8 months ago
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Braving the rains and the precocious September heat, hundreds of Anshakalin Stree Parichars, part-time women health-care attendants, from crossed Maharashtra person been staging an indefinite sit-in astatine Mumbai’s Azad Maidan since September 16, 2025.
Every day, slogans echo crossed the ground, “Awaz do, hum ek hain!... Phool nahi chingari hain, hum Bharat ki naari hain!... Aage ki bai halla bol, piche ki bai halla bol, prashashan pe halla bol...” “Yet, contempt their persistent voices, nary Minister has travel to conscionable them truthful far,” said Mangala Arun Meshram (55) the State president of the Mahila Parichar national who has travel from Adam colony successful Kuhi taluka of Nagpur district.
There are 10,673 specified attendants crossed Maharashtra who enactment intimately with Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM) successful sub-centres and superior wellness centres (PHCs) successful agrarian areas. A minimum qualification of till Class VII is required to get this occupation and they larn each kinds of aesculapian enactment astatine the health-care units.
The Anshakalin Stree Parichar class was created successful 1966 by Maharashtra’s Zilla Parishads. Although described arsenic “part-time,” these women enactment full-time hours, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and sometimes overnight, handling a wide scope of responsibilities successful sub-health centres and superior wellness centres (PHC).
Their enactment includes assisting childbirths (often independently), conducting vaccination drives, door-to-door wellness surveys, diligent care, helping successful surgeries, regular check-ups specified arsenic blood-pressure, sanitation duties, sweeping, mopping, cutting writer successful infirmary compounds, and adjacent COVID-19-related tasks specified arsenic RT-PCR investigating and vaccination drives. They are adjacent deployed astatine the authorities tally ayurvedic, allopathic and homeopathic dispensaries. Ms. Meshram said determination are 700 specified government-run dispensaries crossed the State wherever her colleagues work.
In an orangish colour file, Ms. Meshram has preserved impervious of their enactment successful the signifier of coloured photographs clicked connected mobile phones on with a statement of their work. “We prepared these to contiguous it to the Ministers for whom we are invisible. From the sub-centre, we are sent to aggregate locations specified arsenic PHCs oregon the dispensaries oregon to grip a childbirth. To scope these locations, we locomotion for hours arsenic we don’t get immoderate question allowance either and successful this meagre pay, we cannot afford,” she said.
They enactment from Mondays to Saturdays and successful lawsuit of exigency specified arsenic childbirth oregon immoderate wellness camp, they person to enactment without immoderate pay. They don’t person immoderate holiday, and they cannot instrumentality sick permission either.
Despite specified demanding work, they are paid lone ₹3,000 per month, a wage unchanged since 2016. They person nary pension, provident fund, question allowance, wellness insurance, oregon occupation security. Many, particularly widows and abandoned women, person been successful work for decades, hoping for imperishable presumption that has ne'er come.
“We bash deliveries connected our own, but the recognition and incentives spell to ASHA and ANMs. We are told, ‘don’t you already get a salary?’” said 1 attendant who has travel from Sangli.
Sixty-year-old Narmada Bai Gavai from Kajikhed village, Balapur taluka successful Akola district, started moving arsenic an attendant astatine 22. She was precise excited initially arsenic getting a authorities occupation is simply a large deal. Back then, my wage was conscionable ₹50 and, successful that amount, I person delivered babies, extracting placenta from uterus, cutting the umbilical cord, cleaning the baby, doing laundry, mopping, and each benignant of work. Our full lives person gone waiting for a wage raise. The ₹3,000 doesn’t adjacent past 2 weeks.”
Sulochana Mamurkar (48) from Khursipar colony successful Saoner tehsil of Nagpur district, recalled moving for escaped for 11 months earlier getting ₹500 a month. “27 years ago, moving a location successful conscionable ₹500, for the magnitude of work, was thing similar a slavery. Slowly the wealth accrued ₹1,100 and, successful that money, I person raised 2 daughters. But capable of this exploitation. Even erstwhile we were coming to signifier protest, we were threatened by the doctors and the aesculapian unit astatine PHCs and sub-centres that they volition propulsion america retired of occupation if we bash not get backmost to work,” she said.
The women narrated harrowing incidents of colleagues dying connected duty, 1 successful a roadworthy mishap portion traveling for COVID-19 duty, different from a snake wound portion cutting writer successful a PHC, and others portion travelling agelong distances to assigned centres during vaccination drive.
Ms. Meshram said, “One of our colleagues, Durga Gomkare from her Kelwad colony successful Nagpur who was connected her mode to the protestation tract successful Mumbai, had an mishap and suffered terrible caput wounded and passed away.”
Timeline of stagnant wages: From 1966–1985 the wage was ₹20 per month; 1986–1987 it was ₹50; from 1988 to 1995 it was raised to ₹80; successful 1995 State gave ₹400 and Centre ₹450; successful 2000 the State gave ₹500 and Centre gave ₹100; successful 2008 State accrued the wage to ₹800 and Centre was inactive giving ₹100; successful 2010 State accrued the wage to ₹1,100 and Centre stopped paying; from 2016 till present, State has been paying ₹2,900 and Centre gives ₹100.
The women attendants are demanding astatine slightest ₹26,000 per period and authoritative designation arsenic Multipurpose Health Workers and not part-time attendants.
In 2020, a lawsuit was filed nether the Minimum Wages Act astatine the Labour Court successful Nagpur, seeking ₹6,000 per month. In February 2023, the tribunal acknowledged their exploitation, stating they deserved wages astatine slightest comparable to the Minimum Wages Act, but near the last determination to the government.
Repeated meetings with Health Ministers and officials person led lone to promises. “On July 17, 2025, the Health Minister said helium would hole a proposal. On August 12, helium repeated the assurance. But thing has reached the Cabinet yet. On follow-ups, helium keeps saying that it volition do,” said Ms. Meshram.
State Public Health and Family Welfare Minister, Prakash Abitkar said, “They request not protestation erstwhile we are discussing the substance and affirmative steps volition beryllium taken to code their prolonged demands. We cannot disclose immoderate details regarding their wage standard hike and whether to marque them imperishable unit astatine this stage.”
The protesting women said they slumber astatine railway platforms astatine nighttime and get acceptable determination itself, returning to Azad Maidan the adjacent morning, to rise slogans. “It has been difficult, we are struggling with wealth and person near our children location to travel here. Just present we had luncheon spending ₹70 which is precise costly for america to afford. Despite each this, we volition not permission until our demands are met due to the fact that we person had capable of exploitation,” said Ms. Mamurkar.
“Anshakalin Stree Parichars predate adjacent ASHAs and Anganwadi workers. They are the backbone of Maharashtra’s nationalist wellness system, yet the astir neglected. The authorities has neglected their beingness and exploited them for years due to the fact that these are rural, underprivileged women who ne'er knew astir their rights,” said Shalik Maulikar, vice-president of the All India State Pensioners’ Federation.
