‘Smart cards for domestic workers in a couple of months’

After around 60 domestic workers gathered outside the Labour Department office in the city on Monday seeking a resolution to their long-pending demand for registration as workers, Labour Commissioner R.R. Jannu promised that smart cards for them and other unorganised workers would be issued in a couple of months.

Geetha Menon, joint secretary of the Domestic Workers’ Rights Union, said the government has ignored their demand to be registered as workers for too long. “Without registration, the legal status of a domestic worker is that of a servant. They are denied benefits given to other workers in the State,” she said.

A few months ago, a young woman from Assam named Phulmoni, who had been working as a full-time domestic help for a family at an apartment in Whitefield, committed suicide. She had been brought to the city without her parents’ knowledge. This forced officials to wake up to the problem of unregulated placement agencies bringing in women from other States to work as domestic workers.

The workers’ union is keen to get some kind of regulation in place to prevent such incidents in future.

An amount of ₹10 crore has been allocated in this year’s State budget for smart cards to all unorganised sector workers, including domestic workers. According to Mr. Jannu, the issuance process has begun and the cards would all be issued in a couple of months. “It has been announced in the budget, so we are working out the details,” he said.

On the demand for regulation of placement agencies, he said the department would look at how other States are dealing with the problem before taking a decision.