Srinagar, Sep 16: The Jammu and Kashmir Government is facing a series of protests and strikes by different sections of workers, trainees and students over stipend, pay, regularization, job security and service benefits, with simultaneous agitations continuing in the health sector and among long-serving daily wagers.

The most visible recent agitation has involved MBBS and BDS interns, who began an indefinite strike on August 31 demanding an increase in their monthly stipend from ₹12,300 to ₹30,000. The protest spread across government medical and dental institutions, with interns also holding candle marches and a 48-hour hunger strike. The interns eventually suspended the strike on September 8 after Health and Medical Education Minister Sakina Itoo assured them that the stipend issue would be decided within 30 days. The interns, however, made clear that the suspension was temporary and that their demand had not been withdrawn.
The issue remains significant because reports indicate that the stipend enhancement has been under consideration for years. A committee constituted in 2023 had recommended a revision, but the proposed increase did not translate into an implemented stipend order before the latest agitation.
Even as the MBBS intern protest was put on hold, another stipend agitation emerged among veterinary interns. Students of SKUAST-Jammu and SKUAST-Kashmir have been protesting over the internship stipend, which they say remains at ₹6,000 per month for the first six months and ₹9,000 for the remaining six months. The students say a proposal for revision has remained pending with the Finance Department since 2023. At the SKUAST-Kashmir Shuhama campus, the protest entered its sixth day by September 12, with students also beginning a hunger strike.
The health sector has simultaneously witnessed a much larger agitation by National Health Mission employees. More than 12,000 NHM workers began a 72-hour strike on September 9 over demands including pay parity, job security, regularisation and social-security benefits. The strike was subsequently extended, and by September 15 the employees were continuing their seventh consecutive day of agitation. Their demands include EPF, ESI, insurance coverage and post-retirement support in addition to a comprehensive policy for job security and regularisation.
The NHM dispute has also affected health administration. The Directorate of Health Services Kashmir directed regular staff to ensure the functioning of OPDs, IPDs, emergency services, labour rooms, operation theatres, diagnostics and pharmacies amid the absence of NHM personnel.
Outside the health sector, casual and daily-wage workers have repeatedly taken to the streets over regularisation. The J&K Casual/Daily Wagers Forum held protests in Srinagar earlier this month and has announced further demonstrations, including a major protest in connection with the Assembly session. The forum has been seeking a time-bound roadmap for regularisation and has cited a government committee constituted in March 2025 to examine the issue.
Jal Shakti/PHE daily wagers have separately announced demonstrations in Jammu and Srinagar on September 22, demanding regularisation and release of pending wages.
Another protest has come from Anganwadi workers and helpers, who demonstrated in Jammu seeking an increase in monthly honorarium from ₹5,000 to ₹20,000.
The latest developments have also produced competing assurances and continued agitation. Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary has said the government is examining the framework for regularisation of daily wagers and has assured that the workers will be regularised, while NHM employees continue their strike over permanent status, equal pay and service benefits.
The simultaneous protests point to a broad set of unresolved remuneration and employment-security issues across government-linked services, even as the administration faces pressure to convert assurances, committee recommendations and pending proposals into formal decisions.