Kerala ASHAs grudgingly welcome honorarium hike of ₹1,000; to continue with strike

The Kerala Cabinet’s decision hiking the monthly honorarium given to Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) by ₹1,000, has been grudgingly welcomed by Kerala ASHA Health Workers’ Association (KAHWA), which has been leading a strike by section of ASHAs in front of the Secretariat demanding better remuneration.

However, the hike in honorarium, which has come on the 263rd day of the strike by ASHAs, is too inadequate for the ASHAs to end their strike, KAHWA leaders said here.

In a statement here, KAHWA said that ASHAs were demanding that they should at least be paid the State’s minimum daily wage for government employees, which is ₹700. By announcing a paltry hike of ₹33 per day the government was in fact piling more insults on ASHAs, it said.

KAHWA’s main demand is that the monthly honorarium for ASHAs be made ₹21,000 and that they be given a one time retirement benefit of ₹5 lakh as well as pension benefits.

All 26,125 ASHAs in the State would receive the benefit of the enhanced honorarium – hiked from the present ₹7,000 per month to ₹8,000 per month.

KAHWA also protested that the government has not even made a mention of one of the primary demands of ASHAs, that of retirement benefits.

It has decided to continue its ongoing strike in front of the Secretariat with “renewed vigour”. KAHWA’s State committee would meet again soon to decide the next mode of protest, KAHWA leaders said.