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“Kaun Hai?”
“Koyee Nahi Ji, Kamm Wali Hai”
Sundar Singh Sabrang
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Languishing under the crushing wheels of poverty, thousands of
women migrate from rural areas to mega cities in search of
livelihoods. Ending up as domestic servants, in the absence of
any legal mechanism to protect their rights they not only face
discrimination and harassment at the hands of their employers
but also become victims of abuse and exploitation. How and why
must the Sikh community engage with this chillingly grim side of
modern urban notions of development? |
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 Agitation
by some panthic organizations against increasing influx of migrants
into
Punjab
from poorer Indian states is in many ways tied up with the recent
violence witnessed in
Ludhiana where
migrants clashed with the police after alleged discriminatory
attitude towards their complaints.
Organizations
like the Dal Khalsa which have been spearheading a drive against
migrant influx have some bonafide reasons, and a few that demand
further debate in a reasoned and rational environment. It is a
sensitive subject and the Sikhs must not be seen as opposing the
democratic rights of the poor kirti and the downtrodden even as they
legitimately try to secure their language, culture and religion from
undue influences.
Much of the
debate is also about securing the resources for the native.
But we must
remember that the Sikh religion at its core is a religion of
universal welfare. A Sikh is duty bound to stand up for the weak and
the downtrodden. He is duty bound to defend him or her. Such is the
path shown by the Guru.
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The women working as domestic help have no legal protection in
terms of their employment and working conditions. They are
completely at the mercy of their employers, and have no job
security. There is an estimated population of more than 100,000
domestic workers in Delhi alone, a figure which is expected to
rise six fold in the next five years, according to the
International Labour Organisation (ILO). |
In these
contemporary times, it is clear that mere reiteration of great
principles will not do and the Sikh community will have to take a
lead in showcasing the great traits of Sikhism in their day to day
life. We must snatch the democratic norms agenda from any
pretentious organs of the state and show that the Sikh community
stands for social equality, democratic norms, rights and privileges
of the weak and the downtrodden. We must prove that we will not be
found wanting in furthering the cause of the human rights when it
comes to discrimination against a person who is very often the first
one to ring our door bell every morning.
Welcome to the
real world where words end and daily life begins. Mothers are
rushing around, waking up children, dealing with the milk man,
putting out the garbage bags, ensuring that the younger one brushes
her teeth properly and shouting for the third time at the teenager
who’s still lingering in the bed lest she misses her tuition class
once again. The first cup of tea is already on the table, Sardar ji
has finished his ‘NitNem’ and is ready to browse through the
newspapers, someone is still arguing that milk cereals and
butter-toast is a boring idea for a breakfast and aloo-parathas
would have brightened up the foggy Friday while a heap of dirty
utencils in the sink points to someone who has still not turned up
for duty.
It is then that
the bell rings.
“Kamlesh aa
gayee!!!”
the lady of the house lets out happily. “Pehle bartan kar lai tu,
phir jhaarro. Aj late ho
gaya
sab kuchh
(First you do bartan, then you sweep the floors. Things are already
late today),” she tells Kamlesh. “Kaun aaya hai?” Sardar ji
asks from inside the cosy room. “Koyee nahi ji, kamm wali hai.”
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Fortunately, the Sikhs as a community enjoy a great reputation
for being good benevolent employers. That is because first of
all there is no caste discrimination in Sikh households, no one
ever practices untouchability, and secondly, Punjab’s Sikhs are
relatively better pay masters because of their relative
prosperity. But we must go farther. We must become part of a
movement that ensures better work culture and work place rights
of these domestic servants. We must not allow the dependence
only on some employer’s good moral sense; we must demand and
help enact laws to safeguard the worker. |
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“Kamm wali”,
“Maid”, “Servant”, “Naukrani”, “Bartana wali mayee”, “Bai”, “Didi”,
“Aaya”, “House Help” – no matter what you call them – the female
domestic servants are an integral part of the Indian households, and
so are they in Sikh households. The reality of how these domestic
servants are treated in
India
is shocking. If we want to be respected as a people whose core
religious motto is ‘Sarbat Da Bhala’, whose religion enjoins
upon us a respect for women, whose Gurus placed such strong reliance
on the concept of ‘Kirt’ (work), the “Kamm wali” gives
the community a great opportunity to prove that we mean our words.
These women in
most households in
India take care
of the drudgery; shorn of all frills and polite language, they work
for a pittance and enable the inhabitants of the house to relax and
rejoice in leisure. You can chose to be kind, which we assume you
are, by paying them well, and praising them now and then, but we
want you to know the dark and probably heart wrenching reality
behind that small, shy little smile she passes when you praise her.
In a memorable
scene in Satyajit Ray’s film Aparajito, the destitute Brahmin widow
Sarbajaya watches her son learn to serve. She has recently obtained
work as a cook in the household of a rich Brahmin, where her
employers are considerate and inconsiderate in the manner of feudal
lords. She observes from the top of the stairs as the master of the
household sends for her son to light his pipe and tells him to pluck
gray hairs from his head, rewarding him with a tip.
