Nearly 45 Mahila Shakti Kendra (MSK) contract staff in the State are yet to be paid salary for four months after they were let go abruptly at the end of June.
The MSK is a Centrally sponsored project for the empowerment of rural women with community participation. In the State, the MSK contract staff have been implementing the Women and Child Development Department’s projects since the end of 2020. At the end of this June, they were let go as no word had been received from the Union government on continuing the project in this financial year, as per a department communication.
However, the staff are yet to get salary for four months as the Central funding ended in March. The project, they say, is being redrawn by the Union government as women empowerment hubs. The Centre had, earlier this year, announced the implemention of ‘Mission Shakti’ as an integrated programme in mission mode for the safety, care and protection, and empowerment of women, and one of its components is the hubs for empowerment of women.
The sudden decision to let the MSK staff go after allowing them to continue for three months from April has not only plunged them into a crisis but also put a question mark on the effectiveness of programmes being implemented by the Women and Child Development Department. ‘Kathorthu’, a programme to hear online the problems faced by women and address these within 48 hours; ‘Ponvakku’, a project to check child marriages; ‘Kanal’ to check dowry and domestic abuse; and various celebrations related to women were some of the programmes implemented by the MSK team.
The employees are not very optimistic that they would be accommodated in other projects since they have been given the marching orders. They say they cannot fathom why the department did not appeal well in advance to the government to continue the project using State funds. They now hope that they would be paid the pending salary without delay, and have petitioned Women and Child Development Minister Veena George.
They have also urged the government to give them priority in appointments on the basis of their experience and qualifications when the new Union government scheme is implemented in the State.
