For the Khatik community from Derwada, life in Rajasthan has been a constant struggle for recognition. With hollow promises made at each election, the community seems to have no hope that their hardships will ever come to an end. Shambhulal Khatik wants to become the voice of this disenfranchised community and others like it. He wants to report on the…

Shambhulal Khatik

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Video Volunteers Community Correspondent Shambhu Raj Tanwar is from Rajasthan's Delwara district where ASHA workers - India's frontline health workers, were working without any masks, sanitisers or any other protective equipment. Shambhu worked with the panchayat to ensure that these ASHA workers get basic protection required to safeguard against COVID-19.

Speaking further on their working conditions, ASHA worker Mahindra Paliwal says they were working harder during the second wave of COVID in India. They were regularly surveying their communities to detect any early signs of a COVID infection. However, lack of temperature guns to measure temperature from a distance made the job quite difficult. Still they would look for signs like headache, fever to distribute basic medicines and shift them to hospitals if they had breathing difficulties.

Another ASHA worker Bilkish Banu says people would look at ASHAs with suspicion as if they were carriers of the viral disease. This was one of the other challenges they faced while working in the second wave. However, despite working in unsafe and hostile conditions, their wages are delayed by minimum of two months. They need to spend their own money on stationary to keep records and buy protective equipment. Please join us in raising our voice towards better working conditions of ASHA workers.

WATCH: Desh Ki ASHA | A Campaign for ASHA Workers' Rights