From toiling the soil to leading the union - CFTUI, India

Marisa Naresh, 38 years, born in the village of RAJAM in Andhra Pradesh: "My family survived on a mere 3 acres of agricultural land, toiling under the sun. We were laborers, our livelihood tied to the earth.

As a young man, I looked up to Mr. N. Satyanarayana—the towering figure behind the District Agricultural Union. At 17, I stepped into the world of union activities. Our affiliation with CFTUI in 2007 opened doors. Thematic knowledge, organizing skills, and public speaking—these became my tools.

Through WSM-supported activities, I learned about labour standards, participated in sectoral conferences, several basic and advanced training which boosted my knowledge on labour rights.  I now lead struggles, especially concerning MGNREGA wages. The ageing leaders pass the torch to me, and I’ve become a role model for youth in the agricultural sector."

Strength in numbers: some results of partners in India during 2023

Labour rights: 639.813 people, of which 64% women and 37% younger than 35 years, were reached through actions focussing on ensuring existing labour rights or developing new labour standards: 

• 536.302 workers (64% women and 37% youth) were made more aware of their labour rights through campaigning and outreach. 
• The partner organizations have organized 71.081 workers, of which 97% women and 30% youth. 
• 33.049 people, of which 94% women and 34% youth received basic training, while 4.859 workers and union leaders (90% women and 43% youth) received advanced training. 
• 14.107 workers, of which 95% women and 24% youth, benefitted from some kind of individualized support or advice from the partner organizations. 

Over 150.000 people (46% women and 39% youth) were mobilized at grassroots level (ex. demonstrations, petitions…) for advocacy and to meet policy makers.

Social security: 93.904 people, of which 61% women and 33% younger than 35 years, were reached through actions focussing on giving access to better social security.  58.168 people were reached through awareness raising activities (60% women and 25% men), while 13.681 received basic training (97% women and 24% youth) and 728 people received advanced training (45% women and 16% youth). The partner organizations gave legal assistance and support to some 21.082 workers (99% women and 36% youth) and reached out to 245 policy makers.

Healthcare: overall, 9.539 people were reached during actions to improve awareness on health practices and how to use native medical practices and medicines.

Network: In 2023, all WSM partner organisations jointly organised and participated in 9 State and national level events focusing on ensuring and including health insurance (ESI) for informal workers in the Social Protection Scheme and inclusion of Domestic workers in Informal Sector. A total of 4950 workers (37% women, 18% under 35 years old) actively participated in these mobilization efforts.

The collective efforts of WSM partner organizations have paved the way for getting attention by the authorities for the inclusion of social protection and the health insurance ESI for informal workers and recognise domestic workers contribution for economic development of the country and include them under informal sector. By advocating for health insurance coverage and the inclusion of domestic workers, they have voiced critical issues to the State Government.

India context in 2023: women, health and agriculture

Women’s Right 

The Women’s Reservation Act, 2023 (also known as the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam) is a historic step towards gender equality in Indian politics. It reserves one-third of all seats in the Lok Sabha, State legislative assemblies, and the Legislative Assembly of the National Capital Territory of Delhi for women. This includes seats reserved for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) as well. The proposed legislation aims to continue this reservation for 15 years.

Health Policies

The Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) is a significant component of the Ayushman Bharat initiative launched by the Government of India. A flagship scheme aimed at achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in India. It moves away from a fragmented approach to health service delivery and focuses on comprehensive, need-based healthcare. It provides cashless and paperless health insurance for secondary and tertiary care across public and private empanelled hospitals in India. PM-JAY is a crucial step toward ensuring affordable and accessible healthcare for millions of Indians, reducing out-of-pocket expenses and improving health outcomes.

New policies in Agricultural Sector

The new agriculture policy of the Indian Government aimed to promote growth in the Indian economy by focusing on increasing agricultural productivity, encouraging the adoption of modern agricultural practices, and promoting value addition in the agricultural value chain.

Fading flowers? No, facing the world! AREDS, India, 2023

I’m Shanmuga, an 17-year-old girl who’s been through quite a journey. Life wasn’t all rainbows and sunshine for me. Irregular periods, loss of appetite, tiredness, hair falling out like autumn leaves, and a constant feeling of fatigue. Yep, that was my life. Anaemia had me in its grip, and it wasn’t letting go. But that wasn’t the worst part. Every time I saw another girl my age, I felt like a drooping flower next to a glowing bloom. My self-esteem? Well, it was buried somewhere deep, along with my energy.

Here enters the AREDS Health Team. They didn’t just throw medical jargon at me; they built a bridge of trust. Slowly, I spilled my worries—the irregular cycles, the hair loss, the whole shebang. And guess what? They didn’t judge. Instead, they handed me a lifeline. “Shanmuga,” they said, “meet your new best friends: bitter gourd, beetroot, turkey berry, pomegranate, dates, gooseberry, curry leaf, and jaggery.” Iron-rich foods became my daily companions. I chomped down on them like a hungry squirrel. And you know what? It worked! Six months of commitment, and my body thanked me. My menstrual cycle decided to play nice, anxiety took a vacation, and my hair even stopped its escape act.

Now, I’m not saying I turned into a superhero overnight. But I did feel lighter—physically and mentally. No more hiding in the shadows. I could face the world, chat with friends and neighbours. Plus, my parents didn’t need to mortgage the house for doctor visits. Bonus!

So here I am, an 17-year-old with a renewed spirit. Anaemia? It’s still there, but it’s no longer the boss of me. I’ve got my iron-packed squad, and we’re rocking this health thing. If you see a girl with a spring in her step, that’s probably me. And hey, if you’re dealing with your own struggles, remember: You’re not alone. There’s always a way to bloom, even in the toughest soil.

What INSP!Ring happened in India in 2022?

India has a labour force of 488 million workers (2021), of which according to some estimations 86,8% or some  423 million are working in the unorganized sectors, mainly doing agricultural work in rural areas, or working in micro-, small, and medium enterprises, mostly in urban areas.  The remaining 65 million workers are designated as being workers in the formal sector, but that doesn’t mean they are all formal workers. Only about 32 million workers in India are considered to be formal workers, which means their terms and conditions of work should be regulated and protected by labour laws and employment contracts. Overall, it is estimated that more than 90% of the workforce in India or about 450 million workers are informal workers, having no written contract, no regular pay, no protection by the labour laws, no access to social security. 

New WSM – program 2022 - 2026

2022 saw the beginning of a new 5-year program, funded by the Belgian development cooperation agency DGD, for WSM’s five partner organizations in India, with a focus on defending existing labour rights, developing new labour standards, giving access to social security and developing social economy initiatives for mainly groups of informal workers. A particular feature in the programs with the informal workers is that before the organizations can really empower them, developing their capacity to avail their legal rights and to negotiate better working conditions, wages and access to social security schemes, these workers need to build the necessary self-confidence to speak up for themselves and become aware of their own working and living situation.

