Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani has accused the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI (M)]-led State government of failing on all counts in governance and working for the party’s interests alone.
Besides reneging on its promise to uplift the poor, the State government had impeded the development of institutions such as Anganwadis by failing to implement Central schemes, she said.
She was speaking while inaugurating a State women labour convention organised by the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) in connection with L20 (Labour 20), an engagement group of G20, here on Monday.
Pension scheme
“The Communist party has been on the forefront of movements for justice, but denied the same to marginalised communities when it came to power. Taking the responsibility upon itself, the BJP-led Central government opened 56 Jan Dhan bank accounts for such sections. While the State government failed to uplift the unorganised sector despite seeking equality for the labour class, over 9 lakh beneficiaries have benefitted from the Atal Pension Yojana scheme in Kerala,” she said.
According to the Minister, Central schemes have witnessed tardy progress in the State with several sections being denied their benefits. Nearly 13% of the supervisor posts are lying vacant in the 33,000 Anganwadis in the State. The government has also failed to ensure the adoption of the Poshan Tracker app, envisaged to improve service delivery in Anganwadis, despite additional financial grants being provided to workers for its use.
Ms. Irani added that 39,531 adolescent girls were outside the ambit of the formal school system and had been linked to Anganwadis. However, only 15,658 of them were found to have Aadhaar cards with the rest yet to be linked to the identification system. This had denied benefits provided by the Centre to such children.
Creches
The State government has been directed to establish more creches at workplaces with high women workforce, including agriculture and construction sites. Lamenting the alleged spate of atrocities against women in the State, the Union Minister said this was an indication of the “lack of intention in local governance” since they occurred despite the robust financial support provided by the Centre to prevent such incidents.
Delivering the keynote address, Union Minister of State for External Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs V. Muraleedharan dared the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government to enable the people to rate its performance, rather than taking pride in its achievement by preparing a progress report on its own.
BMS State mahila convener S. Ashamol presided. BMS national secretary Anjali Patel, State secretary K. Chandralatha, national organising secretary B. Surendra, and former national president C.K. Saji Narayanan spoke.
