During the horrific phase of the corona epidemic ASHAs worked hard day and night, even risking their lives for the discharge of their duties. Dozens of ASHAs died and hundreds of them got infected by Covid but they received no institutional help from the government or the health department. During this entire period they were not paid even travel allowance by the state government. In 2020, they received they received Rs 3000 for 3 months from the Central government at the rate of Rs 1000 per month, which was not sufficient even for their rickshaw fare. The work extracted from ASHA workers included home-to-home surveys and vaccination centre duties, but no financial help was given to them. Doctors and nurses were provided refreshment but this was denied to ASHAs. The truth is that the government wants to extract forced labour from ASHA workers. They are made to do regular as well as emergency service duties, but they are deemed ‘health volunteers’ by the government. The central and state governments are both running away from the issue giving ASHAs regular monthly honorarium and status of health department workers.
ASHAs are kept busy day and night with institutional deliveries, vaccinations and various health campaigns. They have to do 52 kinds of work and their working hours are 24 hours 7 days a week. PHCs, APHCs, CHCs and other local hospitals depend on ASHAs for their functioning, but the whole system remains insensitive towards the issue of regularizing their services and paying them remuneration which can sustain them. They are the backbone of the entire health campaign of the state but the state government evades the issue by shifting the responsibility on to the Central government.
In 2018 ASHAs held a 38-day strike in Bihar. It was only when the entire health service collapsed that the Bihar government spoke of a compromise by which ASHAs would be paid a monthly honorarium of Rs 1000. But in the agreement the BJP minister cleverly changed the word ‘honorarium’ and used the word ‘reward’ instead. This has caused huge resentment in the ASHA workers, who rightly say that they do not want a ‘reward’ but payment for the work done by them.
The ground reality is that in these times of skyrocketing inflation, many families of ASHAs are on the brink of starvation and suffering from malnutrition. They do not even have a fixed income of Rs 3000 per month. How then can they run their families and see to their children’s education? Even the work-based incentives that they are supposed to receive are not paid on time and they are forced to pay ‘commission’. It was in this background that an indefinite state-wide strike was called from 17 February by the ASHA Samyukta Sangharsh Samiti which included two organizations, Bihar State ASHA Workers Association (Gope Group/AICCTU) and ASHA Sangharsh Samiti (CITU). ASHAs raised the slogan ‘we will not do forced labour anymore!’ in one voice. Massive ground level mobilization was started on these issues and demands. Written notice was given to PHCs of the strike from 17 February. Memorandums were submitted to the health department, Health Minister and Chief Minister two months’ in advance. Notice of the strike was given to the government 20 days prior to the commencement of the strike. On February 16, a day before the strike, the Patna High Court took cognizance and directed the department to discuss the demands within a week. The High Court highlighted the notable work done by ASHAs during the Corona period and said that none of their demands are such that cannot be met; therefore the HC said the matter should be resolved and appealed to the striking organizations to postpone the strike. Under the direction of the High Court, talks were held with the Executive Director of the State Health Committee, but the talks did not cover any of the fundamental issues. Talks with the department were supposed to be held in March, but so far there is no mention of these talks. The main demands of the striking organizations are: the state government must fix a minimum of Rs 10000 as honorarium per month, not ‘reward’; Rs 10000 as Corona allowance for all ASHA workers for the Corona time period; ASHAs should be declared employees of the health department.
In view of the insensitivity of the government and the health department, ASHA workers and facilitators in large numbers gathered at the protest organized in Patna on 11 March in front of the Vidhan Sabha. The rally started from Gate Public Library and culminated in a mass meeting at the dharna site in Gardanibagh, presided over by Bihar State ASHA Workers Association President Shashi Yadav and Lukman. CPIML MLAs Mehboob Alam, Mahanand Singh, Arun Singh, Sudama Prasad, Rambali Singh Yadav, Amarjit Kushwaha, AIPWA State President Saroj Choubey and others addressed the meeting and expressed solidarity with the just struggle of ASHA workers. The demands of ASHAs and other scheme workers were raised strongly inside the Assembly. An adjournment motion on these issues was also placed in the House. The Speaker gave permission only for the adjournment motion to be read out in the Assembly. ASHA leaders said firmly and clearly that we are now raising the issue with the state government; soon we will go to Delhi to demand answers from the anti-ASHA Modi government. ASHAs are running their own organization and leading their own movement. Through their movement ASHA workers are writing a new chapter in the history of working women’s struggles. A resolution was passed from the meeting to demand from the Central and State Governments that there should be a structural change in the service rules of ASHAs. ASHAs should be declared health department employees and the cost for this should be borne jointly by the Central and State governments. Arrangements should be made for PF, health insurance, pension etc for ASHA workers. A call was given from the meeting to participate in full force in the All India strike called for 28-29 March. It was decided to stop all work other than emergency services and bring the PHCs to a standstill. ASHAs are fighting, and confident of victory.