National Domestic Workers Movement (NDWM) and National Domestic Workers Federation (NDWF), a federation of state-level domestic workers unions that was established in 2013, are both raising the awareness of the domestic workers in 14 states across India, to ensure that they can assert their labour rights and have more respect from their employers. The focus of the movement is on creating better working conditions for 25.000 domestic workers, with a decent and regular pay and a working day of maximum 8 hours, and on countering the day-to-day exploitation of women and children domestic workers. By further developing cooperatives in 8 states, NDWM also invests in empowerment of 15.000 domestic workers by giving them vocational training to earn an additional income so that they can ensure a secure and sustainable employment. In some states like Bihar, the movement will also organize a job placement agency so that the domestic workers can better exercise collective labour rights. The establishment and development of these cooperatives was already initiated in the years 2019 to 2021, with the financial assistance of the organization Familiehulp, and is now continued with financial assistance of the Alimentation Fund. 

The NDWF, aside from giving capacity building to their local, state level and national union leaders on the labour law and social security, will try to affiliate 23.000 more members and facilitate access to social security schemes or welfare boards for 30.000 domestic workers by the end of 2026. Another goal for NDWM and NDWF is for the Indian Central Government to ratify ILO Convention 189 on the protection of domestic workers and to enact a comprehensive legislation to protect domestic workers in 8 states.

Christian Workers Movement India (CWM India) is working with groups of (women) agricultural labourers and construction workers, women workers in different trades such as beedi workers (rolling cigarettes), dhobi workers (informal workers doing the laundry), training them to understand what are their labour rights and how to increase their negotiating abilities to either receive a just and fair price for their products or a higher wage and working conditions according to what is foreseen by the law. 

The Confederation of Free Trade Union India (CFTUI) is mainly trying to ensure or – when possible – to increase the legal minimum wage for informal groups of workers, such as domestic workers, asha (health) workers and anganwadi (childcare) workers, agricultural workers and for formal workers in the shops and establishments sector in Delhi and workers in the public sector (teachers, port and dock workers, workers in the metal, coal or electrical engineering industry). Both CWM and CFTUI will try to ensure their members and beneficiaries to get access to different social security schemes and health insurance. 

In the district of Karur, in Tamil Nadu, the Association of Rural Education and Development Services (AREDS) is working with the unorganized workers, mainly from the dalit communities, such as sanitary and agricultural workers, to improve their working conditions. In addition, the AREDS health workers are raising the awareness of adolescent girls and adult women about better health practices and how to use native medical practices and medicines. With the support of the Alimentation Fund AREDS has also started up four ‘Food Production Companies’ (FPO’s), which aim to give farmers more leverage on the price they receive for their products. There is one FPO selling goats and sheep, one selling flowers, one selling milk and grains, one selling sesame seeds and rice. These FPO’s are being organised as cooperatives: after becoming shareholders of the cooperative, the farmers benefit from the joint purchase of fodder for their animals and of pesticides and fertilizers and from the elimination of middlemen in the process of selling their products. The farmers directly sell their products through regular markets, which are organized by the cooperative. Over time they will also acquire more expertise on how to do organic farming and increase their production. 

In their action plans, the partner organizations for the first time have also integrated small objectives concerning women empowerment and the struggle for gender equality, awareness raising on a cleaner environment and occupational health hazards.

2022: Exit from the pandemic and adoption of the labour codes

Early 2022 India, as the rest of the world, was still suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, informal economy workers went through a lot of economic hardship, as they couldn’t go to their usual workplaces. They were dismissed by their employers and had to survive without any income or proper compensation from the government. When health restrictions were lifted many domestic workers were not able to find employment in two or three households per day again, as before the pandemic, so they lost a part of their daily income. On top of that came the rise of inflation as fuel and energy prices rose significantly worldwide, making it even harder for the unorganized sectors to pay for food, housing and other basic needs. The four controversial new Labour Codes (code on wages, industrial relations, occupational health and safety and working conditions, social security), which have been rejected by the labour movement in India for being ‘anti-worker’ and ‘anti-labour’, came into effect in July 2022.  The codes will increase the number and type of companies that can fire workers without government approval, enforce new norms on how unions can call strikes, discard rules that bar women from working night shifts and introduce a new social-security regime. However, for the codes to be implemented it is up to the different states to put them in state level legislation, a process which has stalled in many states over the past months and which is not expected to take place before the general election in 2024. 

Some results of the Indian partners working in synergy... 

National level: On 20 and 21 September WSM and the Indian partner organizations organized a national dialogue on social protection, while inviting other Indian trade unions and organizations such as SEWA, as an event to learn from the Indonesian experience in the Labour 20 and as a way to prepare for a dialogue with the Indian government and engage with other civil society groups in the framework of the G20 in India in 2023. Unfortunately, for the organization of the L20 in 2023, the Indian government was not willing to work with the independent trade union organizations and with the ITUC.

What is cooking with the domestic workers - India, 2022

Last name and first name: Pranali Rane
Age : 45 years old
Nationality: Indian
Location: Mumbai
Profession: domestic worker
Marital status: widow

"I joined NDWM in 2013 when I migrated to Mumbai after my husband’s death. The organisation supported me to get my rented house and enrolled my child in school. They helped me to get new domestic work to sustain my life. 

During the pandemic in 2020, I lost all of my domestic work, and it was very challenging for my survival. The NDWM supported us by providing grains and other necessary materials.  But I wanted to start some alternative income generating activity as they had taught us to become independent and stand on our feet. We got many trainings on accounting, budgeting, marketing, food making,… from the cooperative of the NDWM.  After the trainings, with the support of the NDWM, we initiated Abhiruchi Food and Products, a small-scale shop with other domestic workers, and started our new journey towards economical sustainability. 

Today, I am in charge of the kitchen of Abhiruchi Food and Products. Every morning I open my kitchen at 6 AM and I work with my friends until 10 AM. We equally support each other to complete our daily tasks and duties. Then we continue our daily domestic work as our main source of income. Today we feel more empowered because by this collective initiative. Still today NDWM gives us training on different skills, like personality development, communication, marketing, understanding product manufacturing and sale, food processing. Today I am leader of my community of domestic workers and the children’s group."

Some results by intervention strategy...

Labour rights: 

692.631 people, of which 62% women and 35% younger than 35 years, were reached through actions focussing on ensuring existing labour rights or developing new labour standards: 271.457 workers (59% women and 44% youth) were made more aware of their labour rights through campaigning and outreach. The partner organizations have organized 64.975 workers, of which 97% women and 30% youth. 31.792 people, of which 94% women and 34% youth received basic training, while 3.088 workers and union leaders (90% women and 43% youth) received advanced training. 52.211 workers, of which 95% women and 24% youth, benefitted from some kind of support or advice from the partner organization. More than 266.000 people (46% women and 39% youth) were mobilized at grassroots level (ex. demonstrations, petitions…) for advocacy actions, while the partner organizations reached out to some 2.869 people and policy makers during their actions towards parliament and the government.

