"Why 15,000 women descended on the streets of Bengaluru in a sea of pink", 3 January 2020

At least 15,000 women from across Karnataka had descended on the streets of the city, taking a rally out from the Bengaluru City Railway Station to Freedom Park in Gandhi Nagar. The women are ASHA workers – ‘honourary volunteers’ according to the Government of India – who do the crucial job of ensuring that the health and nutrition of people in our villages is up to mark...these women have not been paid properly for the past 15 months in Karnataka...

...ASHA workers – or Accredited Social Health Activists – are employed by the government in villages across India as ‘honourary volunteers’ to work on meeting the government’s health targets. This includes immunisation, institutional births, family planning, nutrition etc. In most states, ASHA workers are paid ‘incentives’ for the specific targets that they meet, and do not get a standard salary...

This is not the first time that the ASHA workers have gone on strike regarding non-payment of due and the demand for a pay-hike. They have come to Bengaluru on several occasions in the past two years...