A tug-of-war between between hill leaders Anit Thapa and Raju Bista has started over Union minister of women and child development Smriti Irani and her Bengal counterpart Shashi Panja in the Darjeeling hills after education criteria to promote anganvadi helpers to anganvadi workers was modified recently.

Anit Thapa, the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM) chief and chief executive of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), detailed his efforts to highlight the issue of anganvadi workers.

According to Thapa, who is an ally of the Mamata Banerjee government in Bengal, he wrote to Panja on December 13, 2023, for a decision to increase the education promotion criteria for anganvadi helpers to workers from Class X to Class XII.

"The executive sabha of GTA also have taken note of the above and unanimously resolved in its meeting held on 03/11/2023 that the criteria for promotion to the post of anganvadi workers may be relaxed and brought down to Class X within GTA region since the process of promotion could not be taken up here for over a decade,” Thapa's letter on December 13, 2023 states.

Promotions could not take place in the hills without an elected panchayat system since 2005.

The change in the educational qualification criteria was issued on September 10, 2023, by the state government. There are around 3,000-odd anganvadi helpers in the Darjeeling hills.

The state government’s order to revert to the old educational qualification was issued on January 19, 2024.

Thapa, alluding to the state government said: “The workers have got justice. The government has heard our voice.”

The BJP's Darjeeling MP, Raju Bista, however, countered Thapa’s narrative, without naming him, and credited his party colleague and Union minister Irani.

"I express my heartfelt gratitude on behalf of the anganvadi workers in Darjeeling L.S. constituency to Hon’ble Minister of Women and Child Development, Ms. Smriti Irani ji, for her positive response to our request regarding continuation of old recruitment norms for promotion….”, stated Bista in a written statement.

Bista stated that after the anganvadi helpers met him on December 2 and apprised him “regarding a notification from the WB Govt”, he immediately wrote to the Irani for her intervention the same day.

Bista stated that the Centre issued a clarification on December 20, 2023, after which the state government memorandum modified the qualification.

The January 19 order of the state government does say that the criteria were being modified in terms of the clarification issued by the Centre on December 20.

Bista made public the clarification issued by the Union government to “all principal secretaries of all States/UTs” where it said that helpers who had been recruited before the Saksham Anganvadi and Poshan 2.O guidelines came about would be promoted under earlier provisions. These new guidelines were issued on August 1, 2022.