As I write these words, I have just returned from an emotional visit to striking ASHA workers in Thiruvananthapuram. I write this column not just as a supporter of ASHA workers but as a citizen who believes in fairness, justice, and dignity for those who serve us every single day.

ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activists, a programme started as part of the National Rural Health Mission in 2005 by Dr.Manmohan Singh’s government) is an unsung scheme that deserves far more recognition than it gets. ASHA workers are the unknown heroes of our healthcare system. They are the ones who rush to a mother in labour at midnight, who ensure our children get vaccinated, who educate families on hygiene, and who walk miles -- without complaint -- to deliver medicines to the elderly. They collect and file accurate medical data of people around the state. They do not ask for fame or luxury. All they ask for is fair wages, dignity, and recognition for their tireless work.

And yet, today, these women -- who saved thousands of lives during the COVID-19 pandemic -- are being forced to strike for what is rightfully theirs.

What is shocking is the extent to which we seem to be blind to their suffering.

Would you work 12 to 14 hours a day without a fixed salary? Would you leave your own sick child at home to take care of another family, knowing that at the end of the month, you might not even get paid? And yet why do you -- we -- expect ASHA workers to do just that?

This is the cruel reality of our ASHA workers today. The government owes them months of wages and incentives. They have no fixed working hours. They have no retirement benefits. They are treated as ‘volunteers’ instead of healthcare workers, even though they do work that saves lives.

We say India is progressing. We say Kerala is a model state in healthcare. Then why are the very people holding up our healthcare system being treated so poorly?

Part of the answer, some women tell me, is that women’s labour is always undervalued.

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Shashi Tharoor with protesting ASHA workers in Thiruvananthapuram
Shashi Tharoor interacts with protesting ASHA workers in Thiruvananthapuram

Almost every ASHA worker is a woman. And this is where the problem begins. Society always assumes that a woman’s work -- whether in the kitchen, at home, or in healthcare -- is just a ‘duty’ and not real labour.

If ASHA workers were mostly men, do you think they would have to beg for salaries? No. They would have received fair wages and benefits long ago.

This is not just about healthcare. This is a gender equality issue. It is about respecting women’s labour, valuing their work, and giving them the dignity they deserve.

They deserve our sympathy and the state’s support. We are entering a dangerous time where climate change is bringing new health threats -- mutated viruses, drug-resistant bacteria, and unknown diseases.

Remember how COVID-19 took the world by surprise? Imagine a deadlier virus emerging tomorrow. Who will protect our communities? Who will be the first to respond in Kerala?

It will be the ASHA workers.

If we do not support them today, we are putting our entire healthcare system in danger. Without them, we are unprepared for the next pandemic, the next outbreak, the next disaster.

The Kerala government claims to be progressive, people-friendly, and development-focused. But what kind of development ignores the working class? The ruling party claims to speak for the interests of the proletariat. What kind of government lets its health workers go unpaid while spending crores on publicity campaigns?

And now, when ASHA workers demand their rightful wages, some LDF leaders are calling it a ‘political agitation.’ They have threatened to dismiss the ASHA workers who are exercising their democratic right of peaceful protest. It is a disgraceful admission of their failure that they are confident they can find replacement workers for jobs with such a negligible salary and a track record of three to four months of even such meagre wages remaining unpaid.

How is this protest by innocent women in distress a ‘political agitation’?

When a woman leaves her children at home to work 14 hours a day, is that politics?

When she walks from village to village in the scorching sun, ensuring mothers and children are healthy, is that politics?

If the government truly believes development has no politics, then why is it delaying justice for these women?

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Shashi Tharoor with protesting ASHA workers in Thiruvananthapuram
Shashi Tharoor addressing protesting ASHA workers in Thiruvananthapuram

I ask the government: Do not insult these women by making excuses. Their demands are simple, and they must be met NOW:

(a)  Increase their honorarium to Rs 21,000 -- because Rs 7,000 a month for 12 hours of daily work is exploitation. If a tripling of the wage is not immediately possible, double it to at least match the rates currently paid to MNREGA workers, who render less vital services.

(b) Clear their pending dues immediately -- because no one should work without pay.

(c) Ensure their social security benefits -- because they give their lives to service and deserve security.

(d)  Fix working hours and recognize them as formal healthcare workers -- because they are NOT volunteers; they are lifesavers.

And finally, (e) consider emulating the government of West Bengal, which gives every ASHA worker retiring at the age of 62 a handsome cheque of five lakh rupees to cushion their old age. After all they have done for society in their working lives, that is the least the state could offer them.

I want to tell the ASHA sisters that they are not alone. I assured the ones -- ASHA workers from several districts protesting in front of the Secretariat today -- that “you are not just fighting for yourselves, you are fighting for the future of public healthcare in India.” I thanked them for their services and they said no one had thought of doing that before.

Gandhi Ji once said, “You may never know what results come of your actions, but if you do nothing, there will be no result.”

Their courage has already shaken the system. Their voices have been heard. Now, we must not stop until justice is done.

To those reading these words today -- if we let this injustice continue, tomorrow, when we need ASHA workers the most, they will not be there. If we do not support them today, we will all suffer tomorrow. If we let the state government dismiss these poor women for the crime of protesting this flagrant violation of their civil rights, we will all be complicit in a monstrous injustice.

Let us stand together. Let us fight for justice. Let us remind the government that development without dignity is not progress -- it is oppression. Jai Hind!