On the 18th day of the agitation, the Kerala government has made an attempt to meet one of the demands made by the striking ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) workers.

Health Minister Veena George on Thursday said that the government had sanctioned the honorarium arrears for the month of January. With this, all the arrears have been cleared. Along with this, the incentive arrears of the last three months have also been sanctioned.

The move comes a day after the ultimatum served on the agitating ASHA workers by the National Health Mission state director. The director, in a circular, had ordered the agitating workers to get back to their jobs immediately.

Like the NHM circular, the carrot now dangled in the form of payment of arrears has also been ignored by the striking ASHAs. They will continue with their agitation and will go ahead with the Legislative Assembly march on March 3 to coincide with the resumption of the Budget Session of the Assembly.

Their major demands - an increase in monthly honorarium from Rs 7,000 to Rs 21,000 and a retirement benefit of Rs 5 lakh - have still not been considered. The striking ASHA workers feel that the payment of arrears was the least the government could do. "Even the little we get have been withheld from us. How can the government claim to have done anything big for us by paying us the money that we should have anyway got. The government is duty-bound to pay us this money. It is not a favour," an ASHA worker said.

ASHA workers say they will call off their strike only after their major demands are met. The CPM-affiliated CITU's open call to isolate the striking ASHA workers has also strengthened their anti-government resolve.

The fact is, the Health Department has no plans to increase the honorarium to the level that the ASHA workers want. Last December, the department had recommended an increase of Rs 500-Rs 1000 in the honorarium, not by Rs 10,000 or more as the ASHA workers have demanded. At this stage, the government has no intention to take up the retirement benefits of ASHA workers.

Health Minister Veena George blamed the Centre for the plight of ASHA workers. "The Centre has yet to pay its share of Rs 100 crore meant for ASHA workers," she told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram. "It is the plight of ASHA workers that we had taken up first with the union health minister (J P Nadda)," she said.

However, even while claiming that the state government was sympathetic to the concerns of ASHA workers, the health minister attempted to play down the significance of their agitation. "Less than 2,000 ASHAs are taking part in the agitation," she said. According to official figures, there are nearly 28,000 ASHAs doing fieldwork in Kerala.

​What does an ASHA do
Here are some of the functions of an ASHA worker. One, she will provide information to the community on determinants of health such as nutrition, basic sanitation and hygienic practices, healthy living and working conditions, information on existing health services and the need for timely utilisation of health and family welfare services.

Two, she will counsel women on birth preparedness, the importance of safe delivery, breast-feeding and complementary feeding, immunization, contraception and prevention of common infections, including Reproductive Tract Infection/Sexually Transmitted Infections (RTIs/STIs) and care of the young child.

Three, she will mobilise the community and facilitate them in accessing health and health-related services available at the Anganwadi/sub-centre/primary health centres, such as immunisation, Ante Natal Check-up (ANC), Post Natal Check-up supplementary nutrition, sanitation and other services being provided by the government.

An ASHA, a resident of the village married/ widowed/divorced and preferably in the age group of 25 to 45 years, will receive performance-based incentives for promoting universal immunization, referral and escort services for Reproductive & Child Health (RCH) and other healthcare programmes, and construction of household toilets.