ASHA workers will get enhanced remuneration, says Health Minister Nadda 

Leader of House in Rajya Sabha JP Nadda speaks in the House during the Budget Session, in New Delhi on Tuesday.
| Photo Credit: Sansad TV

Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) will get enhanced remuneration, Union Health Minister J. P. Nadda informed the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday (March 11, 2025).

Also Read | Kharge questions Nadda over Minister’s absence from RS

The announcement comes at a time when there has been demand from across the country that ASHA workers, who form the backbone of the government’s outreach programme to reduce infant and maternal mortality, should get better pay. 

Parliament Budget Session Day 2 LIVE

The Mission Steering Group, which is the highest policy-making institution under the National Health Mission, at a meeting last week recommended to raise the incentives of ASHA workers, and the government will go ahead with it, Mr. Nadda told the Upper House. 

He was replying to supplementaries during the Question Hour. Lauding the work done by ASHA workers, Mr. Nadda said: “ASHA workers are doing a very good job and (have) my full appreciation for them because, at the grassroots level, their efforts have helped reduce maternal mortality, IMR (Infant Mortality Rate), and under-five mortality rate levels.” 

In response to another question over dues pending to be paid to the Kerala government by the Union Health Ministry, the Minister said: “As far as the Kerala government is concerned, the Government of India has given all its due, (but) the utilisation certification has not come.”

“The moment the certification (comes)… the amount to the ASHA workers and the State of Kerala would be given accordingly. But at this point, our share has been given to ASHA workers and the government,” the Minister said amid uproar by Opposition members.

Meanwhile, MPs of the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala held a protest in Parliament, demanding that the honorarium of ASHA workers be raised to ₹21,000 and they should receive ₹5 lakh as retirement benefits.