It has been nearly five months since domestic help K. Vatsala, 51, paid the rent for her house at Muniappan Koil Street on Lawley Road in Coimbatore. Raising her 12-year-old daughter as a single mother, she has been out of job for nearly five months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
She was working at a house till March, when the house owner asked her to stop coming to work. “No one else is willing to employ me after this lockdown. They keep saying that they will do all the chores by themselves,” she told The Hindu on Saturday. Claiming that she has not received any groceries or cash assistance from the district administration so far, Ms. Vatsala said that she has been depending on her elder sister to feed herself and her daughter. “My daughter will enter Class VI now. If the schools reopen now, I will not be able to pay her fees,” she said.
Like Ms. Vatsala, many women domestic helps have been reeling under financial pressure due to the pandemic. A. Radhika, district secretary of All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA), said that there are no specific welfare initiatives by the State government for those employed as domestic helps so far, such as welfare associations or pension benefits.
A sample survey conducted by AIDWA in June with 53 domestic helps across Coimbatore district revealed that many did not receive their salaries for the months of March and April, when the nationwide lockdown was in force. When asked whether they received salaries for the month of March, 38 domestic helps said ‘no', 12 said ‘yes' and three said that they received a portion of their salary. Regarding April, 30 domestic helps said ‘no’, 22 said ‘yes’ and one said that they received a portion.
A total of 34 out of the 53 women received salaries less than ₹ 5,000 per month, wherein 10 helps received less than ₹ 2,000 a month, the survey said. Among these helps, 33 women said that they are residing in a rented house. “The State government must come forward to introduce welfare measures for domestic helps such as cash assistance and pension,” Ms. Radhika said.
When contacted, an official from the Department of Social Welfare from Coimbatore district administration said that there are no schemes for domestic helps yet, but individual grievances could be considered.