Social security: 

146.895 people, of which 74% women and 28% younger than 35 years, were reached through actions focussing on giving access to better social security. 92.228 people were reached through awareness raising activities (60% women and 25% men), while 19.124 received basic training (97% women and 24% youth) and 146 people received advanced training (45% women and 16% youth). The partner organizations gave legal assistance and support to some 35.000 workers (99% women and 36% youth) and reached out to 188 policy makers.

Healthcare:

Overall, almost 9.000 people were reached out to during actions to improve awareness on health practices and how to use native medical practices and medicines.

AREDS Health Team resolved to ensure 100% vaccination to all eligible population in 4 Primary health centers in Karur District Tamil Nadu

Following the ravages of COVID-19 pandemic in the past two years, the present Tamil Nadu government has been undertaking vaccination programme for administering vaccine to every adult in the state. There are widespread campaigns and visual advertisements on the importance of getting vaccinated are ongoing. Despite, many of common people in the state simply ignore them because of their ignorance and misconception about vaccines. Anyway, it will be risky to leave a death-defying pathological entity prevail on the earth just because of the lack of knowledge and misunderstanding of people. 

Therefore, AREDS decided to enhance the awareness of people in its operational area in Karur district on the detrimental effect of corona pandemic. Hence, it has launched a six-month programme for assisting the government’s effort for ensuring 100 per cent vaccination in the state of Tamil nadu. Accordingly, it has selected 196 villages that come under the healthcare of four Primary Health Centres (Panjapatti, Veppangudi, Innungur and Ayyarmalai) and 19 Habitat Service Centres  in Karur district.  Totally, the programme covers 73610 people. 

The PHCs and the villages which have been chosen for the programme are located in remote areas where people have less public transport facilities.  As many of the villagers are illiterate and poor economically, they pay less attention to their health and hygiene. So, AREDS undertook a survey on the health status and on the number of people who got vaccinated and who have not yet got vaccinated in the villages chosen at the outset. Diverse surprising reasons were put forward by the people, who have not had vaccination, during the survey. Here are some of the responses from them:

1. People have several ailments already. Corona vaccine may aggravate health issues.
2. Pregnancy and childbirth: corona vaccine may terminate pregnancy. It may produce complexities during childbirth. If lactating mothers get vaccinated, it may affect the infants.
3. Habitual drunkards shun vaccination because they have to lose the pleasure of drinking.    
4. If they get ill after getting vaccinated, they cannot work and consequently farming practices will be affected.
5. People are already afflicted with TB, Asthma and diabetes. Corona vaccine may complicate the health condition further.

Stimulated by the astounding statements put forward by the villagers during survey, AREDS organized a review meeting of volunteers to find out the ways and means to dispel the fear and misapprehension of people about vaccination. In order to build a collective responsibility to eradicate the spread of pandemic, AREDS decided to involve the elected representatives of panchayats in the campaign.  

Review meeting with volunteers

In view of that, AREDS organized two meetings with the elected representatives of panchayats, one in Pappakkaapatti and the other one in Ayyarmalai. AREDS also invited the respective Block Medical Officer to the meeting.

The panchayat presidents suggested various ideas for convincing the people on the need for getting vaccinated:

1. It could be made mandatory that only those who have had vaccination can get articles from ration shops.
2. Village Administrative Officers can certify only those who have had vaccination 
3. The list of people who have not got vaccinated must be handed over to the panchayat presidents so that they could persuade them to go for vaccination.
4. Making people understand the situation is very much essential. If they are convinced, they will convince many others who they know well. 
5. The panchayat presidents suggested various ideas for convincing the people on the need for getting vaccinated:

At the end of the meeting, the panchayat presidents asked the volunteers to give them the list of people who have not got vaccinated. Presently, they have the list in their hands and they will visit them door-to-door and persuade them to go for vaccination. Hence, collective responsibility has been built to promote vaccination programme of the government. 

The Block Medical Officer of Inungur presented a brief discloser, which was an eye opener for all those who shun vaccination because of irrational beliefs, in the meeting with the elected representatives of panchayats and the volunteers of the programme: “People think that they should not consume meat if or after they get vaccinated. Many people have strong immune system to bear the effect of vaccines. Very few people suffer the effect of vaccines. Likewise, for digesting meat, the body needs much energy. Hence, it is advisable to avoid eating meat on the day people get vaccinated for avoiding double burden. There are also drunkards among those who get vaccinated. If a drunkard slips down while walking, after getting vaccinated, people blame it on vaccines definitely not on the body condition deteriorated by the consumption of alcohol. People who have health complaints already and the elderly people and pregnant women should compulsorily get vaccinated. Vaccines do not have ill effects on people and they do not aggravate the ailments that are already there in human bodies. Therefore, it is our duty to convince them by explaining the facts.”   

Presently, our volunteers, with the statistics obtained, have started motivating people by visiting them door-to-door to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Consequently, people, who have not at all had vaccination, go for the first dose of vaccination and those who have had the first dose of vaccination go for the second dose of vaccination. It gives dazzling ray of hope that we could assist the government’s effort to achieve100 per cent of vaccination in the villages that come under four PHCs and 19 HSCs.   

Now, the government has announced that children aged 15 to 18 can get dose of corona virus vaccine from 3rd of January 2022 onwards. Therefore, we could help the government’s effort to get the children vaccinated. 

Taking Collective responsibility with the government, members of grassroots governance and the civil society organizations will ensure health to all.

India: Model Operating Procedure for registration of Migrant and Unorganized Workers in National Database

The Working People's Charter, which involves some of the WSM partners  in India, has drafted this statement related to the standard operating procedures to register unorganized or migrant workers in a database for the e-shram portal and social protection schemes. 

Context

In the Suo Moto Writ Petition (Civil) No.6 of 2020 with Writ Petition (C) No. 916 of 2020 the Supreme Court gave the following direction on 29th June 2021 with respect to registration of unorganized workers:

“Central Government to develop the Portal in consultation with National Informatics Centre (NIC) for registration of the unorganized labourers/migrant workers. We also impress upon and direct that the Central Government as well as the respective States and the Union Territories to complete the process of Portal for registration under National Data Base for Unorganised Workers (NDUW Project) as well as implement the same, which by all means may commence not later than 31.07.2021. We also impress upon and direct that the process of registration of the unorganized labourers/migrant workers is completed at the earliest, but not later than 31.12.2021. All the concerned States/Union Territories and the Licence Holders/Contractors and others to cooperate with the Central Government to complete the process of registration of migrant workers and unorganized labourers so that the benefits of the welfare schemes declared by the Central Government/State Governments/ Union Territories be available to migrant workers and unorganized labourers for whose benefits the welfare schemes are declared”

It has been more than two months since this direction was given to the Central and State Government. Information regarding the concerned Government’s action plan to comply with the direction as per the time frame mentioned is not available in the public domain. We are aware of sporadic measures like surveys being conducted for instance by the Government of Delhi, but are not informed of the larger framework of implementation within which State led initiatives are being undertaken.