The scene
described above is as much a powerful comment on mother-love and
gender expectations as it is about the extreme and peculiarly
gendered stigma attached to the entity called “domestic servant” in
India.
Recent studies on the working class in
India
have revealed that ideologies and practices of gender, caste and
religion both shape the contours of the workplace and the trajectory
of class identities.
The pan
India
scene
 As
Anisha Mitra & Karelia Rajagopal, interns with the Anti-Trafficking
Initiative at Human Rights Lawyers Network have brought out
recently, domestic servants constitute a section in society which
got no law to protect their profession. According to ILO, “a
domestic worker is someone who carries out household work in a
private household in return for wages”. They, in fact, are not even
recognized as labour to benefit from the labour laws. Their rights
are at the mercy of the employer or the placement agencies, which
have mushroomed like anything in the last 5-6 years in urban areas
to cater to the domestic needs of the city dwellers.
These women are
subjected to exploitation from all ends -- in terms of work, pay and
worst of all in terms of dignity and humanity. Since there are no
checks on the functioning of the placement agencies, their mode of
work is highly questionable in the backdrop of gross violations of
the rights of domestic servants. Majority of the women hired by
these agencies are brought in from other states, mostly villages, on
the pretext of getting work in the cities and end up being domestic
helps. Many a times, they are illiterate with a different language
background and find it very difficult to communicate with their
respective employers. This makes them more vulnerable.
According to a
recent United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report, nearly 40
percent of domestic servants in
India’s
financial capital Mumbai are under 15 years of age and the number
seems to be increasing at an alarming rate. “Often these young
domestic helpers are abused, verbally and physically and also
sexually exploited,” the report said. Yet there is no national
legislation to protect the rights and ensure the welfare of this
huge army of domestic workers.
The women have
no legal protection in terms of her employment and working
conditions. They are completely at the mercy of their employers, and
have no job security. There is an estimated population of more than
100,000 domestic workers in
Delhi alone, a
figure which is expected to rise sixfold in the next five years,
according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
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People brought in from the interiors of India to metropolitan
cities to work as domestic labour is also a form of trafficking.
Most of the cases in which Human Rights Law Network (HRLN) has
intervened; it has been observed that the pattern or situation
has been such that it can easily be classified as “trafficking”.
There is a definite transportation, harbouring and recruitment
of the labour. |
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Growing
consumerism, the need to earn by both partners, and the trend
towards nuclear families has increased the demand for domestic helps
across many cosmopolitan cities. To cater to the growing demand for
them, a number of placement agencies have sprung up in cities across
the country. But what might have been expected to streamline and
regulate a sector where hitherto the employer called all the shots
has not resulted in any improvement.
A total absence
of regulation under the labour laws has meant that the often
exploitative nature of domestic work continues unabated. There are
more than 2,400 domestic placement agencies operating in
Delhi, out of
which only 24 are registered with the department of labour. Most of
them don’t even have offices. They just give out telephone numbers,
so it is difficult to track them down.
Minors in demand
The
implication of the issue of licenses is that it gives a legal
authority to many to exploit and traffic people from one city to
another. A substantial number of domestic servants, mainly young
girls and women, are trafficked to cities from states like
West Bengal,
Orissa and Jharkhand. The source districts are some of the poorest
in the country, inhabited by minorities, mainly scheduled tribes.
Many of these girls and women are lured by agents in the villages
with incentives of a good pay and life.
 Another
implication is an increase in number of minors appointed as domestic
helps. In wake of the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act,
1986, the placement agencies have invented a new tactic of issuing
forms which contain the details of the domestic worker, which is
forwarded to the employer. The modus operandi is that any minor
regardless of their age is registered as 18 years in the form. So
when the employer is hiring a servant he is on paper employing a
major and not a minor.
This is done
because many employers want young girls who can entertain their
little children. Another reason why minors are in demand because
they are inexperienced and hence don’t offer resistance to the ill
treatment meted out to them.
The salary
structure of the domestic servants depends upon the category they
belong to, that is, there are generally three categories: Unskilled,
semi-skilled and skilled. If a worker is unskilled they are paid
anything between Rs1000-1,500, the semiskilled is paid around Rs
2,000 and a skilled is paid Rs 3,000. The employers are not supposed
to pay the servants their wages but to the agency, which in turn
leads to economic dependence of the workers on the agency people,
who keep a larger share of the income as “commission” and give
meagre amount to the servants.
What human
rights activists dread most is that the agencies are found to be
dealing in other forms of trafficking as well such as sex
trafficking, bonded labour, camel jockeys etc. It is in cases like
these where the labour cannot be traced or is being hidden by the
agents raising doubts of immoral trafficking ring.
The trafficking
angle
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We have in our gurdwaras the great institution of social
interaction. We must take up their problems and their concerns
in our gurdwaras, and chalk out solutions and underline that
here is a community that truly believes in egalitarian concepts
in its daily life. We must always include our domestic help, the
worker who rings the door bell first thing every morning, in our
Ardas. |
People brought
in from the interiors of
India to
metropolitan cities to work as domestic labour is also a form of
trafficking. Most of the cases in which Human Rights Law Network (HRLN)
has intervened; it has been observed that the pattern or situation
has been such that it can easily be classified as “trafficking”.
