CHAPTER - I 1.6 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY Selection of Sample Units Collection of Primary Data

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1 CHAPTER - I 1.1 INTRODUCTION 1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM 1.3 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 1.4 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 1.5 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES 1.6 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY Sample Units Selection of Sample Units Collection of Primary Data Tools and Techniques Analysis and Discussion of the Data 1.7. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY 1.8. CHAPTERIZATION 1

2 1.1 INTRODUCTION After Independence, development of human resources was given high priority by Government of India and plans were initiated to evolve a national policy for overall development of Children s of the country that are most precious and future of India. Article 15(3) of Indian constitution makes special provision for protection of women and Children s. Unfortunately India is suffering from a shortage of skilled professionals. Therefore through the Anganawadi system the country is trying to meet its goal of enhanced health facilities that are affordable and accessible by using local population. In many ways an Anganawadi worker is better equipped than professional doctors in reaching out to the rural population. Firstly since the worker lives with the people she is in a better position to identify the cause of the various health problems and hence counter them. Hence she has a very good insight of the health status in her region. Secondly though Anganawadi workers are not as skilled or qualified as professionals they have better social skills thus making it easier to interact with the people. Moreover since these workers are from the village itself they are trusted easily which makes it easier for them to help the people. Last but not the least, Anganawadi workers are well aware of the ways of the people, are comfortable with the language, know the rural folk personally etc. which makes it very easy for them to figure out the problems being faced by the people and ensure that those problems are solved. The Anganwadi literally means courtyard meetings. It is a childcare centre located securing angnawadi premises, identifying within the village or the slum area itself 2

3 and the participants, ensuring supply of food for focal point for the delivery of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) in anganwadis and flow of health services, community by Anganwadi Worker (AWW). She is monitoring of the programme and reporting to is assisted by a helper local woman, other the state government. Child Development Project Officers (CDPO) provides link frontline workers including the gram sevikas, between ICDS functionaries and the primary school teacher, local women s group, government administration and also ensures Mahila Mandals, youth clubs, local coverage of services by networking with other organizations, Panchayat Samitis and Balvikas government department and voluntary Mahila Samiti members. The Government of India in 1975 initiated the Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS) scheme which operates at the state level to address the health issues of small children, all over the country. The word Anganawadi worker is derived from the Indian word Angan, which means the court yard (a central area in and around the house where most of the social activities of the household takes place). The Anganawadi worker and helper are the basic functionaries of the ICDS who run the Anganawadi centre and implement the ICDS scheme in coordination with the functionaries of the health, education, rural development and other departments. Their services also include the health and nutrition of pregnant women, nursing mothers, and adolescent girls. Today in India, about 2 million Anganawadi workers are reaching out to a population of 70 million women, children and sick people, helping them become and stay healthy. The Integrated Child Development Services Scheme is currently in operation in 2926 projects (DWCD, 1992). Anganawadi worker is the most peripheral worker in ICDS scheme catering to a 3

4 population of 1,000. Growth monitoring is one of the important functions of Anganawadi workers, for which they should be sufficiently trained (Bhasin, et al., 1995). A planned approach to child welfare began in the First Five Year Plan when the Planning Commission decided to give priority to the needs of children. Many child welfare programmes were launched under the five year plans. These related to the needs of children in the areas of education, health, nutrition, welfare and recreation. Special programmes to meet the needs of delinquent, handicapped, destitute and other groups of children were also undertaken. Some of these programmes were related to the growth and development of children, especially children belonging to the preschool age group of 0-6 years. However, such child care programmes with their inadequate coverage and very limited inputs could not make much dent on the problems of children. As comprehensive and integrated early childhood services were regarded as investment in the future economic and social progress of the country, it was felt that a model plan which would ensure the delivery of maximum benefit to the children in a lasting manner should be evolved. Accordingly, a scheme for integrated child care services was worked out for implementation in all States. Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) and Anganwadi Helpers (AWHs) are employed under the Integrated Child Development Scheme of the Central Government to provide health, nutrition and education services to children less than 6 years, to pregnant and nursing mothers, and additionally to adolescent girls. They play a critical role in addressing the issues of child nutrition, pre-school education and maternal health that are 4

