‘Centre Will Have to Listen’, Say Protesting ASHA Workers, Demand Rs 26,000 Minimum Wages

New Delhi: Thousands of Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) workers from across the country converged in the capital city last week, demanding basic rights of minimum wages of Rs 26,000 a month, pension and dignified working conditions.

The protest, organised by Asha Workers and Facilitators’ Federation of India, was addressed by Centre of Indian Trade Unions General Secretary Hem Latha, CPI (M) Rajya Sabha MPs Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya and V Sivadasan, All India Kisan Sabha General Secretary Vijoo Krishnan among others.

The ASHA workers said they were awaiting the fulfilment of promises of permanent jobs. As per National Health Systems Resource Centre, there are 9.83 lakh ASHA workers, who form the backbone of the healthcare system and provide critical services. 

Madhu, an ASHA worker from Panipat in Haryana, said she was “dismayed” by the government’s apathy, as they do not even consider them contract employees.

“The contract employees are entitled to minimum wages of Rs 26,000 per month. The ASHA workers in Haryana get as low as Rs 8,000 per month. There is no increase in honorarium since 2018. However, every work related to the healthcare sector is assigned to us, be it taking pregnant ladies for routine check-ups to primary/community health centres, looking after immunisation programmes, surveying households or delivering medicines during epidemics. Now, we have been burdened with online work, whereas the primary task of caring for pregnant ladies and children has been side-lined”.

Explaining the nature of an ASHA worker’s job, Madhu said, “Our work begins when a woman is three months prergnant. We ensure the pregnancy matures without risk. If it is a high-risk pregnancy, we may have to take her for regular check-ups to PHC/CHCs (primary health centre or community health centres). Similarly, we see they do not have iron/calcium deficiency. We are also involved in making Ayushman Bharat cards.” 

She rebuffed the claim that ASHA workers were “volunteers” not workers. “If we are volunteers, why are we forced to work like regular workers?” she added.

ASHA workers from Uttarakhand recounted the challenges and hardships they faced in hilly regions that “have been completely forgotten by consecutive state governments”.

Mamta, an ASHA worker from Uttarakhand, told Newsclick: “It is indeed difficult to perform duties in the hills. There are narrow slippery roads where no vehicles can tread and the distance has to be covered by feet. It becomes onerous to perform duties during floods, storms and landslides. Despite such hardships, we are handed out paltry payments with delays spanning over months. What will we do with Rs 2,500?  Even a construction worker gets Rs 700 per day.”

She said the government admitted that ASHA workers serve as the “spine of the healthcare system, then why do they not give us our due? How do we survive on this amount? We have to educate our children, feed our families.” 

To the question of the “cold response” from bureaucrats and ministers on their demands, she said, “If they do not listen, we will intensify our struggle. We may change the government.” 

Kulma Chauhan, who had come for the protest from Dehradun in Uttarakhand, said that both the state and Central governments ordered them to stand at forefront in battle against the coronavirus pandemic.

“We put our lives at risk to ensure each infected person is segregated in quarantine. We provided essential medicines. We faced the ridicule and humiliation of senior officers. Yet, the leaders cheat on us by promising action on our demands,” she added.

Sangeeta Arjunmadi from Sangli district, Maharashtra, was vocal on the need for pension. “We look after the health of pregnant ladies, young children, infirm and older people. Who will look after us once we are not physically strong”, she said. 

Talking to NewsClick, A R Sindhu, Secretary, Centre of Indian Trade Unions or CITU, said the symbolic protest of 1,500 ASHA workers in the midst of the ongoing Parliament session should be seen as a warning to the BJP-led government.

“We have been fighting for minimum wages of 10 lakh ASHA workers. It is also the beginning of a bigger struggle to ensure that our due rights are delivered to us. We demand a Right to Health Act which should provide a robust framework for protection of the livelihood of healthcare workers. In the public health system, we are witnessing intense thrust for privatisation. ASHA workers have been treated as piece rate workers. Yet, they perform each necessary function, from surveying the pregnant mothers to final delivery. Why can't these workers be trained and given proper salaries?”, she said.

The National Health Mission began in 2010 and an incentive was fixed. “There has been no revision in this incentive whereas economists suggest that real wages have reduced by 60% in comparison with inflation,” she added.

Sindhu said, “If the powerful in Delhi do not listen, then we will have to resort to action similar to the farmers’ protests for direct bargaining. Massive actions have compelled different state governments to increase their portion of honorarium. So, Delhi will have to listen, too,” she added.