At present, there is no centralized national database of unorganized workers in India, in spite of enabling legal mandates under the Unorganized Workers Social Security Act 2008. A collective of worker groups, civil society organizations and academics who have worked extensively towards issues of labour rights have taken the initiative to build a “Model SOP” for registration of workers, which if implemented can ensure that the Government complies with the orders of the Supreme Court. The model SOP can be used by civil society groups, in individual and collective advocacy efforts, to push the Government at the Centre and State level to honour the directions of the Supreme Court in letter and spirit. SAFAR and Working Peoples’ Charter intend to prepare such a SOP by consulting and taking inputs from a range of trade unions, worker groups, campaigns, networks, activists, academics and subject matter specialists such that the contents of the SOP reflect collective priorities through a democratic and participatory manner. The basic objectives of this SOP are to empower unorganized workers, the Central Government and the State Government in India through following:

1. Creation of a portable national database of all unorganized workers in India which will facilitate their unhindered access to multiple social security benefits
2. Provide a unique registration number for each unorganized worker in India, so that she/he can claim and access entitlements, services and benefits from any place in the country 
3. Link potential employers with the unorganized workers

Introduction 

The Indian economy is broadly divided into organised and unorganized sectors and with growth of economy, the organized sector is stagnant (in fact formal employment is shrinking) and unorganized sector is expanding or informal employment is increasing. Out of the estimated workforce of 474 millions, 17 percent (about 82 million) is employed in organized sector and 83 percent (about 392 million) is employed in unorganized sector. In general unorganized is informal also but about 55 percent of the workers in organized sector are also employed informally. In total about 92 percent of the total workers are engaged in the informal employment and majority of them have low earning and without any social protection. Out of the total informally employed workforce - 56 percent are self employed, 11 percent are regular salary wage earners and 33 percent are casual workers seeking employment on daily basis. (It is from 68 NSSO round, but have to check recent one)

The unorganized sector makes a significant contribution to the national wealth, yet workers in this sector do not have access to sufficient and reliable social security. These workers adopt informal strategies which are very expensive and their continued dependence on such strategies only rendered them more vulnerable. A vast majority of them do not have a fixed employer. There is a poor employer-employee relationship. With the enactment of the Unorganized Workers Social Security Act 2008, The Government of India has created a right based legal framework for providing social security benefits to the unorganized workers. According to section 10(1) of the Unorganized Workers Social Security Act 2008, it mentions that every unorganized worker shall be eligible for registration subject to the fulfillment of the conditions. 

Definition of Unorganised Workers

As per the Unorganised Worker Social Security Act 2008 a worker should be recognized as an unorganised worker if he/she fulfills any or all of the following definitions:

• Self-employed worker (full time/part time) 
• Wage worker- who does not get covered under social security net as per Unorganised worker Social Security Act (full time/part time) 
• In case a worker is covered either in EPFO, ESIC or any other four acts as mentioned in schedule II of the Act, he/she is not an unorganized worker.
• 18 years-age till the person receives pension

Minimum principles to govern the process of registration of workers: 

Self-declared information shared by workers has to be treated as true, unless proven wrong. Onus of proving veracity of information is on the State, and not on the individual worker. 

Recognizing that, despite best efforts, the modes of registration can be corrupted or blocked, multiple modes (online and offline) and routes (multiple spatial access points) must be provided by the State in order to make it progressively difficult to inhibit attempts made by workers to register in a free and fair manner. Additionally, the state must make efforts to reach the worker more than expect the worker to come to it through organizing registration camps, door-step registration services etc. 

Workers who have been registered on existing government portals / lists should not be asked to re-register themselves. Their inclusion in the NDUW should be automatic. In such a case of an auto-enrollment, worker’s unique registration number should be communicated to the worker by SMS on the given phone number and the worker’s registration card should be sent by post to the address in the database. However, if a person who is registered on any of the portals or lists appear at the registration desk, s/he should not be denied registration. An acknowledgement receipt with the ID, list from which the name has been pulled, and status (active / inactive / pending for renewal etc.) should be given along with the physical copy of worker’s registration ID card. 

Workers who have any state approved ID/private document proving authenticity of information being states, have the option of submitting the same at the time of registration. However, no document beyond self-declaration will be required from workers in order to register themselves on the NDUW. A worker wishing to register himself/herself shall not be required to give any proof or any other personal details except those that may be necessary for contacting him/her. 

It shall be the responsibility of the State/Central Government to take pro-active steps to reach the worker and facilitate him/her through the process of registration and other incidental activities, instead of relying on the worker to contact the State/Central Government 

Transparency of information to workers – The Government must put in place mechanisms through which the workers are made fully aware about all the information regarding the registration process like know what registering to this database means, what benefits it will give them, and who will have access to the information to name a few. 

Principle of portability - all workers can register anywhere, get info anywhere, access a center anywhere – no “home state” for registration – Benefits and coverage that follow from the ID must be accessible anywhere in India and should be designed that way.

Inclusion of worker organisation including trade union and voluntary organisations engaging with unorganized sector should be rope in for registration and awareness drive.  

Process of registration

As mandated under Section 9 of the Unorganized Workers Social Security Act, 2008 the State Government shall set up ‘Worker Facilitation Centres’ at the Gram Panchayat and Ward level to facilitate the filling, processing and forwarding of application forms for registration of unorganized workers

In addition to the Worker Facilitation Centres at the Gram Panchayat and/or Ward Level, the State Government should ensure access of workers to multiple modes of registration. Workers/Employers/Trade Union or any worker organisations working in the unorganized sector on behalf of workers should also be able to register through the following ways:

• Labour Offices 
• Helpline (govt and non govt run both)
• Web Portal
• Ration Dealer/ Post Office / Government Schools / Anganwadis / PHCs / Railway Stations / Metro Stations / Bus Stations / Booth Level Workers 
• CSC network 
• Gram Panchayat and Municipal Corporation

Govt may charge nominal fee @Rs 20 or less for the process of registration 

The process of registration will be ongoing through the year. There will be no cut-off date beyond which workers cannot register themselves 

Registration of workers will be renewed automatically, unless workers report a change in parameters by themselves

All those who register themselves on the NDUW will be provided with a dated acknowledgement slip at the time of registration which will contain the following details:

1. Name of applicant for registration 
2. Date on which application for registration being submitted 
3. Location where application for registration being submitted 
4. Unique ID of the Application 
5. Name, designation and contact details of the functionary who has received the application for registration 
6. Date by when the worker will receive the ID card 
7. Details of how the worker can file a grievance as per provisions of Section 7
8. The dated acknowledgement slip should contain the following information at an appropriate location
9. No documents will have to be submitted by the worker at the time of registration 
10. The time period should be prescribed - which should not be more than two weeks. 
11. The dated acknowledgement slip provided to the worker at the time of registration should be considered as the registration ID until the worker is provided with the latter.

