The impressive ASHA rally of 5th September marks the culmination of serious organising efforts which merit some attention. So in addition to a brief report of the event we bring you here a state-level story submitted by an AICCTU leader who is also a senior co-convenor of the All India ASHA/SAHIYA Union, a block level experience sent by a leading AIPWA cadre and a perspective analysis from an editor of Liberation.
Delhi, 5 September 2011. Braving heavy downpour, thousands of Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) from different states, notably Jharkhand, Assam (including Karbi Anglong), Bihar, and Uttarakhand, held a maha-dharna at Jantar Mantar near Parliament in New Delhi under the banners of All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU) and All India ASHA/SAHIYA Association. This was the first ever national-level protest on behalf of more than 7 lakh ASHA workers.
A six member delegation from the dharna handed over a memorandum to the Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad. The memorandum pointed out, inter alia, that the Planning Commission has recommended another 4 lakh ASHAs to be added to the existing 7 lakhs by the year 2012 so as to achieve Eleventh Five Year Plan targets on reducing maternal mortality ratio, infant mortality rate etc. It has further recommended appropriate monetary and non-monetary incentives, including higher salary and better housing facilities, to encourage qualified health workers to serve and stay in rural areas. But in practice, these recommendations are never taken seriously, the memorandum observed.
The main speakers who addressed the dharna were AICCTU General Secretary Swapan Mukherjee, Beena Devi (Convenor of the All India ASHA/Sahiya Association), Shashi Yadav (Co-convenor), Subhash Sen (Co-convenor and AICCTU national Secretary), Hemlata Som and Mukul Bhhatacharya (Co-convenors) and other leaders. ASHA leaders from different regions also shared with their colleagues their typical experiences and their resolve to fight on.
The speakers strongly condemned the Centre’s and the state governments’ criminal neglect and disregard for the ASHA workers. The basic fact of recruitment of ASHA as honorary volunteers, they pointed out, subjects them to inhuman exploitation. They are forced to toil only on incentives, do not have fixed duty hours and have to work for twenty four hours a day in extreme insecurity even in remote villages and hill areas. To make matters worse, the list of their responsibilities is always growing with newer items, such as health survey. The condition and treatment meted out to these workers tells the truth about the women’s empowerment in our Country.
The dharna also demanded that resolutions be passed in state assemblies in support of the ASHA workers’ demands.
