Labour of care, Pg8

Key Highlights:

• Anshakalin Stri Parichars (ASPs) in Maharashtra, primarily rural women, face stagnant wages of ₹3,000 since 2016 despite performing crucial health services.
• ASPs lack job security, pensions, safety gear, and travel allowance, highlighting a gendered and caste-inflected hierarchy of labor.
• A Nagpur labor court acknowledged ASPs' entitlement to Minimum Wages Act protection in 2023, but the State has only promised ₹6,000 a month by December 2025.
• ASHAs (Accredited Social Health Activists), created in 2005 under the National Rural Health Mission, also face similar issues of low pay and lack of recognition as employees.

Detailed Insights:

• ASPs predate ASHAs and anganwadi workers but have been historically ignored due to their socio-economic background.
• ASHAs serve as the community’s first link to the health system but are classified as "volunteers" and compensated through delayed incentives.
• Exploitation is seen in framing community health work as "opportunities" for rural women, despite risks like snakebites and accidents without insurance.
• Structural contradiction exists where India relies on women community health workers for key services but refuses to recognize them as entitled workers.
• Ongoing protests by ASPs in Kolhapur, Nagpur, Ratnagiri, and Yavatmal, and ASHAs across States, demand fixed honoraria, government staff recognition, and social security.
• Securing rural health requires ensuring the rights of women health workers through living wages, safe working conditions, and stable employment.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Minimum Wages Act: Legislation ensuring a basic minimum wage to workers, varying by region and occupation.
• Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA): Community health worker under the National Rural Health Mission, linking communities to the public health system.
• Anganwadi Worker: A frontline worker in the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) program, providing basic health and nutrition services at the village level.