Field Note: ‘Please Don't Mention My Name. I'll Lose My Only Source Of Income’
Preeti Singh
It took several calls before she answered. When she finally did, she sounded anxious. Before I could explain why I was calling, she kept asking what the conversation was about and who would read it.
Let’s call her R. I cannot identify her because she asked me not to. Before saying anything else, she said, “Please don’t mention my name. I will lose my only source of income.”
Only after I assured her I would protect her identity did she agree to speak.
I had called to ask about maternity benefits for ASHA workers—the Accredited Social Health Activists who visit homes, track pregnancies, ensure children are vaccinated and, in many villages, are the only connection between the public health system and families.
When I asked whether she received maternity benefits, she fell silent.
“I don’t know what maternity benefits are,” she said.
For a moment, I wondered if she had misunderstood the question. I explained that women employed by the government and many private companies receive paid maternity leave before and after childbirth.
Before I finished, she interrupted me.
“We don’t get any of that.”
Instead, she told me about something else: unpaid work.
ASHA workers, she explained, receive a monthly honorarium of Rs 2,000. Most of their income comes from incentives for tasks such as health surveys, immunisation drives and other public health work. Those payments, she said, had not arrived for five or six months.
I asked why she continued.
“How can I leave?” she replied without hesitation. “This is my only source of income.”
A few days later, another ASHA worker in Delhi filled in the picture. In a good month, she said, incentive payments could reach Rs 10,000, depending entirely on how much work was assigned. But assignments had become scarce.
She told me that during the COVID-19 pandemic, her husband fell seriously ill and lost his job.
“Bhagwan ki dua se, woh theek ho gaye.” By God’s grace, he recovered.
Since then, she has been supporting the family.
As our conversation drew to a close, she asked me something I wasn’t expecting.
Did I know anyone who could help her get more survey work?
I had no answer.
I had called to ask why women who keep India’s public health system running are denied maternity benefits. I ended the conversation confronted by a more immediate reality: before they can claim rights they are entitled to, many are simply trying to secure enough work to survive.
Read Preeti Singh’s full story here.
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