Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) workers staged protests in Shivamogga and Hassan on Monday, demanding an increase in their monthly honorarium to ₹15,000 and opposing the responsibility of handling the SAMASTA application. The workers said the additional digital data-entry duties had increased their workload and called for the government to address their concerns.

The protests were organised to highlight the demands of ASHA workers, who are involved in delivering and supporting various public health services at the grassroots level. They sought a higher monthly honorarium, saying their existing remuneration did not adequately reflect the responsibilities they undertake as part of the public health system.

The workers also objected to being assigned responsibility for entering public health information through the SAMASTA application. The State government introduced the application to digitise health-related data and entrusted ASHA workers with the task of entering the required information into the system.

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According to the protesting workers, they have not been provided with good-quality mobile phones or tablets needed to carry out the digital work efficiently. They said the lack of suitable devices had made it difficult to complete the data-entry responsibilities assigned to them through the application.

The ASHA workers also raised concerns over the government’s decision to stop the monthly payment of ₹280 that had been provided as rent to workers who used their personal mobile phones for official data-entry work. They argued that the withdrawal of the payment added to the burden on workers who continued to use their own devices for carrying out the assigned duties.

Through the protests in Shivamogga and Hassan, the workers pressed the government to reconsider the honorarium and the arrangements for handling the SAMASTA application. They demanded appropriate support and resources for any digital responsibilities assigned to them, while seeking relief from duties they said had increased their workload without adequate compensation or equipment.

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