New Delhi, April 19
Waking up to the need of protecting women employed in household jobs abroad, the Government of India has decided to fix minimum wages for them. The Indian Missions in the concerned nations have been asked to fix the minimum wages for female household service workers within the range of $300 to $350. The wages will come into effect from June this year.
To further protect the interests of Indian workers who go abroad for work, the government has made security deposit compulsory in case of direct recruitment of labour from India. Both the responses are in line with the recommendations of heads of Indian Missions in major labour receiving countries, who were in India for a conference on the issue in September last year.
During the conference there was a consensus on the need for fixing wages for women engaged in household jobs to protect them from exploitation and also to have security deposits in the event of direct recruitment. India had in fact in May last banned the recruitment of maids to ECR countries (emigration clearance) under the age of 30 to prevent the possibility of their sexual exploitation. The new policy of fixing minimum wages, however, will go a long way in empowering women situated in vulnerable positions.
Besides, the heads of Indian Missions in their meeting also stressed the need to have special measures for protection of
women emigrants by way of setting up helplines, shelters for runaway workers, counselling and legal assistance services.
Development of model contracts to lay down terms and conditions of employment through bilateral discussions was also part of the suggestions from Indian Mission heads abroad. The conference was attended by participants of the ministry of external affairs and home affairs and the state governments of Kerala, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh.
The Government of India is now thinking of conducting another conference for the heads of Indian Missions in the major ECR countries to discuss problems of the Indian emigrants in these nations and the ways to resolve them. Meanwhile, the feedback from the September 2007 conference is being channelised into various policy initiatives, said the ministry of overseas Indian affairs in a reply on the related issues to the Standing Committee on External Affairs. The committee tabled its report in the Lok Sabha last week.