Workers will be provided with an ID Card within 15 days of submitting an application for registration which will include a unique registration number of a worker. Until this is provided, as stated above, the dated acknowledgement slip provided to the worker at the time of registration shall be considered as the unique registration ID of the worker.

The Central and State Government will access the database of workers registered under existing portals, and add the same to the National Database for Unorganized Workers. Workers registered under existing schemes/programmes will not be required to re-register on the National Database once again. If there is additional information that ought to be collected from Workers registered under existing schemes/programmes, it will be the responsibility of the concerned Gram Panchayat / Municipal Corporation to update the same. 

The State Government may consider deploying the Nehru Yuva Kendra Cadre, National Social Service Cadre, National Cadet Corps to assist with registration, given Labour Departments across the country are understaffed. Additionally, the State Governments should actively involve worker organizations, empanel unions, federations, and labour collectives working in the State for the registration process. 

Functions/Fields for registration of unorganized workers

• Full Name of the worker (Mandatory) 
• Date of Birth (Mandatory) 
• Age (Mandatory) 
• Permanent address (Mandatory) 
• Current address (Mandatory) 
• Mobile Number (Mandatory) 
• Gender (Mandatory. Male/Female/Transgender/Other) 
• List of main occupations (Mandatory) (Annexure 1) 
• Marital status (Not Mandatory) 
• Is HOF(Head of Family)
• Caste Category( SC/ST/OBC/General) (Non Mandatory) 
• Aadhaar Number (Non-Mandatory) 
• Email id (Non- Mandatory)
• Bank account number (Non-Mandatory) 
• Bank IFSC Code (Non-Mandatory) 
• Bank type (Non-Mandatory) 
• Person with Disability (PwD) (Yes/No) (Non-Mandatory) 
• Percentage of disability if disabled (Non-Mandatory) 
• Disability type if disable (Seeing, Hearing, Speech, Movement, Mental Retardation, Mental Illness, Other disability, Multiple disability) (Non-Mandatory) 
• BPL Category (Yes/No) (Non-Mandatory) 
• Ration card number (Non-Mandatory)

Workers who have any state approved ID/private document proving authenticity of information being states, have the option of submitting the same at the time of registration. However, no document beyond self-declaration will be mandatorily required from workers in order to register themselves on the NDUW. A worker wishing to register himself/herself shall not be required to give any proof or any other personal details except those that may be necessary for contacting him/her. 

Automatic inclusion list and exclusion list

Workers registered under different schemes and boards will be automatically included in the NDUW with a unique identifier indicating that their details have been ported directly from other databases. At the time of distribution of material benefits to workers registered on the NDUW, the unique identifier will ensure that workers registered under different schemes and boards do not receive double benefits.

• Time-bound redress of grievances faced by workers in the process of registration and other issues
• The Booth Level Officer (BLO) will be appointed as the Grievance Redress Officer in their respective jurisdictions.
• The name and contact details of the concerned BLO will be proactively disclosed at Worker Facilitation Centres and all physical locations at which registration of workers is taking places in a prominent fashion.
• Workers facing any grievance in the process of registration will be able to file a complaint with the Booth Level Officer in writing, or through calls, SMS and web portals dedicated for the purpose of receiving and directing grievances to the appropriate BLO

All grievances received by the BLO in writing or through calls, SMS and web portals will be acknowledged with a dated acknowledgement slip which will contain the following details:

• Name of complainant 
• Date on which complaint filed 
• Description of complaint 
• Location of complaint 
• Time frame within which the complaint should be redressed 
• Name, designation and contact details of the BLO who has received the complaint

All grievances filed by workers will be responded to and redressed within 15 days of the grievance being filed. 

Transparency

All information collected and generated in the process of registration of workers under the NDUW will be publicly disclosed as per Section 4, RTI Act through a real time, transaction-based Worker Information System (WIS) set up for the purpose.

Applicants will be able to track the status of their application for registration, look up their registration number, download a registration certificate as many times, request an SMS with the registration information etc. through the WIS. In addition to these, wall painting should also be carried out in Panchayats and Ward offices in Municipalities by putting out the name of people who are registered.

All registered workers will be provided with a physical Registration ID Card, that will be provided at their current physical address. Workers should also have an option to download the Registration ID Card from the WIS anytime, anywhere by providing their registered phone number and unique registration number. The Registration ID Card provided to the worker physically, and the Card downloaded through the WIS will be treated equal in terms of sanctity. The Registration ID Card will contain the following details: 

1. Name of worker 
2. Unique Registration ID Number 
3. Date of registration 
4. Details of benefits provided to the worker 

Employment categories of Unorganized Workers 

1.  Agarbatti making
2.  Agriculture
3.  Agriculture machinery handling
4.  Animal Husbandry
5.  Arrack and liquor production and vending
6.  Automobile work
7.  Bakery work
8.  Band playing
9.  Bangle manufacturing
10.Beads making / piercing
11. Beautician
12. Beedi manufacture
13. Bicycle repair
14. Bindi work
15. Blacksmithy
16. Boat/Ferry occupation
17. Book binding
18. Brick kiln work
19. Brush making
20. Breweries Distilleries
21. Building and road maintenance
22. Bulb Manufacturing
23. Bullock/Camel-cart operation
24. Butchery
25. Cable TV operation
26. Cane/Reed work
27. Carpentry
28. Carpet weaving
29. Cashew processing
30. Catering
31. Chikan work
32. Cine service
33. Cloth printing
34. Clubs and canteen services
35. Coaching services
36. Coir processing/manufacture
37. Confectionery
38. Construction work
39. Construction of tents and pedals supply of utensils and decoration for function
40. Courier service
41. Dairying and allied activities
42. Data entry operations
43. Distribution of petroleum products
44. Domestic work
45. Dyeing
46. Electronic, electrical goods repairs
47. Electroplating
48. Embroidery work
49. Envelope making
50. Firework cracker production
51. Fishery production
52. Fish processing
53. Flora work and garland making
54. Flour mills operations
55. Footwear production
56. Forestry operation
57. Foundry
58. Gardening and parks maintenance
59. Garment manufacture
60. Gems cutting
61. Ginning
62. GIG/Platform Economy 
62. Glassware manufacturing
63. Goldsmithy
64. Hairdressing
65. Handloom weaving
66. Hawking and vending
67. Headload work
68. Health service
69. Honey gathering
70. Horticulture and floriculture
71. Hotel and restaurant service
72. Lock making
73. Manual operation of unspecified jobs
74. Masala making
75. Matches manufacture
76. Minor forest produce gathering
77. Minor mineral and mines work
78. Newspaper vending
79. NGO services
80. Oil extraction 
81. Packing and packaging
82. Panwalla services
83. Pappad making
84. Petrol bunk/pump and allied services
85. Pickle making
86. Plantation
87. Plastic manufacture
88. Pottery
89. Powerloom weaving
90. Printing press work
91. Quary work
92. Rag picking
93. Rice Milling
94. Rickshaw pulling
95. Salt pan work
96. Sand mining
97. Sawmill work
98. Scavenging
99. Security services
100. Sericulture (Silk rearing)
101. Service station work
102. Shepherding
103. Shoe shining work
104. Shop and establishment work
105. Small-scale industries
106. Soap manufacture
107. Sports good manufacturer
108. Steel vessels and utensils manufacture 
109. Stone crushing
110. Tanning(including hides and skin production) leather goods manufacture
111. Telephone booth service
112. Sweeping
113. Temple leaves collection
114. Tendu leaves collection
115. Timber industry(Furniture manufacture)
116. Tobacco processing
117. Toddy tapping
118. Toy making
119. Transport service(driving, conducting, cleaning) etc.
120. Laundry work
121. Wayside mechanics and workshop service
122. Welding
123. Any other occupation that is not listed above, but the worker declares as his/her occupation. This occupation will be periodically added to the above list. 

