South Central 19| Telangana arrests journalists | India's ASHA workers ignored?

This week’s South Central podcast discusses the arrest of journalists in Telangana and the neglect and exploitation of ASHA workers in the country.

Published on:

21 Mar 2025, 3:18 pm

In Episode 19 of South Central, hosts Dhanya Rajendran, Pooja Prasanna, Leena Reghunath, and Sudipto Mondal discuss the troubling arrest of journalists in Telangana with Amar Devulapalli, Editor of Mana Telangana. They also speak with public health researcher Malu Mohan about why ASHA workers in the country continue to face neglect and exploitation.

On the arrests of journalists Revathi Pogadadanda and Tanvi Yadav by the Telangana government, Amar Devulapalli says, "Arresting these two women journalists is very wrong. Revanth Reddy should have gone for a defamation case."

Dhanya highlights, “The language used by the person in the video was unacceptable. But fundamentally, I’m against the state arresting someone for this. There are many other ways to handle it—defamation cases, clarifications, or press conferences. Instead, we're seeing the police being used as a weapon.”

Pooja Prasanna raises concerns about the implications: “This is almost like dog whistling, right? What kind of message is he sending to his followers—landed, feudal, powerful people—that when a journalist does something, you can ‘strip and parade’ them?”

Sudipto Mondal adds, "Threatening language like 'strip and parade' is deeply concerning. This is a scary reminder that what we have as an alternative to a fascist force might not be what we make it out to be.”

As the conversation shifts to the plight of ASHA workers across India, independent public health researcher Malu Mohan points out, “ASHA workers operate under a central scheme, but state governments heavily depend on them for critical services like nutrition, maternal care, and child health. Yet we don’t even give them the respect of calling them workers. They’re stuck in a limbo.”

Dhanya points out, “We keep hearing politicians—from the Prime Minister downward—praising ASHA workers. During COVID, they were called ‘heroes.’ But those same women weren’t paid for months. That is hypocrisy.”

Malu adds, “This setup isn't new—Anganwadi workers have faced similar neglect for decades. It’s a way for the government to say, Yes, we’ll give you welfare services, but let’s find poor women from your community to do it, and let’s not pay them properly.”

Pooja emphasises, “It’s not just underpayment. It’s a structural problem. A full-time job being called ‘voluntary’ is nothing but a convenient way to deny labour rights. This is market economics meeting patriarchy.”

Leena notes, “ASHA workers don’t get reimbursed for transport, for phones, or even batteries. They use their child’s online learning device to collect health data. And we still debate whether they deserve to be called employees?”

Sudipto stresses, “If you genuinely want to empower the public health system, then ASHA workers should be the backbone. They are the ones in the field. They’re your eyes and ears. They deserve institutional support and respect.”

All this and more—tune in.

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Audio Timecodes

00:00:00 - Intro

00:34:00 - Support TNM

00:02:34 - Headlines

00:06:28 - Telangana Arrests Journalists

00:37:08 - Plight of ASHA workers

01:07:15 - Letters