5 central to alleviating poverty and improving the quality of life. The Government on many occasions has commended the services of Anganwadi workers but it refuses to recognise them as workers. Their service is considered voluntary for which the government pays them an honorarium, far below even the agricultural minimum wage. In effect government is paying a poverty wage to the very workers who are engaged in fighting poverty. The Anganwadi worker (AWW) is the community Based voluntary frontline worker of the ICDS programme. The output or the ICDS scheme is to a great extent dependant on the profile of the key functionary i,e. her qualification, experience, skills, attitude, training etc. India is home to the largest population of malnourished and hungerstricken people and children leading to high infant and maternal mortality. Along with these issues are a deluge of problems ranging from diseases, lack of education, lack of hygiene, illness, etc. Under the ICDS scheme, one trained person is allotted to a population of 1000, to bridge the gap between the person and organized healthcare, and to focus on the health and educational needs of children aged 0-6 years. This person is the Anganwadi worker. The word Anganwadi means "courtyard shelter" in Hindi. They were started by the Indian government in 1975 as part of the Integrated Child Development Services program to combat child hunger and malnutrition. A typical Anganwadi centre also provides basic health care in Indian villages. It is a part of the Indian public health-care system. Basic health-care activities include contraceptive counseling and supply, nutrition education and supplementation, as well as pre-school activities. The centres may also be used as depots for oral rehydration salts, basic medicines and contraceptives. As many as 13.3 lakh Anganwadi and mini-anganwadi Centres (AWCs/ mini-awcs) are operational out of 13.7 lakh sanctioned AWCs/ mini- 5

6 AWCs, as on These centres provide supplementary nutrition, non-formal pre-school education, nutrition and health education, immunization, health check-up and referral services of which later three services are provided in convergence with public health systems. Various studies in recent past clearly highlighted the importance of socio-economic and demographic characteristics of AWWs in implementing the ICDS programmes (Bhasin et al., 2001; Davey and Dutta, 2004). In the present study 30 Anganwadi Workers were interviewed The Anganwadi Worker and helper are the basic functionaries of the ICDS. They are not government employees, but are called "social workers" or "voluntary workers". All the Anganwadi workers get about Rs.3500 as payment per month. They visit 5 houses every day. All Anganwadi workers get guidance from Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM). As mentioned by the AWW, it was found that the workers have only six days holiday during Christmas. The back ground characteristics of all selected AWWs are given in the following sections. Although much of the researches have been done on the nutritional status of the beneficiaries of ICDS, evaluation of nutrition and health services rendered by Anganwadi centers but very less focus has been shifted over to knowledge and awareness among the Anganwadi workers, who are actually the main resource person of the programme and whose knowledge and skills do have a direct impact on the implementation of the programme. As the Anganwadi workers play an important role due to their close and continuous contact with the people of community, especially the children and women, so there is an utmost need to assess the level of awareness in Anganwadi workers regarding services provided by them in Anganwadi centers. As the Anganwadi worker is the key person in the programme, her education level and knowledge of nutrition plays an important role related to her 6

7 performance in the Anganwadi centre (AWC). It has also been reported that, in addition to education level, training of Anganwadi workers about growth monitoring plays a beneficial role in improving their performance (Gopaldas et al., 1990). Nutrition knowledge was the most powerful determinant of performance, followed by guidance from the supervisors or health functionaries and education level (Gujral et al., 1992). Most of the Anganwadi workers were performing mechanically and were not clear with the basic concepts of their working. The national evaluation of ICDS by NIPCCD (1992) also shows that about 36.3 percent Anganwadi workers were not able to monitor the growth of children. The main reason that was pointed out was the lack of skills among Anganwadi workers in filling up growth charts. Since the success rate of this nationwide integrated programme solely depends upon the fact as to how we are preparing our ground workers to combat with the problem of malnutrition, it becomes really important to upgrade our ground worker i.e. Anganwadi worker with quality training and enhanced and advanced nutrition knowledge as nutrition knowledge was the most powerful determinant of performance (Gujral et al., 1992). The research has been able to identify dedicated Anganwadi workers, trainers and anganwadi centers that have been doing their work in an innovative manner using the best tools creatively and intelligently for the benefit of the young children in order to empower them with life skills. The initiatives of having tribal language translations of preschool education material in Orissa is a positive sign that preschool education tools are constantly being evaluated for their potential usage in different settings, language and regions. Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) are the implementers of Integrated Child 7

