LETTER

 
NIRMALA NIKETAN
(Nirmala Sundharam Memorial-Apna Nirman Mazdoor Co-operative Society Ltd.)
Flat No. 484, Millennium Apartment, Block–C, Sector-18, Rohini, Delhi-110085
Tele Nos: 27859158 (Off) 9810810365 (Mob.) Email: domestichelp@id.eth.net
Office Timings: 12 noon to 4 pm
“Trafficking of Tribal Girls for Domestic Work”
  1. Legislation. Is this (PIL) move enough? or do we need to use other means of advocacy to persuade the Central/State Governments to enact the required legislation?
  2. It is also important to review this draft bill as during the last fifteen years several new dimensions of trafficking/migration of tribal girls have become evident.
  3. We need to develop a consensus on a ‘comprehensive law for domestic workers’ which should take into account the current situation. We need to jointly do advocacy for the enactment of a central legislation with a participatory mechanism for the domestic workers themselves.
  4. The proposal for the inclusion of ‘domestic workers’ in the ‘Unorganised Sector Workers Act’ as recommended by the Second National Labour Commission should be pursued till it is achieved and for this the organisations of domestic workers must participate in the campaign of unorganised sector workers.
  5. On the other hand we need separate legislation for the stoppage of trafficking of tribal girls for domestic work which cannot be achieved only by blocking their migration and leaving them to perish in poverty and starvation.
  6. We must find ‘healthy routes of migration’ which also ensure ‘safe transfer’ of their earnings’ for the use of their families and for their own future life.
  7. These legislations are needed in the states such as Assam, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal from where these girls come.
  8. We need another set of legislation for the regulation of placement agencies and employers of domestic workers, to ensure safe working conditions and to end exploitation.
  9. Regulation of Placement Agencies is absolutely essential to ensure that no domestic worker is deprived of her earning, no domestic worker is denied her right of keep in touch with family members and no domestic worker is denied the right to go home.
  10. To ensure regular service to the employer and to provide a standard continuity the financial liability can be put on those who wish to break the contact and leave early; the placement agencies may keep surplus number of domestic workers in reserve for which they get substantial commission from employers and domestic workers.
  11. The expenses of placement agency must be open and audited annually in accordance with the rules laid down by the law.
  12. The 1990 Bill proposed by the Domestic Workers Movement is totally silent on these two very crucial aspects of trafficking and regulation of placement agency, since these problems were not so serious then.
  13. The Tamil Nadu unit of Domestic Workers Movement has achieved a Scheme for Domestic Workers under the Tamilnadu Manual Workers Act of 1982. In Maharashtra a State legislation is likely to be enacted soon because of the struggle of Vidharbha Molkarin Sangathan, Nagpur and others. We need to know the details of all these achievements to develop our understanding of a comprehensive central legislation for domestic workers.
8) Exploitation of Domestic Workers in other countries
  1. The vulnerability of migrant tribal girls in India is no different from that of the migrant domestic workers (mostly girls) of Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, Philippines, Africa and South America etc.
  2. who are working in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Europe, America and Canada.
  3. The activities and achievements of migrant domestic workers in other countries as well as in different parts of India need to be shared to develop a comprehensive understanding of the problem.
9) Objective of the Workshop on the occasion of Mazdoor Adhikar Mela
  1. We propose to hold a Workshop during the Mazdoor Adhikar Mela at Bokaro and through it share our experience of working with Domestic Workers in Delhi, which is one of the major ‘destinations’.
  2. We want to work with organisations working in the ‘source’ area of migrant\trafficked girls. We strongly believe that only the joint efforts of organisations working in the source area and destination area can help to find real solutions to this problem.
10) Why Church Institutions need to co-operate with non-church organisation?
  1. Church institutions can not manage the entire Catholic and non-catholic placement of over 3,00,000 tribal girls privately by themselves.
  2. They need to break barriers, which have been imposed on them atleast in Delhi, and join hands with non religious, secular organisations to dialogue on the provisions needed in a comprehensive legislation to end the exploitation of domestic workers and improve their economic conditions.
11) How the ‘experienced’ tribal girls can help ‘new comers’ in ‘domestic work’?
  1. The “experienced” tribal girls have started seeking employment as domestic workers directly or through each other which is called ‘Working from outside (perhaps it means outside the placement agencies system).
  2. This system of working has serious defects.
  3. There is no surety of getting the full wage at the end of employment, there is always threat of false allegation of theft etc; and there is no one to support them, no shelter in time of sickness and no help stop sexual exploitation at the early apprehension itself, and no help to come out of the vicious circle of earning cash for the cash-starved family members.
  4. The liberty these girls ‘working from out side’ get of “enjoying off days” is making them more vulnerable to many social problems.
  5. In the absence of any organisation, the experienced girls who have themselves seen different types of ‘exploitation’ during their earlier years of working as in-house domestic workers, are not able to utilize their experience for the benefit of ‘new comers’ to domestic work who are the main target of exploitation by the placement agencies.
12) Give Dignity to Domestic Work
  1. Our attempt is to bring all proposals for legislation on one platform and develop a joint leadership of the Domestic Workers Campaign.
  2. We had organised a workshop on the occasion of Mazdoor Adhikar Mela to reach all organisation working in source area which got a very good response and support.
  3. Bokaro is almost at the centre of four States from where more than three lakh young girls (40% girls are below the age of 14 years) have migrated/been trafficked to different parts of the country.
  4. Soon we will organise another workshop in Delhi to reach consensus on the type of legislation for domestic workers. Rescuing few thousand girls is not enough; we need to change the entire system of exploitation for all the three lakh or more girls.
  5. We need to convert domestic from dirty work into decent work by ensuring ‘dignity to domestic workers'.
  6. Instead of dealing with domestic workers as one more ‘project’, let us develop our ‘mission for domestic workers’.
  7. You are requested to give your address and phone numbers to us if you can help tribal domestic workers in changing their life.
Yours Sincerely,
Subhash Bhatnagar
(Nirmala Niketan)
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