Bihar Govt Raises Monthly Honorarium of Thousands of Contractual Health Workers

Patna: In another step to fulfill the demands of thousands of contractual health workers in Bihar, the Mahagathbandhan government, led by Nitish Kumar, has increased their monthly honorarium. 

This decision will benefit 17,000 contractual health workers, including 8,000 ANM, who are working under the National Health Mission (NHM).

The state government has decided that the minimum monthly honorarium of contractual health workers will be Rs 15,000.

Bihar Health Secretary Sanjay Kumar Singh said that the decision to hike monthly honorarium of thousands of contractual health workers was taken in a high level meeting chaired by Development Commissioner Vivek Kumar Singh on Friday.

According to him, the monthly honorarium was increased by 10-25%. For instance, the monthly honorarium of ANM was increased to Rs 15,000 from Rs 12,500, a 20% increase. 

At the same time, the government gave a 10% increase to all such contractual health workers whose honorariums were more than Rs 15,000.

After repeated protests, last year, the state government increased the monthly honorarium of nearly 90,000 Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) in the state. It was an increase of monthly honorarium from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,500. 

Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, who is also health minister, wrote a letter to Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandviya, demanding him to increase the monthly honorarium under NHM from the Central government side.

Yadav’s demand has put pressure on the BJP-led Central government to either increase ASHA workers’ monthly honorarium or face their anger ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The Mahagathbandhan government gave the government employee status to more than 3.5 lakh contractual school teachers in December 2023 – responding to teachers' years-long demand and agitation.

The state government also increased monthly honorarium of thousands of anganwadi sevikas and sahayikas (helpers) in Bihar last year.

The Mahagathbandhan government has repeatedly stated that it is committed to creating more jobs to fulfil its promise of providing 10 lakh government jobs by 2025. Besides, the state government is working to create jobs in the private sector, mainly in infrastructure construction and others.

Last week, Yadav, in a social media post on X, claimed that between November 2023 and January 2024, within three months, Bihar became the first state in the country to distribute appointment letters to around 2,25,000 newly recruited school teachers.

The Mahagathbandhan government's focus on job creation is a strategic response to counter the BJP's Hindutva narrative, which lacks substantial offerings for youths seeking employment.