ASHA workers are the ones who visit individual houses with children and mothers and facilitate access to health-related services available at the Anganwadi/sub-centre/primary health centers, such as immunisation, Ante Natal Check-up (ANC), Post Natal Check-up supplementary nutrition, sanitation and other services being provided by the government. "I don't have a single penny with me and it is really difficult to run home without a salary," says Rajeshwari M who is an ASHA worker in Ballari. She is a single mother and has two school-going children. Having lost her husband two years ago, Rajeshwari works hard to make ends meet. Much like her, there are thousands of workers across the state who haven't received their salaries for the past two months from the State Government and for one month from the Central Government. Rajeshwari says, "What disappoints us more is that we are forced to work even without receiving salaries for more than two months. We are assigned COVID duties almost everyday. As ASHA workers we are supposed to check on the health of pregnant women and lactating mothers and children. However, we are forced to do surveys on the field and do home visits for COVID patients who are under home-isolation."
Rashmi Patil, ‘Why has the government of Karnataka held the salaries of 42,000 ASHA workers during the pandemic?’, Edex Live
