Secure release of 47 fishermen apprehended by Lankan Navy: TN CM tells Centre
Chennai (PTI): Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Thursday urged External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to expeditiously secure the release of 47 Tamil Nadu fishermen apprehended by the Sri Lankan navy.
Drawing the central minister's immediate attention to the apprehension of 47 fishermen, who set sail from Ramanathapuram on five fishing boats earlier in the day, the chief minister said the incident caused significant distress within the fishing community, spreading fear and uncertainty across the coastal districts.
"It is pertinent to highlight that this is the first instance in 2025 where such a large number of fishermen have been apprehended on a single day," Stalin said in a letter addressed to Jaishankar.
Repeated incidents such as these not only jeopardised the safety and livelihoods of our fishermen but also severely undermined their morale and confidence in pursuing their traditional occupation, he added.
As of today, a total of 242 fishing boats and 74 fishermen from Tamil Nadu remain in Sri Lankan custody. "Given the seriousness of the situation, I earnestly request your urgent intervention to address this matter with the authorities concerned and also to secure the expeditious release of the apprehended fishermen and their boats," the CM said in the letter.
Also, he urged Jaishankar to revive the Joint Working Group and to take all diplomatic efforts to ensure that such incidents did not recur.
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ASHA workers threaten indefinite strike from Feb 27 over rationalisation order, pending demands
Bengaluru: ASHA workers in Karnataka have warned of launching an indefinite strike from February 27, protesting a health department order to rationalise the workforce and alleging that long-pending demands have not been addressed.
The Karnataka State Joint ASHA Workers’ Association criticised the department’s decision to increase the population assigned to each ASHA worker, arguing that it violates existing norms and would lead to large-scale job losses. According to current norms, one ASHA worker is assigned for every 1,000 individuals. Under the current rationalisation plan, the allotted population in rural regions has been increased to up to 2,000, while in metropolitan areas with populations more than 50,000, the number has been raised from 1,000 to a minimum of 2,500 and a maximum of 3,000.
Deccan Herald quoted D Nagalakshmi, state secretary of the ASHA Union affiliated to AITUC, as saying the department had conveyed that an honorarium of ₹10,000 could not be ensured unless the population coverage per worker was increased. She alleged that workers were effectively being asked to accept higher workloads while excess ASHAs would be removed. “This would render nearly 7,000 to 8,000 ASHA workers jobless, and such a move is being carried out only in Karnataka,” she said.
At present, the state government pays ASHA workers a monthly honorarium of ₹5,000, while the Centre provides performance-based incentives. Workers said accessing these incentives has become difficult as data must be entered on the ASHA portal by primary health community officers, but vacancies in these posts have not been filled.
The workers have also submitted a set of pre-Budget demands, seeking an increase in the combined state and central incentives to ₹15,000 and enhancement of the state honorarium to ₹ 8,000, in line with promises made in the Congress election manifesto. Other demands include a lump-sum retirement benefit on the lines of West Bengal, creation of a corpus fund to meet treatment expenses of ASHA workers suffering from serious illnesses with reimbursement provisions, and payment of a fixed monthly honorarium for up to three months during recovery from severe illness.
ASHA workers had staged an indefinite protest in January over similar issues. On the fourth day of the agitation, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah intervened and assured the workers that their demands would be met.
