Kerala ASHA workers live on hope as promised wage hike eludes

As women health care workers' protest enters 30th day amid political blame game, ADITI PHADNIS explores the Centre-state funding ratio debate

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Since their cohort was created in 2005, Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers have been a bulwark of India's basic health care delivery system. But as their strike in Kerala enters its 30th day, activists camping under makeshift tents outside the Thiruvananthapuram Secretariat have pledged to escalate their protest. At its core is a single demand: "Pay us what you promised."

Kerala has around 26,000 ASHA workers, a small fraction of the 1.1 million nationwide. Yet, their protest has drawn extensive attention, particularly from the Opposition in the state.

Last week, several senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, including Shobha Surendran and P K Krishnadas, endorsed the strike, calling on the state government to take responsibility. Union Minister Suresh Gopi joined the workers in the pouring rain. Leaders from the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), including Ramesh Chennithala and P K Kunhalikutty, have visited the protest site and criticised the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government for ignoring the workers' concerns. Meanwhile, the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) has dismissed the strike as "anarchist" and "politically motivated".

The LDF government, now in its second consecutive term, had promised in its 2021 manifesto to increase ASHA workers' daily honorarium to ₹700, up from ₹232 they currently receive. This would amount to around ₹21,000 a month.