8 Development Scheme (ICDS). It is important to obtain the worker s viewpoints on their job-description, the problems they face and the levels of stress that they encounter, to address the quality of their services. The stressed AWWs are likely to be unhealthy, poorly motivated, less productive and less efficient in implementing the ICDS scheme. Thus, there is a need to evaluate the stress levels among the anganwadi workers and to understand the factors that influence the stress in this class of the population. This study was planned to study the stress among the anganwadi workers and the factors that are related to the stress this study was conducted among randomly selected anganwadi workers from amongst all the AWWs who attended the monthly meeting at the Child. 1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM The research problem in question is to explore the working conditions, socioeconomic conditions, challenges and problems of the Anganawadi workers, the present study is stated as Socio-economic Conditions of Anganawadi Workers: A Case Study of Raichur District. 1.3 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY The role played by Anganawadi workers is very significant in maintaining the health of pregnant women and children. Apart from their routine child and women health care, the Anganawadi workers are also looking after other government schemes such as Bhagyalaxmi and Janani Suraksha. Further, these teachers are working without any time limits like other government office works. But, it is noted that the honourarium paid by the government to Anganawadi workers is very low. Surprisingly, these workers do not 8

9 have retirement or retirement benefits for which there are no guidelines from the government. Due to their lower income, the Anganawadi workers are living below poverty line. As such they are also facing socio-economic problems in their families. It is also highlighted that many of the officials, who are executing the ICDS programmes are also involved in corruption, which has become challenge for the Anganawadi workers. So far, no significant study is made to explore the socio-economic conditions of Anganawadi workers. Existing literature appeared in the primary sources like JSTOR, Project Muse etc., and secondary sources like Sociological abstracts and JGate Plus databases, although literature exists on Anganawadi workers but no serious efforts were made to evaluate the socio-economic conditions in the Indian context except in the form of articles. More ever this sort of study in Hyderabad Karnataka region particularly Raichur district was not carried out, hence, the present study is proved to be significant to reveal the socioeconomic conditions and problems of Anganawadi workers in Karnataka in general and in Raichur district in particular. 1.4 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The objective of the study is to explore the socio-economic conditions and problems of Anganawadi workers. More particularly, the study aims To understand the family background of Anganawadi workers, To identify the education level of Anganawadi workers, To determine the working environment in Anganawadi, 9

10 To study the socio-economic conditions of Anganawadi workers, To seek the opinion about the facilities extended to the Anganawadi workers, To identify the health conditions of Anganawadi workers, To find out the effectiveness of ICDS programmes in Raichur district and To suggest the suitable measures to improve the socio-economic conditions of of Anganawadi workers. 1.5 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES The hypotheses of the study are Family background and educational level of Anganawadi workers is mainly of rural region and less educational credentials. Working environment and socio-economic conditions are likely do not support for the prosperous development of Anganawadi workers. Majority of the Anganawadi workers are not satisfied with the financial and benefits provided to their family. Social status among Anganwadi workers is likely to be less as compared other class of society. 1.6 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY Exploratory research design has been adopted to assess the role and responsibilities of anganwadi workers and effective implementation of anganwadi services to the beneficiaries 10

11 Sample Units: The research study aims to study the socio-economic conditions of Anganawadi Workers working as workers or Mukhya Sevikas in different Anganawadi Centres of Raichur district. Hence, Anganawadi workers are the sample units for the present study covering Raichur, Deodurga, Manvi, Sindhanur and Lingasur Selection of Sample Units: As per the Annual report of Women and Children Development Department ( ), Anganawadi Centre Information of Raichur Districts is shown in Table 1. Taluka Own construction School constructed Bo. Of Anganawadi teachers No. of Anganawadi worker assistants Devdurga Lingasugur Manvi Raichur Sindhanur As mentioned in the scope and limitations of the study, a sample survey was made to collect the primary data. There are five talukas in Raichur district in Karnataka and each of these talukas has villages. It is not possible to 11