These employment categories in the unorganized workers are a suggestive list and should not be limited to just these. Additionally, if any new category emerges through workers’ response during the time of registration under 123, it should become a new category on the WIS too. Workers must be allowed to choose any number of categories of works at the time of registration and should not be restricted to choose a fixed number.

Lessons learned from India 2nd wave of COVID-19

Daily cases of Covid-19 and death keep on hitting a new global record as more than 400.000 new cases reported daily adding to the total number of infections to more than 20 million peoples. Positivity rate stays between 18-20 percent. At least 1 out of every 3 new cases around the world is being recorded in India. India recorded its deadliest day of the Covid-19 pandemic with more than 4.000 deaths a day, adding to the more than 215.000 people’s dead. Some city’s crematorium overflowed with dead bodies. Parking lots and open spaces have been changed into makeshift crematorium working for 24 hours a day. According to Reuters, 1 person is dying of Covid-19 every 5 minutes in India. The WHO describes the situation as ‘beyond heartbreaking’. 

People have been left to die outside of the hospital they cannot get into, due to lack of beds and facilities. Hospitals around India are reporting dying patients because of oxygen shortages. Few incidents happened; oxygen tanks leaked, and fire broke out in a hospital ward. Doctors and health workers are exhausted, overwhelmed by sudden increase of patients. They are having traumatic experiences as they must make life and death decision and turn away patient in the fact that people are dying who could otherwise be safe. The Indian Medical Association (IMA) reported that 747 doctors have died of Covid-19, the highest number were from Tamil Nadu (89 deaths), West Bengal (80 deaths) and Maharashtra (74 deaths). Healthcare workers are over-worked not only during their working time at the hospitals but also supervising many patients that stay at home without proper medical supplies. Healthcare systems are on the brink of collapse.

India’s swift decision to have two-months-long national lock-down to contain the first wave has sparked a huge exodus of millions of migrant workers who headed home to their villages and put about 100 million people out of work in a matter of days. As an impact, about 230 million Indians fell into poverty with women and children bear most of the brunt. After the first wave, the government was relaxing health protocol and allowing sport-social-religious gathering turn into ‘super-spreader events.’ Thousands or millions of peoples allowed to have gathered in one place without social distancing and mask-wearing. The impact of that decision is devastating. 

The government of India ignored warnings from the Indian SARS-COV-2 Genetics Consortium (INSACOG) about the new variant of B.1.617 first detected in early March 2021. Different with the first wave, this time India is faced with a ‘double mutation’ variant of the Covid-19 which is attacking younger populations with severe infections. There are growing fears about the spread of infections to rural areas where health infrastructure is limited or not exist. In the countryside, people die at home without medical attention and these deaths are vastly unreported. The second wave of Covid-19 crisis is expected to add 75 million people more to poverty with incomes of less than 2 USD a day. 

As the health system becomes inaccessible, people desperately turn to social media searching for oxygen, ventilators, plasma donations and medical supplies for their loves one to survive. Civil society turns into activists by helping each other through sharing information on social media, verifying news, providing oxygen, medical supplies, and food for free. However, criticism on how the government is handling the crisis is not permitted on social media. Unsurprisingly, the social media companies like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram have been requested to remove all posts criticizing the Government of India. For these social media companies, access to the huge India’ market with 400 million users is more important than the rights of the Indian people for free speech. 

The response of various Indian states to Covid-19 will differ as the poorest states have the weakest capacity to deliver health services. Some states will be in far worse shape than others. Maharashtra state is one of the states that has been hit hardest by Covid-19. Over 17.975 health workers have been infected with Covid-19, and 175 have died. According to experts, there are several reasons why Maharashtra recorded the highest number of cases. First, Maharashtra state has the 2nd biggest population in India. Secondly, Maharashtra has more densely populated cities caused by urbanization, like Bombay, the Nation’s financial hub. Third, the new variant of B.1.617 was first detected in early March 2021 in Maharashtra. Fourth, Maharashtra has relatively better Covid-19 recorded tests than other states. Fifth, after the first wave, the government allowed ‘super-spreader events’ where thousands or even millions of peoples participating without respecting health protocols. And lastly, the vaccine roll-out is slow across India. 

When it comes to vaccine, India is a paradox. Serum Institute of India is the world largest vaccine manufacturing and produces half of the world’s vaccines. Now, the Serum Institute is struggling to meet even the demands of its home country. Nearly 10% of Indians have received one dose, and only 2% have received both. This is happening because India is depending on the United States to obtain raw materials needed for manufacturing vaccine. ‘America first’ policy of the US is prioritizing the use of raw materials for producing vaccines for their own peoples. The Serum Institute had promised to supply COVAX with 1,1 billion vaccines doses. Unfortunately, the Serum Institute could only deliver 19,6 million vaccines doses to COVAX before it stopped in February 2021 as they also prioritize India’s domestic needs.   

The world has seen a moral deficit as Covid-19 Vaccine are being rolled out. Approximately 216 million peoples have been vaccinated against Covid-19 globally, but only 8,4% of these are in low and lower-middle-income countries. Wealthy nations have failed to prevent this tragedy happening in India and failed to contain the spread of global pandemic as they are almost exclusively prioritizing their own vaccinations and pile up stocking of vaccines for their own populations. Lower-middle income and poor countries are depending on World Health Organization initiative of COVAX vaccines which mainly come from India’ Serum Institute. Indirectly the wealthy nations are raising vaccine prices and squeezing lower-income countries out of vaccination race. For example, South Africa paid double what the European Union did for the AstraZeneca vaccine. If this trend continues, we will see vulnerable people in poorer countries continue to die needlessly.

