Journalists’ arrest in Telangana, India’s ASHA workers’ struggle

Journalists’ arrest in Telangana, India’s ASHA workers’ struggle | South Central Ep 19

1 month ago 19

In this episode, hosts Dhanya Rajendran, Pooja Prasanna, Leena Reghunath, are joined by TNM’s executive editor Sudipto Mondal, Mana Telangana editor Amar Devulapalli, and public health researcher Malu Mohan. The panel first delves into 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”. While calling the language in the video in question “unacceptable”, Dhanya says she is fundamentally against the state arresting someone for it. “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 likens the journalists’ arrest to an act of “dog whistling”, and raises concerns about its implications. “What kind of message is he [Telangana CM Revanth Reddy] sending to his followers – landed, feudal, powerful people – that when a journalist does something, you can ‘strip and parade’ them?” Sudipto Mondal calls the use of threatening language like “strip and parade” a “scary” reminder of “what we have as an alternative to a fascist force might not be what we make it out to be.” The discussion then shifts to the plight of ASHA workers across India. Malu points out that while state governments heavily depend on them for critical services like nutrition, maternal care, and child health, ASHA workers don’t even get the respect of being recognised as workers. On how ASHA workers have been neglected for decades, she says: “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’”. Dhanya underlines the hypocrisy of calling ASHA workers “heroes”, but not paying them for months. Pooja emphasises, “It’s not just underpayment. It’s a structural problem”. She sees a full-time job being called “voluntary” as a convenient way to deny labour rights. “This is market economics meeting patriarchy”, she adds. 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 on ASHA workers being the eyes and ears of the public health system. “If you genuinely want to empower the public health system, then ASHA workers should be the backbone…They deserve institutional support and respect”, he says. Tune in for an in-depth discussion. Subscribe to Newslaundry: https://rzp.io/rzp/nlsm Join the #FightToBreathe: https://rzp.io/rzp/T4Ob0FCb Help us investigate the impunity of India's police: https://rzp.io/rzp/bmCYWOAYsoc Download the accessible Newslaundry app: https://www.newslaundry.com/download-app Join us on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Va61PEo0QeacOqU9vr2k 00:00:00 Introduction 00:34:00 Support TNM 00:02:34 Headlines 00:06:28 Telangana arrests two journalists 00:37:08 Plight of ASHA workers 01:07:15 Letters 01:12:57 Recommendations Follow and engage with us on social media: Facebook: https://facebook.com/newslaundry Twitter: https://twitter.com/newslaundry Instagram: https://instagram.com/newslaundry

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