There is a definite transportation, harbouring and recruitment of
the labour.
It is often
reported is that the girls go missing. The agents inform the family
members that their girl has left the destination place without
informing anyone. In such cases there are two scenarios which have
been observed, that either the labour is taken by the agent and
employed with another agency or is traded or trafficked for a
different purpose altogether. There is also a situation when the
girls run away either because they have been mistreated or because
they aren’t allowed to go back home.
Need for
regulations
It is important
for us to have an overview of the existing regulations and legal
provision for domestic workers to strategize and move forward. The
ILO is coming up with a convention, ‘Decent work for Domestic
Workers’, to set labour standards for domestic/household workers at
the International Labour Conference in 2010.
The Unorganised
Sector Workers’ Social Security Act, 2008, includes domestic
workers. The Act has provisions for identity cards, registration
facilities and other social security benefits, but there is no
mention about regulation of work conditions or working hours.
The national
commission for women along with a sub-committee of trade unions and
NGOs working with domestic workers has undertaken to formulate
legislation for domestic workers.
In July 2007,
Shramajivee Mahila Samity (SMS) and the Human Rights Law Network
filed a petition in the Delhi High Court demanding police action
against domestic placement agencies in Delhi. They submitted
complaints from 159 domestic workers who had been cheated and abused
by five agencies in the city.
 During the court
hearings, corrupt links between officials and agency owners became
apparent. The court demanded that the state government collaborate
with civil society to frame guidelines for regulating the agencies.
But the state’s counsel, and especially the Department of Labour,
has done nothing till now.
Also what is
suggested is that the government makes a provision for police to
keep a regular check on the placement agencies that have been given
licenses and ensure that there are no illegal issues involved viz
their functioning. There should be a special officer appointed to
deal with these cases.
What Sikhs as a
community must do
Sikhs as
community are lucky that they enjoy a great reputation in the world
for being a religion that is a universal leveller. It has no caste
discrimination; it does not allow any discrimination in matters of
social interaction. The great construct of Langar is known
everywhere, and everyone knows that in a gurdwara, people of all
castes have to sit side by side in a row and they can partake food.
Neither the caste of the sewadar is known nor of the one who
partakes of langar. People have seen the egalitarian aspect of Sikh
religion every time there is a religious procession in town.
The Sikhs must
build on this. Most places from where our domestic labour comes are
not only very poor; they are manifested with caste divisions. And
since a large number of women are among domestic workers, remember,
the kind of face of the society that they will see will percolate
deep into the countryside.
Fortunately, the
Sikhs as a community enjoy a great reputation for being good
benevolent employers. That is because first of all there is no caste
discrimination in Sikh households, no one ever practices
untouchability, and secondly, Punjab’s Sikhs are relatively better
pay masters because of their relative prosperity.
But we must go
farther. We must become part of a movement that ensures better work
culture and work place rights of these domestic servants. We must
not allow the dependence only on some employer’s good moral sense;
we must demand and help enact laws to safeguard the worker.
We have in our
gurdwaras the great institution of social interaction. We must take
up their problems and their concerns in our gurdwaras, and chalk out
solutions and underline that here is a community that truly believes
in egalitarian concepts in its daily life. We must always include
our domestic help, the worker who rings the door bell first thing
every morning, in our Ardas. We must always pray for their well
being also.
These workers
will then tell their folks back home what kind of people Sikhs are.
No amount of dirty propaganda by the Indian nation state can then
work. Teeming millions who indulge in manual labour must know that
Sikhism is one religion that cares about the downtrodden and the
poor.
The poor Indians
marginalized by the state need to know that only in Sikhism is
present a major taboo of any sex outside marriage. The major worry
about sexual exploitation would have no place in Sikh households
where such moral crime is considered among four prohibitions, the
four major sins.
 Ours is a Quom
that has fought for its dignity; we have given life blood for the
right to remain ‘Sardars’; we have resisted attempts to wreak havoc
upon us through annihilation and assimilation both; we are the
people who have always held on to the moral upper ground.
That Kamm Wali
who will ring the bell early tomorrow morning must see evidence of
this every single day when she turns up for work. Just as the
Sardarji who finishes his ‘Nit Nem’ well in time knows the great
values his religion professes, we all must stand up for the domestic
worker and his/her rights. After all, we are Sikhs? Aren’t we? We
have but no choice. Shun every form of exploitation of labour in
Punjab. Work to include domestic servants into preexisting laws or
demand new laws which would provide them with provisions to cater to
their basic rights and needs. Fight for legal safeguards to protect
their salaries, their treatment at the hands of both the placement
agencies/agents and the employers and from immoral trafficking. It
is not just Kamlesh who is watching us and will tell the tale in her
village back home in Jharkhand. It is the youngest one who does not
brush her teeth properly who is also watching us. It is the teenager
who is watching us as to how we deal with our domestic help.
Religion is
about everyday life. It is not only about how we sit in a
disciplined way in a langar row. It is also about how we react when
Kamlesh breaks a glass tumbler, or takes a chutti on an
extremely cold morning.
20
January 2010
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