The Kerala government decided to freeze the order to fix the retirement age of Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers to 62 years. Notably, the Kerala ASHA Health Workers Association (KAHWA), has been protesting since February 10, 2025, asking for retirement benefits and an increase in their honorarium. The freeze order is a victory for them; however, their aforementioned demands are not mentioned.
The health minister said that the retirement age had already been frozen, but the order has come out now. “The order saying so only came out now. It is, therefore, definitely a victory for our agitation”, reported PTI, citing M A Bindu, general secretary of KAHWA.
What Do ASHA Workers Do?
ASHA workers are the primary health workers to create awareness in the community. They are trained to spread information among the people to utilise the health services available and maintain good health. They also offer curative care, including counselling the community women about birth planning, safe delivery, immunisation, contraceptives, and taking care of the young child.
They also help community members access the health care services available at primary health centres or sub-centres.
They are also trained in providing primary medical care for minor health issues like fevers or diarrhoea and first aid for minor injuries.
They are allotted areas to spread health-related awareness. They keep track of births and deaths in their areas or villages and inform the primary health centre or sub-centre in case of any disease outbreak and some other unusual health problem in the community.
ASHA Workers In Kerala And Their Incentives:
According to a reply in Lok Sabha on February 3, 2023, by Bharati Pravin Pawar, then Minister Of State In The Ministry Of Health And Family Welfare, there were 26448 ASHAs in Kerala as of September 30, 2022.
In 2024, Prataprao Jadhav, Minister Of State In The Ministry Of Health And Family Welfare, said in a written reply in Lok Sabha that ASHAs receive a fixed incentive of Rs 2,000 every month across the country. The incentive is for their routine activities. They are also given performance-based incentives over this amount for other activities under the national health programmes.
In addition to this, states and union territories also provide them incentives over and above the incentives provided by the Government of India.
As per the data provided in the reply on November 29, 2024, the Kerala state government provides Rs 6,000 per month from state government funds as an ASHA Honorarium.
Since last year, ASHA workers have also been covered under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), under which they provided health insurance for Rs 5 lakh.
However, in Kerala, the agitation will continue until ASHAs’ other demands are met, including a hike in their honorarium and provision of retirement benefits, said Bindu. They demand retirement benefits to be offered to them if they retire between the ages of 60 and 65, similar to what is available in West Bengal.
