BROADLY, CENTRAL and state governments have provided for three kinds of jobs. First are permanent jobs arising out of existing posts for which funds exist. Second are temporary job positions financed through project funds to complete projects such bridges or roadlines. This type of employment creation started around the drought-prone decades of the 1970s in Maharashtra, which enabled women from marginalised communities to join work of their choice and also resulted in reduction in rural-urban migration such as through the Employment Creation Guarantee Scheme.
In the mid-2000s, buoyed by the success of this model the UPA-I government started the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme (‘MGNREG’). Governments provide the funds for such schemes to support health, education, nutrition and maternal health which are recurring long gestation projects and not one time projects like laying a road.
In 1975, the government of India created a programme called the Integrated Child Development Services (‘ICDS’) to combat child hunger and malnutrition. To implement this programme, it has been engaging women volunteers.
An anganwadi is sanctioned for a population of 1000 persons in a village or district, and the anganwadi worker is accompanied by a sevika (worker) and a helper, both women. The anganwadis perform significant social functions such as planning for implementation of the ICDS programme. This includes, village mapping, building rapport with the community, conducting community surveys and enlisting beneficiaries, birth and death registration. They perform other administrative functions as well.
