[Reader-list] monthly posting

[rohini patkar]

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          monthly posting      

The network used for the getting work by the women:

The third party interviews are meant to give an insight into the channels that are used by the migrant domestic workers for finding work for themselves. These are those networks of people that women have access to (or are approached by) who help them find work, housing, etc, in Delhi; or bring them from their native villages to towns and cities. 

Delight Consultancy Services, Ashram (Below the Srinivaspuri Flyover)

On March 10th, I visited a domestic worker’s employment agency in Ashram called Delight Consultancy Services. I tried to explore the details about the process used in recruiting women. They told that they do not recommend candidates for employment unless equipped with their complete “bio –data”, they do not send minors for employment anywhere and women are not sent to work for single men. Many of the girls come from Calcutta, as the woman, Meenu who is a partner in the agency is herself from a village in Calcutta. She said that the girls who have already been employed through them bring new girls from their native villages to be employed. They match the profile of a girl with that of the employer and then send them to work. The credentials of the employer are checked thoroughly and they are completely responsible for the girl’s well being. In the event of any dissatisfaction, both the employer and the employee can contact the agency. The salary is negotiated by the agency to the satisfaction of both parties and the agency gets a commission depending on the post for which they supply candidates. The proprietors said that they haven’t received any complaints at all in the past one and a half years that they have been running their enterprise.

Note: The office was a small cabin- like structure, situated in the basement of a building. It had a partition. When I announced my arrival, immediately one of the several young men who were sitting in a long bench in the front part of the cabin, asked me to sit and wait and offered water. He said that the sir and madam are having lunch, so I will have to wait. Along with the young men, there was one young girl who seemed a potential maid to me. It is a registered agency, so they seemed to follow certain rules and guidelines. But despite asking for some documents or papers of sorts, they told us that they do not keep any of the documents themselves. It seemed unlikely considering the amount of paperwork they told us was involved. At the same time, there were piles of papers lying everywhere which I could not get my hands on in the first visit. It is essential to do an interview with one of the women who has been employed by this agency and if possible, with the employer, to verify the facts etc. Clearly, they realized the potential dangers faced by these women, and even if they had experiences of women having faced problems, it was quite unlikely that they will tell it to me.

Next week, I visited the Kotla Chowk where labour is recruited everyday at a daily wage. There we met Rajaram, a small time thekedar who informed us that the ‘going rate’ for men varied between Rs. 100 to 150 a day depending on the nature of work and for women it was Rs. 90 per day. He also told us that women hardly did construction labour or sat at chowks anymore they mainly did domestic labour. He told us he sometimes obtained work for the women in Seva Nagar Basti. 

Miss Jaya’s employment agency:

I visited an employment agency, run by Miss. Jaya, in Lajpat Nagar (I got the address through the Hindustan Times newspaper). The agency supplies not only domestic labour but also tutors, clerks for offices etc. The agency is registered and follows an extremely contractual system of recruiting and placing labour. Women are mostly demanded for nursing, childcare, maid work and housekeeping. Women below 18 are not given employment through this agency and a complete identification and bio data of the candidate is procured before she is recommended for a post. The agent did not seem to know much about where they came from, said mostly Jharkhand, Orissa, Assam and MP. The network is mainly a word of mouth one; women who have been employed through the agency, recommend it to other women. Suitability, salary, nature of work are all settled by means of an agreement signed by both parties (the employers and the employee). The employer is charged a commission by the agency for supplying them with labour. Field staff is employed to regularly check that both parties are satisfied. When asked if any of the candidates had ever faced any problems he said no.  We were unable to glean any details about the women themselves, their support networks and their experience of doing domestic labour. Clearly the agency did not concern itself with anything about the women other than the terms of the contract.

Note: It was a one- room office and Miss Jaya herself was on leave, off to America, they said. The two people who were manning the office were extremely busy, dealing with numerous phone calls, dealing with some women who had come there for work, etc. When I called them for appointment, they readily agreed for the visit.

On Aug 5, Maya went again to the chowk at Kotla Mandi, where labour waits everyday for work. There were about 80-100 men lining either side of the road and one woman who were awaiting a contractor to give them work for the day. I spoke to the woman, but could not get much information as we were immediately surrounded by the men! She said she came everyday and worked for a daily wage of Rs.100. She lives near Kotla and was originally from Jhansi. She has been in Delhi for ten years. When I asked her who helped her get housing and construction work, she replied no one, she had to do it all by herself. Clearly she didn’t get an opportunity to talk with an overwhelming number of men volunteering information all the time. Apparently only 2 or 3 women came everyday and the others had left. I sat there for a while till a Maruti car drove up. Some labourers picked up their implements and rushed to the car. Hurried negotiations were carried out after which the car drove away and the labourers got ready to go. Others dispersed.

I went to a construction site at Moolchand. We were unable to talk to the workers that time, but I managed to speak to a woman worker late at night. Her name was Anjali and she lives in a basti in Lajpat Nagar (which we subsequently visited). She, her husband and the entire team of workers at the site were temporary migrants who had come to Delhi to earn money when the agricultural season was lean. They were from Khatiyaari district in Bihar. Every year, their thekedar, a man from their village, brings a group of them to Delhi to supply labour for construction. Here they settle down for about six months, usually in rented accommodation till they return to their villages. they do not find work on their own, only through their thekedar, who takes them to the work site everyday, and brings them back and ensures that they get their payment. Women are required either when its time to construct the ceiling, or to break stones.  They get Rs. 100 for a day’s work, about Rs. 1500 a month is spent on food provisions and other houselhold expenses. When asked if she faced problems during work, any kind of problems, the answer was predictable. There were no problems at work, it had to be done. Moreover, she came with her husband and brother in law, so she was never alone. She had one small child with her at work and a daughter who she had left in the village. The entire group comes together from Khatiyaari zila and will go back together.