We request the Kerala Government to take necessary actions to end the day/night strike of the Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers in front of the Kerala secretariat for the last 17 days by meeting their just demands. ASHA workers were the backbone of our valiant fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. However, their work is not acknowledged by our society or our government. The honorarium they receive is paltry compared to the important work they are
doing.
Category Archives: Public health
This is NOT a law and order problem: The ASHA Workers’ Strike in Kerala– Althea
Now that the ASHA workers’ strike in Thiruvananthapuram has entered its third week and public support for the workers is growing, the Kerala government, instead of trying to solve the issue, is resorting to an age-old tactic: of turning this into a law-and-order issue. Provoked by the sizeable support the workers have garnered from civil society, the police have issued notices to fourteen public intellectuals and activists who participated in the mahasangamam meeting two days back, which was a massive success despite all the threats. They have been ordered to appear at the police station within 48 hours, and accused of disturbing order and obstructing traffic.
Continue reading This is NOT a law and order problem: The ASHA Workers’ Strike in Kerala– AltheaOpen Letter to the Kerala CM : The Need for Grace and Empathy in the State’s Response to the ASHA Workers’ Strike: Rajesh Ramakrishnan
Dear Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan
It is distressing to read the news of the way in which the ASHA workers’ strike in Kerala is being handled. To say that ASHA workers are being misled by anarchist organisations, as one of your senior leaders did, is to deny their own agency as they agitate for their just demands. It is wilful forgetting of the long history of trade unionism and social activism in the state, which contributed to the famed Kerala model of development.
Continue reading Open Letter to the Kerala CM : The Need for Grace and Empathy in the State’s Response to the ASHA Workers’ Strike: Rajesh RamakrishnanStrikedenigrating, Ilamaram Kareem Style: The ASHA Workers’ Strike in Kerala
After branding the ongoing ASHA workers’ strike in Kerala, now in its third week, as ‘unnecessary’, the CPM, the leading constituent of the ruling LDF, is now proceeding to stage 2 of strike-denigrating, deploying its master-strike-denigrator — the ex-Minister and CITU leader Elamaram Kareem. This man is notorious for his anti-people stance in many earlier workers’ struggles, notably the epic struggle to end the terrible pollution of the Chaliyar river by Birla’s factory there. The full misogyny that defines the present-day CPM leadership in Kerala, as well as its reeking elitism, may be found in the ugly article that he wrote in the CPM’s organ, Deshabhimani a couple of days back. Despite the CPM’s claims about ‘women’s empowerment’, if one takes Kareem seriously, it now firmly believes that the public care work that the ASHAs do are only ‘service’ and that they are ‘not workers’.
Continue reading Strikedenigrating, Ilamaram Kareem Style: The ASHA Workers’ Strike in KeralaLetter to the Kerala CM from a Concerned Citizen about the ASHA Workers’ Strike: ARCHANA RAVI
Dear Chief Minister,
In the democracy of our dreams, you, I and Asha workers are equal. But in this world, a (yet to be identified) person shouted at Asha workers from the first floor of the health minister’s official residence and they had to return without meeting the minister. A huge reason why the health department was praised by the world was the labour of these women. The minister’s demeanour towards them makes me wonder if she has forgotten this.
Continue reading Letter to the Kerala CM from a Concerned Citizen about the ASHA Workers’ Strike: ARCHANA RAVIThe Fight is Not Just About Better Pay: Solidarity with the Striking ASHA Workers of Kerala : TTCU
The Tamil Nadu Textile and Common Labour Union (TTCU) stands in solidarity with the ASHA workers of Kerala, whose strike has now entered its third week. As a women’s trade union we understand how difficult it is for women workers to step away from their responsibilities and take to the streets. It is never an easy decision, but one that becomes necessary when all other avenues to have their voices heard are exhausted.
Continue reading The Fight is Not Just About Better Pay: Solidarity with the Striking ASHA Workers of Kerala : TTCU
Care work is work: in solidarity with the striking ASHA workers in Kerala: Sustainable Kerala Menstruation Collective
ASHA workers, the backbone of community healthcare, are neither privileged nor part of the ruling class. They receive honorariums, not wages, for their essential services. This constitutes a clear instance of labor exploitation and informalisation, a practice ironically reminiscent of the current government’s own historical roots in worker strikes dating back to the 1920s. Today, Dalit, Bahujan, and Adivasi women are leading the charge in this strike, demanding recognition as workers entitled to dignified working conditions and a basic living wage.