12 survey all the Anganawadi centres located in all of these rural areas. Hence, the research scholar has used survey method covering five taulaks of Raichur district. This type of research has called for use of snowball sampling method to select the samples. The selected sample units from various talukas are shown in Table 2 showing age wise distribution and total samples covered in the study. Age of the Respondents RAICHUR DISTRICT TALUKAS years years 50 years Total years & above RAICHUR DEODURGA MANVI SINDHANUR LINGASUR TOTAL Frequency Percent 0.0% 59.5% 32.4% 8.1% 100% Frequency Percent 17.0% 56.2% 14.3% 12.5% 100% Frequency Percent 14.8% 51.9% 16.7% 16.7% 100% Frequency Percent 29.1% 54.5% 14.5% 1.8% 100% Frequency Percent 27.1% 57.9% 4.7% 10.3% 100% Frequency Percent 17.9% 56.5% 15.4% 10.2% 100% 12

13 Random sampling with Probability proportionate sampling has been used to collect the data from 402 respondents through questionnaire Collection of Primary Data: In order to elicit the data from the respondents keeping in view of the objectives of the study, Survey method has been adopted for collection of primary data Tools and Techniques: Questionnaire is by far the most important instrument used for the data collection and is supplemented by Interview tools were used to collect the data from Anganawadi workers of Raichur district. A preliminary survey was conducted at Manvi of Raichur district covering 30 samples and based on the feedback from the respondents, questionnaire schedule was finalized. Further, as majority of the Anganawadi workers are undereducated, questionnaire in local language is suitable research tool to collect the primary data. The questionnaire composed of using different scales like dichotomous, multiple choice, descriptive and rating. In addition to this, the researcher adopted personal observation technique to ascertain the information on the socio-economic conditions of Anganawadi workers at their work place. 13

14 Analysis and Discussion of the Data: The primary data collected through the questionnaire was coded and decoded using Statistical Package in Social Sciences (Ver. 20.0). The tables are tabulated and interpreted with cross tabulation by taluka-wise distribution of Raichur district. Based on the analysis and interpretations of the data, results are reported and suitable suggestions are given. Chi-Square Test and ANOVA Test has been applied to identify the extent of association between the variables and validate the hypotheses of the study LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY There are more than 400 villages in Raichur district and they come under five talukas, namely, Raichur, Manvi, Sindhanoor, Lingasaguru and Devdurg. It is estimated that there are more than 1000 Anganawadi Kendras are functioning in the district. It is not possible for the researcher to visit all these Anganawadi Centres and hence, the present study will be made on the basis of sample survey. Hence the researcher has covered a total population of 402 respondents in Raichur district CHAPTERIZATION as under. The research report will be organized into six chapters with two appendixes 14

15 The first chapter provides brief background information to the research topic. Here research problem will be clearly defined. The need for the study of the problem will be discussed. The importance of this research topic is stated briefly. The clear aims and objectives are to be discussed. The scope and limitations are set in this chapter. The details of the research methods used for the present research study are discussed. The first chapter will be written under the title Introduction to the Study. The Second Chapter reviews the existing literature published on Anganwadi workers under the title Review of Literature. Before conducting the present study, there is necessary to know about the research gap in the studies that are already conducted. Hence, the studies conducted and published already in the secondary literature such as research papers, books, journals, articles, conference and seminar papers are reviewed. The third chapter deals with background information on Anganawadi Workers as s the present study deals with Anganawadi workers, there is need to know about the objectives of Anganawadi centres in general. Further, it is also essential to examine the status of Anganawadi workers that is published in different information sources. 15

16 Geographical territory plays an important role in the status and development of the people. As such it is also applicable to the Anganawadi Workers in Raichur district. The fourth chapter will be covered the area, demography, population, literacy, education, employment, occupation, environment, etc of the Raichur district under the title Profile of the Study. To examine the socio-economic conditions of Anganawadi workers, there is need to collect the socio-economic status of Anganawadi workers in Raichur district. Here, the collected data through questionnaire will be represented in the form tables and the same is interpreted and discussed and these aspects are discussed in the fifth chapter under the title Data Analysis and, Interpretations. After the analysis and interpretation of the primary data, findings are derived from the study and summaries of the study are stated in Chapter six as Summary of Findings, Suggestions and Conclusion. Useful suggestions are given for the improvement and empowerment of women in rural areas. Apart from the above stated six chapters, two appendixes are given at the end covering Bibliography and Questionnaire. The research papers, books, Journal articles etc. that are used and relevant to the present study are listed in under the title Bibliography. The Interview Schedule used to collect Primary data is given in appendix. 16