ASHA, anganwadi workers in Assam yet to get their dues

Guwahati: For over 1.5 lakh ASHA and anganwadi workers in Assam, International Women’s Day was just another day without any recognition of their untiring efforts.
India’s one million all-women ASHA workers were awarded by WHO for their “outstanding” contribution to advancing global health, but in Assam, 33,000 of them are striving for fulfilling the basic household needs with a meager pay of Rs 3,000 per month — Rs 1,000 from the Assam government and Rs 2,000 from the Centre.
Mamata Rabha Talukdar, state president of Assam State ASHA Union, said, “We can not run our family with such a meagre pay because an ASHA worker needs to devote the whole day and can’t work elsewhere. We need to be alert 24 hours for safe delivery of pregnant women and other emergency cases. Our demand is Rs 21,000 per month and to be absorbed as full-time employees with entitlement to social security schemes.”
She added, “A ASHA worker was about to get Rs 22,000 each due to the time for declarations of financial assistance from the Centre and the state government for their service during the pandemic. We still have not got Rs 16,000,” said Talukdar. Without weekly offs and paid leaves, they have been rendering their services. Nani Likson Phukan, a ASHA worker from Tengakhat PHC in Dibrugarh, said WHO recognition has not helped in improving their lives. “Many ASHA workers are not even entitled to rice from fair price shops. They are paying for food items at the same price as other government employees. We do not even enjoy maternity leave,” she added.
An anganwadi worker who teaches gets Rs 6,500, while the helper (cooks food) gets Rs 3,250 a month. Though they get maternity leave of six months, they are working without any increment for more than 10 years.