Continue reading Care work is work: in solidarity with the striking ASHA workers in Kerala: Sustainable Kerala Menstruation CollectiveSalaam Anita! 1958 – 2024
Anita Ghai with friends on her birthday in 2021
Anita Ghai (October 23, 1958 – December 11, 2024) psychology scholar and practitioner, feminist and disability rights activist, taught at Jesus and Mary College, Delhi University, for about three decades, then moved to Ambedkar University Delhi, from where she retired as Professor. She is the author of (Dis)embodied Form: Issues of Disabled Women (2003), Rethinking Disability in India (2015) and a significant edited volume Disability in South Asia: Knowledge and Experiences (2018)
How much I learnt from you, Anita my friend, and how am I performing this unthinkable task of writing your obituary! I feel as if I am writing this for you to read, for you to be gently critical about, because for sure I would have missed a nuance or two while writing about the points at which gender and disability intersect, for you cannot be written about without reference to your thinking and your scholarship. About three decades ago you sought me out to have a conversation on disability, and that destablizing conversation never ever ended. You blew open my theoretical horizons by introducing me to the field of Disability Studies, to the idea of decentering disability from a medical to a social model, to the idea that we are not divided between abled and disabled bodies, but that we all occupy a continuum of being Temporarily Abled Bodies. A sudden fracture, an illness, and within a split second you move from abled to disabled body. You wear spectacles, your hearing is mildly impaired, you have that problem in bending your wrist because of a childhood fall – each one of us is on that continuum. Continue reading Salaam Anita! 1958 – 2024
क्या इस तरह भारत में कोरोना कभी ख़त्म होगा? राजेन्द्र चौधरी
Guest post by RAJINDER CHAUDHARY
पंद्रह दिन एक व्यस्क मरीज़ के साथ कोरोना वार्ड में गुज़ार के जब मैं अपने शहर पहुंचा तो पाया कि मेरे सैक्टर को ही कन्टेन्मन्ट ज़ोन बना रखा था. कन्टेन्मन्ट ज़ोन यानी ऐसा इलाका जिस में आने-जाने के रास्ते बंद किये हुए थे ताकि कोरोना पीड़ित इस सैक्टर में आवाजाही न हो सके. यह दावा कि मैंने 15 दिन कोरोना वार्ड में अपने मरीज़ के साथ गुज़ारे उन लोगों को अविश्वसनीय लग सकता है जो बड़े शहर के बड़े हस्पताल में दाखिल अपने कोरोना पीड़ित मरीज़ से संपर्क करने को तरसते रहे हैं. परन्तु यह सच है. मैंने भी सपने में भी यह नहीं सोचा था कि कोरोना मरीज़ की देखभाल के लिए मुझे उस के साथ हस्पताल में रहना पड़ सकता है. सरकार की कोरोना नीति की बहुत सारी आलोचना मैंने पढ़ी-सुनी और की थी पर मुझे इस का अहसास नहीं था कि बाकी मरीजों की तरह हस्पताल में दाखिल अपने कोरोना मरीज़ की देखभाल भी खुद करनी होती है. सच में भारत धुर विसंगतियों का देश है. एक ओर हमारी सरकार पूरे इलाके को ‘कन्टेनमेंट ज़ोन’ (नज़रबंद इलाका) घोषित कर सकती है ताकि वहां से कोरोना पीड़ित दूसरी जगह जा कर संक्रमण को फैला न सकें और दूसरी ओर हस्पताल में कोरोना पीड़ित मरीज़ की देखभाल के लिए किसी परिजन को उस के साथ रहना पड़ता है. चौबीस घंटे तो कोई एक व्यक्ति मरीज़ की देखभाल कर नहीं सकता था. इस लिए हम दो लोग अपने परिजन की देखभाल के लिए उस के साथ शिफ्टों में रहते थे जिस के चलते हमारा कोरोना वार्ड से घर आना जाना लगा रहता था. इस से न केवल हम परिचारकों के संक्रमित होने का ख़तरा था अपितु नियमित तौर पर घर आने जाने के कारण हम और लोगों को भी संक्रमित कर सकते थे.
Continue reading क्या इस तरह भारत में कोरोना कभी ख़त्म होगा? राजेन्द्र चौधरी
KAFILA - COLLECTIVE EXPLORATIONS SINCE 2006 