This ‘vaccine nationalism’ is a very bad policy as it is self-defeating while it opens the possibility of new more-life-threatening variants of Covid-19 mutation to emerge somewhere in a poorer country. It is very risky to rely on production of vaccine from only a few manufacturers to supply vaccine to the rest of the world when cases of pandemic occur. Therefore, we welcomed the support of US and EU to waive the vaccine intellectual property (IP) rights proposed by the government of India and South Africa. It would allow other countries with the manufacturing capacity to produce and scale up production of Covid-19 vaccines. We expect there is not even one country among the 164 members of WTO which will vote against a waiver, because then that initiative would fail.

Patent waiving of IP Rights is just a first step. The fact is producing and distributing vaccine is complicated and takes time. We basically cannot wait for months or years before those patent waivers give impact for boosting global vaccine productions. What we need urgently is boosting production capacity of existing manufacturers and reducing restrictions on the export of vaccine and raw materials to make them. Equitable access to vaccines for all people and a global vaccination strategy will lead to global herd immunity. 

As the crisis deepened, international aid is coming from around the world, sending vaccine, oxygen, medicines, diagnostic tests, protective gears, etc. It is helpful, but too little, too late. It is becoming clear that what happened in India is not only catastrophic to India, but also to the rest of the world. As distribution of vaccine being halted, we will be expecting outbreaks to happen soon in other countries. Imagine if the virus reached a state like Myanmar. This country has a very poor health system affected by years of armed conflict and violence. With 1.600 km porous border, thousands of internally displaced persons and political refugees from Chin state of Myanmar flee and seek safe havens in the Mizoram and Manipur districts of India. 

What is already obvious is the spill-over of the virus to Nepal. Six provinces of Nepal share a porous border of about 1.850 km with 5 states of India, mainly Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. An estimated 6 million Nepalese live and work in India. With sudden increase of cases up to 9.000 a day, the fragile health system of Nepal is on the brink to collapse. 2 out of 5 people tested now return positive. More than 3.500 peoples have died, and 400 of them in the past 2 weeks alone. Nepal is just two weeks behind India towards similar catastrophe. Closing the borders is too little too late, as Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are also reporting spikes of cases. Very soon the center of global Covid-19 cases will move to South Asia. 

Along with the raise of cases in India, more and more countries decided to close its border for peoples coming from India. Discrimination against Indian peoples is increasing in many countries. The government of Australia has taken disproportionate and very punitive laws, which criminalize their own citizens coming or returning home from India. This policy is obviously racists against India-Australians people and civil society organizations should pressure the government of Australia to immediately withdraw this policy.

The worst has yet to come for India. India urgently needs to provide oxygen for patients, roll out vaccines, build temporary hospitals, isolation center and vaccine centers in a short period of time, while providing proper personal protective equipment and safe environment for health workers. People must know that the current vaccine should be seen as preventive measures rather than treatment, which means that those people who were vaccinated can still be infected by the virus and infect others. Research at this point only demonstrated that the vaccine alleviates the symptoms, which is already a huge step forward. Scientist do not know yet for how long the current vaccines will maintain antibody immune system against Covid-19. Therefore, people must respect and implement health protocols everywhere, anytime. Hopefully, anti-viral medicine and booster vaccines that can anticipate new variants and serve to stimulate the immune system to recognize a new variant in a longer lasting period can be developed.

Health has never been a major issue in the general election in India. However, the Covid-19 pandemic should change this . It is now time to raise health care as a prominent campaign. Healthcare spending in India remains just a little over 1% of the Gross Domestic Product, as opposed to the National health Policy which stipulates 2,5%. The budgetary allocation on healthcare as percentage share of the total budget remains at 1,98%. It is the responsibility of the government to ensure the health of the people by providing universal quality healthcare which is accessible and affordable. We should make sure that government manifesto regarding health do not end up mere rhetoric and window dressing. The government must involve people in policy development of the healthcare system, its monitoring and evaluation, because health has always been the primary concern of people. All people have equal rights to universal quality healthcare. 

The longer the virus can spread rampant in India, the more people it will infect and the more likely it is that further mutations will emerge. Many people do not yet realize the severity of what lies ahead. What happens in India is vital to what will happen next to the world. While the UK variant was detected in January in the northern state of Punjab, the Indian variant B.1.617 has now reached at least 17 countries. The battle against Covid-19 seems to be a long one. The India case is an alarming reminder of how the virus can spike when precautions are lifted and health protocol ignored. Unless we keep being cautious and learn from experiences like the one from India, we cannot win this battle.

India 2020 in numbers

 Over 1,17 million Indians were reached in 2020:

• 452.000 people (49% women and 44% youth) are more aware of their labour rights through campaigns and outreach. Trade unions organized over 112.000 workers, of which 91% women and 52% youth.
• Almost 6.700 people, of which 84% women and 55% youth, received basic training in labour standards, social security and health. 6.200 Indians, of which 87% women and 41% young workers, received advanced training (of leaders or of trainers).
• Over 10.000 workers, majority of which were women (82%) and 40% young workers, benefitted from legal assistance for labour rights.
• Advocacy: More than 539.000 people (32% women and 44% young workers) were mobilized at grassroots level (ex. demonstrations, petitions…).

Partner organizations:      CWM-India, AREDS, NDWM, NDWF, CFTUI, SEWA

Budget 2020:              328.230€

Donor:              DGD, Brussels Region International, Familiehulp, ACV Food and Services

Program:              2017-2021 (DGD)

Indian partners advocating together in 2020

During 2020, union protests against the reform of the labour codes continued and took a sharper tone. The partner organizations mobilized their members in collaboration with other recognized trade unions of India. They looked at issues like informal workers’ registration procedures into a database. In September 2020, a nationwide protest held by NDWM, NDWF and CFTUI under the National Platform Domestic Workers demanded National Legislation for Domestic Workers, cash transfers to domestic workers affected by the corona crisis and the implementation of the Urban Employment Guarantee Scheme. 

Memoranda were submitted to the Members of Parliament, Labour Ministers, Labour Commissioners and District Collectors in different states. The partner organizations jointly mobilized over 30.000 workers and provided training to 700 workers, of which two thirds were women.

With the support from Brussels Region, our partners also jointly conducted a study in different states on how informal workers had access to social security schemes during the COVID pandemic, in collaboration with Working People’s Charter. WSM also supported the self-employed women’s trade union SEWA in Kerala to support intra-state migrant workers in getting access to social security schemes.

