New Delhi: The Workers India Federation (WIF), a national body of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India office for Labour has condemned the order passed by the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, stating that tribals working as domestic help must be registered with local police.
The notification in the news papers is highly dangerous to the tribals. It implies branding them as criminals. The government of India has not ratified the ILO Convention No.189 on Decent Work for Domestic Workers, but is making such orders which harm their existence in urban areas.
According to the law, only criminals are registered with police. It is curtailing the fundamental right of the domestic workers under Article 14 and 19 (d), (g), WIF said adding that instead of protecting the tribals, the Order sounds like discriminating them and making their life difficult.
“It is the duty of the state to protect the citizens in whichever realm of work they are into. The mind the government in keeping the underprivileged under surveillance is not welcomed. Majority of the domestic workers are illiterate so such a move will make them handicapped,” WIF said.
It urged the governments to make sure they get social protection and social security.
WIF said: Domestic workers invariably represent the more marginalized communities in society. Prejudice and bias related to social status is reflected very strongly at the workplace for many domestic workers. A clear statement in the law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of caste, class, gender, sexuality and/or religion is necessary. Another insidious but widely prevalent bias is that of poverty and criminality, which has wider ramifications as domestic workers are the first to be questioned on the occurrence of a crime. Greater protection needs to be accorded to domestic workers against police harassment and discrimination.
New efforts at legislating or regulating the domestic work sector have generated greater debate and a more careful study of the sector which shows they are highly in demand for work and their social security and social protection must be provided.
The Church body called upon the government to pass a comprehensive legislation for domestic workers since they are not protected under the scope of labor laws in India.