The Delhi government has closed 22 of the 44 standalone crèches operated by NGOs under the PALNA scheme, affecting families and working women across the national capital. The decision was first detailed in an order by Delhi’s Women and Child Department on March 5, followed by a June 20 order mandating the closure from July 1. 

The closures are in line with the centre’s efforts to restructure the PALNA scheme, funded 90 percent by the centre and 10 percent by the Delhi government. The scheme will now introduce anganwadi cum crèches, or AWCCs, which will require lesser human resources, and financial and administrative costs as compared to standalone crèches. But this transition poses critical logistical limitations and mounts concerns about accessibility to childcare and support for working mothers. 

While each of these 22 standalone crèches could accommodate 25 children, anganwadis typically have capacity for only eight to 10 children. Moreover, while the standalone crèches operate from 9 am to 4 pm, crèche services at anganwadis are available only for three hours, from 9 am to 12 pm. The crèches are also mandated to remain open for at least 26 days in a month, unlike anganwadis that operate for 15 days every month on average, as per data on POSHAN Tracker. This translates to significantly reduced access to childcare services. 

The fallout also extends to as many as 44 workers employed across these now-closed crèches, as each of the 22 standalone crèches employed one teacher and one helper, who now find themselves without a job. 

The move comes two years after the erstwhile National Crèche Scheme was renamed PALNA Scheme under sub-scheme ‘Samarthya’ of Mission Shakti in November 2022. This was after the Union finance ministry recommended the merger of crèches with the nearest anganwadi centres in response to a report by the Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office under the NITI Aayog. The report had suggested that most states prefer to run AWCCs rather than maintain separate standalone crèches, citing cost-cuts.   

The June 20 order by the Delhi government, seen by Newslaundry, stated that no further funding would be allocated to 22 crèches by the centre or states and that efforts are underway to expand the availability of AWCCs across the city.

Women quit jobs, question effectiveness of revised scheme

The women involved in labour-intensive jobs or the unorganised sector are the most affected by the shift in the scheme. Among those is Pooja, 28, a factory worker from Mukhmelpur, whose three-year-old son was cared for at a crèche run by the Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust till three months ago. “Now I have to leave my son at a neighbour’s house when I go to work. It’s not convenient to ask for favours every day.”

Seema, 31, a househelp from Dakshinpuri and mother of two-and-a-half-year-old twins, told Newslaundry that the closure of the crèche near her house has “disrupted” her life and forced her to quit her job. “I used to leave my twins at the crèche by 9 am and go to work, but now I had to quit my job to look after them.” 

Rehana, 30, who has a four-year-old son and worked at a factory as a cleaner, faced the same issue. The East Vinod Nagar resident said that the nearest anganwadi is also “far from my house”. 

After the closures, many women like Seema and Rehana have been forced to quit their jobs or significantly reduce their work hours to care for their children, who previously relied on the crèches for supervision and meals.

The situation is particularly challenging for single mothers. Sheela, 35, who has two toddlers and began living apart from her husband in February due to domestic issues, said that because of crèche closure, she was forced to quit her job at a thread factory, and now “it is getting tough to make ends meet”. 

The Zamrudpur resident said, “I worked at a thread factory nearby and have two children, one of whom is over three years old and the other one is one-and-a-half years old. My work timings were 9 am to 4 pm, and I used to leave my children in the crèche. Now that option is gone.”

Neelam, 28, another factory worker, said that earlier there was “assurance that my child is in a safe place and would get food,” but the changes in the scheme have raised questions about whether it will be effective in meeting the needs of working parents.

Anganwadis may not be effective substitutes 

Poonam, 30, a housewife and mother of four children, said that she would send them to the Shahpur Garhi crèche and “complete house chores, but now it's getting difficult”. 

Teachers at some crèches told Newslaundry that many parents enroll their children in crèches to provide them with early learning experiences in a preschool environment, and they did not necessarily come from households with both parents working jobs. 

Sushma, 40, an anganwadi worker in Northwest Delhi, said that there have been no admissions of toddlers at her centre despite the closure of crèches in July. She said that her centre operates only between 9 am and 12 pm and takes in children aged between three and six years, but the standalone crèches provided care for children aged between six months and six years.

In accordance with the rules under the PALNA scheme, crèches remain open for at least 26 days every month. But out of the 10,898 anganwadi centers in Delhi, as per the POSHAN tracker, only two remain open for at least 25 days in a month. Lata, 36, a worker at a crèche in Andrews Ganj, told Newslaundry that “the nature of our work hardly allows us to take any leave, and sometimes they even ask us to open the creche on holidays”. 

Meanwhile, a child development project officer in the South-East district, said, “I’m uncertain whether this AWCC scheme will be effective. It will take a considerable amount of time before we see results.”

During the 15th Finance Cycle, the government envisioned the establishment of 17,000 AWCCs. The proposal for as many as 5,631 of these centres across several states and UTs has been approved so far.  

Till November 30, 2023, at least 2,249 standalone crèches aided by the centre were operational. The 15th Finance Commission allocated Rs 20,989 crore to the PALNA scheme under the Mission Shakti initiative for the period between the fiscal years of 2021-2022 and 2025-2026.

NGOs, workers say ‘no funding, salaries since 2022’ 

Lalita, a 50-year-old teacher who worked at a crèche in Rohini, told Newslaundry that she has been out of work since July, when the crèche closed. “It was my only source of income. I am somehow managing now.” 

Meanwhile, Geeta, a former helper at a crèche in North-East district, said that her income helped her meet household expenses for their family of four. “It’s tough now without my income.” 

The crèche teachers receive Rs 6,500 per month as salary, while the pay for the helpers is Rs 3,200. Many of these workers claimed that they have been recording pay cuts or receiving salaries irregularly because their NGOs have not been receiving funds from the government.   

Some teachers told Newslaundry that for several months their NGO paid them only Rs 3,000 from the NGO’s funds. Lata from the Andrews Ganj crèche also claimed that she has not been receiving her full salary since 2022. 

Veena Khanna of Mahila Pratiraksha Mandal, which earlier operated 12 crèches with government funding, said, “We received our last funding in 2022. Since then, we have been managing on our own.” Khanna added that now only seven of the 12 crèches are operational. 

Newslaundry reached out to the secretary at the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development and the Delhi government’s Department of Women and Child Development with queries on the matter. This report will be updated if we receive a response. 

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