Amidst COVID-19 and labour reforms - work from WSM partners in India 2020

 Labour law reform

In 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the central government pushed through with the biggest labour law reform since independence in 1947, to amalgamate and codify 44 existing labour laws into 4 codes in order to simplify the labour legislation in India: a code on wages; a code on industrial relations; a code on occupational safety, health and working conditions; a code on social security. While the central government and some state governments maintain that the labour law reform is necessary in order to boost productivity and to provide greater flexibility to employers to conduct their business, while expanding the social security to both gig workers as inter-state migrant workers. The reform however triggered a serious backlash from trade unions and other labour movements, claiming it as being ‘anti-worker’ and ‘anti-labour’, resulting in a massive general strike held across India on 26th November 2020 in which they claim 250 million workers took part, a majority of them non-unionized and non-organized workers. The main concerns of the broader labour movement are the extension of maximum working time from 8 to 12 hours per day, the introduction of  restrictions on the right to strike effectively making industrial actions impossible, and the increase of a threshold for collective layoffs from 100 to 300 workers without prior government approval. The workers’ strike was followed by a march of tens of thousands of farmers to New Delhi to protest against the liberalization of the agricultural sector, which could mean the end of government-controlled wholesale markets and minimum support buying prices for agricultural produce.

Coronavirus and lockdown in India

Just like other countries in the world India was struck hard by the COVID-19 virus. On 24th March 2020 a nationwide lockdown was imposed until 14th April and eventually extended until 30th September. This created a lot of chaos as workers, most certainly those in the informal economy (the majority of all Indian workers) could no longer go to work or keep open their business. It led to a collapse in economic activity in the whole country. Due to the loss of income and work, many workers living in the city went back to their family in the countryside, thus contributing to the further spread of the virus. International flights were cancelled and the country’s borders closed, preventing many Indian migrant workers to return home, trapping them for a long time without salary being paid due to the closure of their factory or construction site. Also intrastate travelling became very complicated. 

During the first lockdown, partner organizations took the initiative to help the workers and their families in the relief effort, informing them about the nature of the virus and the health risks, distributing personal protective equipment such as masks and hand gels, raising awareness about the importance of quarantine and social distancing, distributing food and medicines.

Although the partner organizations were able to adjust quite fast to the situation, the pandemic and lockdown resulted in the cancelling of many of the originally planned activities. Mainly trainings in groups could not take place or had to be postponed. The partner organizations successfully started to make use of online meetings to stay connected to their members and each other, which became a (less than ideal) alternative for the normal meetings. Most of the partner organizations (except for AREDS) made use of the possibility to reorient 20% of their annual DGD – budget to aforementioned COVID-19 related actions. The partner organizations took this crisis as an opportunity to strengthen the grass root activities by collaborating with different stakeholders and State departments like the police department ( to create awareness), the welfare departments (to give access to welfare/social security schemes to the informal workers), by mobilizing and supporting public distribution of rations and provisions. By involving these different actors and departments, the partner organizations could analyze how government machineries are responding to shocks, how informal workers and grass root level communities were affected by these measures. This helped them to advocate with different trade unions and national platforms and to mobilise for strikes against the Central Government to protest the new labour codes and farmers’ laws.

Aside from the regular DGD – program funds, WSM also channelled funds to the National Domestic Workers Movement from the Music for Life solidarity action and the Brussels Region International (BRI), which has sistered with Chennai, a city in the southeast of India and capital of Tamil Nadu State. BRI supported the NDWM Tamil Nadu branch in supporting domestic workers and their children who have been evicted from the Chennai city center slums and had been relocated 40km away, causing many to lose their jobs and lacking schools. In the second half of 2020, BRI also provided 50.000€ for relief aid to NDWM and 3 other local Chennai organizations. With the support of Belgian organisation Familiehulp, NDWM was also able to start up and develop domestic workers’ cooperatives in six states.

When your daughter is the first to finish high school, Testimony of a domestic worker - India 2020

Devi, 36 years, a domestic worker from Patna, part of the National Domestic Workers’ Movement since 2009: “I have four children and my husband is a daily wage labourer who does not support the family. The movement staff contacted me and encouraged me to educate my children. With their support I admitted first two children in school and later the other two. Today I am extremely happy that my child, Anjali, has completed her +2 in a reputed school in Patna and my other children are in class 8th, 5th and 3rd. This is the first time in our locality that a girl child  has completed higher secondary studies and she has dreams to become a teacher. NDWM also stood by my family along with 95 domestic workers families in my locality during the lockdown."

Women Power: Gender in India: new documentary

A documentary regarding women power entitled SHAKTHI has just been released regarding gender in India, figuring SWATE, one of  the sister movements of AREDS in Karur. 

Here also in Spanish.

India: protest by domestic workers

Nationwide protest held by NDWM, NDWF and CFTUI under the National Platform Domestic Workers  to demand National Legislation for Domestic Workers, Cash transfer to the domestic workers affected by Covid crisis and to implement the Urban Employment Guarantee Scheme. 

Memoranda were submitted to the MPs, Labour Ministers in different States, Labour Commissioners and District Collectors. These are images from States of Maharashtra, Bihar, Tamil nadu, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Orissa, Jharkand, Karnataka, Delhi, UP, Kerala, MP and Goa.

The nationwide protests received a lot of media coverage. In a press conference organized in Assisi Auditorium in Dimapur, the NDWM-Nagaland Region laid down four demands for the government. It demanded the recognition of domestic workers as workers, while seeking protection for them against all types of harassment. It also called for social security and access to benefits for the domestic workers and asked the State Government to include domestic workers in the schedule of employment and thus ensuring minimum wages entitlement. “Domestic Workers are essential workers, they are not carriers of diseases, do not discriminate them,” was the NDWM-Nagaland Region’s stand as they joined the nationwide campaign organized by the National domestic workers platform with its 34 unions.

       

    

ILO Convention 190: One year later....

In June 2019, the ILO adopted the Violence and Harassment Convention, 2019 (No. 190) and its supplementing Recommendation (No. 206). Violence and harassment is unacceptable anywhere and at any time, whether in times of prosperity or of crisis. Nevertheless, the risk of violence and harassment is even higher in crises, including during the current COVID-19 outbreak.

 

To mark the first anniversary of the adoption of both instruments, the ILO will organize a virtual high-level event with the participation of the ILO Director-General, Mr Guy Ryder, to discuss their role in responding and recovering from the current COVID-19 pandemic.

WSM and the members of the network on the right to social protection were strongly invested in the drafting and passing of the ILO Convention 190 regarding Violence and Harassment in the world of work. Today, two members of the ANRSP attended the ILO webinar. Sulistri from KSBSI shared:"Uruguy is the first country which  ratified C190 and Fiji’s ratification has already reached ILO Geneva."

Sr Christy from National Domestic Workers Movement in India added:"ILC190 is even more relevant in COVID-19 pandemic times. Violence against those caring for the sick, disabled and health workers are increasing. There are limited opportunities for trade unions, people's movement and organisations to intervene. We should initiate policy making and awareness raising and it is more important than ever to push governments to ratify and implement the Convention, as C190 protects all range of workers, formal and informal, as well as ethnic groups."