No work, salary: House helps’ struggle continues

Shahida Shaikh, resident of the slum area in Goregaon’s Bhagat Singh Nagar, is unemployed from more than three months, after the lockdown was imposed. Four of the

Shahida Shaikh, resident of the slum area in Goregaon’s Bhagat Singh Nagar, is unemployed from more than three months, after the lockdown was imposed. Four of the five homes where she used to work as a domestic help asked her not to come to work until the outbreak is over.

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Currently, she has resumed work only at one home, for which she will be paid a monthly salary of ₹1,200. Her 20-year old son used to work at a garage, but owing to the lockdown, it is currently shut. The mother and son are struggling to even manage meals twice a day.

With bills piled up from the past three months, Shaikh has been received warnings stating that her water and power supply will be disconnected if she does not pay the amount at the immediately. Moreover, she also suffers from a liver ailment and is finding it difficult to arrange for medicines. She also has been postponing the sonography which her doctor has advised her to undergo.

“Not only Shaikh, but thousands of domestic helps in the city are struggling for their survival. Only 4-5% of them have been paid for April, while none of them have been paid after that. Many lost their jobs. Some of them are now selling vada-paav, vegetables or eggs, but not without disruptions from the authorities,” said Babli Rawat, general secretary, National Federation of Domestic Workers.

While the state cooperation department said that housing societies cannot prevent the entry of domestic helps, most societies are not keen to rehire them owing to the fear of the spread of the virus.

Apathy at the government level has made the situation even more challenging as the welfare board for domestic helps constituted a decade ago is defunct and the welfare schemes remain only on papers.

Activists now demand for the resumption of the schemes and urge the state to tweak the Domestic Workers Welfare Board Act to ensure minimum wages, weekly-offs, sick leaves, Diwali bonus and other welfare benefits to house helps.

Vilas Borade, general secretary of Vidarbha Molkarin Sanghatana, a state-based organisation for house helps, said, “Most of the welfare schemes are defunct on papers from the past six years as the government did not make adequate provisions or revived the welfare board. Since there are no schemes in operation, the members are not willing to pay their annual fees to keep their membership valid. The state should allot ₹10 crore every year to keep the welfare schemes going. In the two-day session of various organisations working for the domestic helps in December, we passed a resolution urging the state to bring changes in the Act.”

According to a senior official from the office of the development commissioner of labour (unorganised labour), the number of members registered with the Maharashtra Domestic Welfare Board dropped to 1 lakh. According to rough estimates, more than 25 lakh people, mostly women, work as domestic helps in the state.

“There were 4.5 lakh registrations of domestic helps previously, which dropped to 1 lakh now. From one-time cash benefits such as Sanman Dhan of ₹10,000 to domestic helps in the 55-60 age group, to scholarships, maternity benefits and funeral assistance, we extend the benefits as and when they are applied for,” the official said.

Labour department’s website stated that 1,902 members were paid ₹10,000 each as Sanman Dhan, though the official claimed that more than 12,000 members were paid the amount. Most other insurance schemes covering accidental deaths and disability benefits were linked to Life Insurance Corporation’s (LIC’s) Janashree Yojana, but the state government has not paid its premium as it wants to link the scheme to centrally-sponsored schemes.

Activists, however, said the money has not disbursed in the past six years. “The Prithviraj Chavan government made the budgetary allocation, but the next government dissolved our board in 2014, comprising the representatives of helps, organisations and employers. It has been now a one-member board headed by the development commissioner and with no budgetary allocation,” said Rupa Kulkarni, one of the former members of the board.

Development commissioner (unorganised labour) Pankaj Kumar said, “We proposed to extend Prime Minister Jeevan Jyoti and Prime Minister Suraksha Bima Yojana insurance schemes after the Janashree scheme was discontinued. We are awaiting the government’s nod now.”