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Indian NGO to train millions of domestic workers

Skills upgrade program will remain 'a one-sided approach' if employers are not sensitized about rights, say church workers
Indian NGO to train millions of domestic workers

Domestic workers protest in New Delhi against the rape of a fellow worker by her 60-year-old employer, in this file photo. A skills upgrade program started in India aims to help domestic workers seek better employment. (ucanews.com photo) 

Published: July 21, 2017 09:37 AM GMT
Updated: July 21, 2017 09:59 AM GMT

In a move that could benefit millions of domestic workers in India, several state governments have engaged a non-profit organization to train maids as professionals and to ensure their security.

The initiative aims to train domestic workers — an estimated 4 to 6 million people that make up the largest informal labor force in the country — in cooking, care for the elderly, child care, gardening and other skills to make them eligible for employment in India and abroad.

Domestic Workers Sector Skill Council plans to train 2.5 million domestic workers in the next 10 years, said Sumit Garg, public relations officer of the New Delhi-based non-profit organization that will collaborate with state governments, in an agreement signed July 18.

The two-month training for batches of domestic workers began this year and has already trained some 25,000 domestic workers, he said adding that domestic workers are socially neglected as they are untrained and unskilled. Now those trained get a skills certificate, a health certificate and another one on conduct vetted by police.

Rights activists, including church people, said domestic workers are often exploited as their job sector is not regulated. Domestic workers often face sexual and physical violence, forced to work longer hours for meagre pay and no holidays and have no social security, they said.

Prince Varghese, project coordinator for the Domestic Workers Forum at Chetanalaya, the social action wing of Delhi Archdiocese that has been campaigning for the rights of domestic workers, said "the initiative will benefit domestic workers as it will add value to their work."

However, the program will remain "a one-sided approach" if employers are not sensitized enough on the rights of the domestic workers, he told ucanews.com.

Varghese said efforts by his church group at upgrading the skill level of domestic workers in the past "often did not bear fruit (because) employers continued to treat domestic workers the same way as they did." 

Also, the Domestic Workers (Welfare and Regulation of Employment) Bill, 2015 that stipulates a minimum wage and other measures is awaiting approval in parliament. "Without a national law in place, the skills upgrade program may not see its intended benefit," Varghese said.

According to the 2014 report of the federal Ministry of Women and Child Development, there were 3,564 cases of violence against domestic workers in 2012, up slightly from 3,517 in 2011 and 3,422 in 2010.

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