The second day of the statewide strike by National Health Mission (NHM) employees in Assam passed on Tuesday with workers holding sit-in protests in districts across the state. The protest began on Monday and will continue for three days, as announced earlier by the NHM workers’ organisations.
In Sivasagar district, NHM employees gathered in front of the district administration office and staged a peaceful sit-in demonstration. Similar protests were held in other parts of Assam. The protest is being led by the National Health Mission Employees’ Association and the All Assam Health & Technical Welfare Association, who have been raising long-pending demands related to pay, job security, and social benefits.
The workers say that they have been serving the public health system for nearly two decades, yet many of their demands remain unaddressed. They are asking the state government to implement equal pay for equal work, ensure gratuity, and extend provident fund and pension benefits. They also want a proper leave policy, medical coverage, and permanent absorption of long-serving NHM staff into government service. 
NHM employees say that despite repeated petitions and meetings, their grievances have not been resolved. According to the associations, the demands were last submitted to the Commissioner and Secretary of the Health & Family Welfare Department on 29 October during a sit-in at Christian Basti in Guwahati. The employees have now again submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma through district administrations on 3 November, and will do so again on 4 and 5 November.
In the memorandum, the associations highlighted that more than 20,000 NHM workers across Assam have been working under contract-based arrangements for years without the security that permanent employees receive. They say this situation is unfair, especially when they perform the same duties as regular employees in many cases.
The memorandum lists several demands. The first demand is the implementation of pay scale for all categories of NHM employees with equal pay for equal work, as per a Supreme Court verdict from 2013. They also seek implementation of gratuity for NHM employees, which was notified in the Assam Gazette in 2021 but has not been enforced yet. Another key demand is the provision of Employees’ Provident Fund or Contributory PF for all workers, along with extension of the Employees’ Pension Scheme.
The employees also want job protection for family members in case a worker dies while in service. According to the associations, the family should either receive full monthly salary until the end of service period, or one eligible family member should be provided employment in NHM. They also want leave benefits to match those of regular government employees, including two-year Child Care Leave.
Another major demand is that NHM workers be brought under the MMLSAY scheme for medical coverage. Until this happens, they want medical reimbursement to continue. They also demand that employees who have served NHM for long years be gradually absorbed into government service through special recruitment or creation of new posts. The memorandum further asks for a clear policy that gives NHM employees preference in state health recruitment, including age relaxation and extra marks in recruitment exams.
Leaders of the associations said that the protest is peaceful and meant to draw attention to the difficulties faced by NHM staff. They stated that NHM workers played a major role during the COVID-19 pandemic and other health emergencies, yet continue to struggle for basic employment rights. According to them, many NHM workers have been working for more than 10 to 15 years and deserve job stability and benefits like regular employees.
Dr. Utpal Sharma, Working President of the All Assam Health & Technical Welfare Association, Madhuria Dutta, General Secretary of the association, along with Horen Gogoi, President-in-Charge of NHM Employees’ Association, and Rajib Saikia, General Secretary of NEA Assam, signed the memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister.
The associations expressed hope that the government will take immediate action. They said they are open to discussions but will continue peaceful democratic protests until their demands are fulfilled. They also mentioned that if there is no positive response from the government, they may consider further steps.
