minimum wages, health insurance, and pensions, these recommendations have remained largely unimplemented.
  • Statements by the Labour Minister in 2016 confirmed that no fixed timeline was in place for such reforms, revealing a deliberate stalling strategy.
  • Compounding the problem is the push towards privatisation of key schemes like ICDS, which threatens to further erode the rights of SBWs and diminish public accountability.
  • In response, SBW organisations have persistently resisted these moves, viewing them as existential threats to their already fragile status.

The Way Forward: A Fight Beyond Wages and Struggle for Identity

• Ultimately, the SBWs' struggle transcends the narrow confines of economic demands.
• It is a battle for dignity and recognition, to be seen and treated as workers, not as expendable volunteers or honorary staff.
• Their demands reflect a broader trend visible across both traditional and modern gig economies, where workers increasingly fight for legal identities that ensure protections and entitlements.

Conclusion

• SBW’s work is not charitable service; it is labour that sustains India's social infrastructure.
• Applause and tokenistic appreciation do little to address their lived realities.
• What they seek is not gratitude, but justice, in the form of formal worker status, equitable wages, and the social security that befits