ASHA workers protest, demand higher honorarium, oppose handling SAMASTA application
ASHA workers in Karnataka are protesting for a higher monthly honorarium of ₹15,000 and are refusing to use the SAMASTA digital application. They cite a lack of proper equipment, privacy concerns, and the burden of data entry as primary reasons for their opposition.
Why it matters
This reflects the challenges of digitizing public health infrastructure in developing regions and the labor rights concerns of frontline health workers.
Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) workers staged protests in Shivamogga and Hassan on Monday, demanding a monthly honorarium of ₹15,000 and relief from handling the SAMASTA application.
The State government introduced the SAMASTA application to digitise public health data and entrusted ASHA workers with the responsibility of entering the data. The workers alleged that they were not given good-quality mobile phones or tablets to use it, and that the government had also stopped the monthly ₹280 rent it paid to those using their personal phones for the work.
They demanded a support price for entering data on the application. They also expressed concern that their privacy was being compromised, since the app was being used on their personal phones.
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