Congress seeks enactment of central law for welfare of domestic workers in India

New Delhi: The Congress on Saturday demanded enactment of a central law to provide for job security and social welfare of the domestic workers in the country. The party made the demand on Saturday on the occasion of International Domestic Workers Day, while launching a nationwide campaign, aimed at sending one lakh post cards by domestic workers to the prime minister to demand the central law to protect and promote their employment. [caption id=“attachment_4493011” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AFP[/caption] Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, All India Unorganised Workers Congress (AIUWC) chairman Arbind Singh said the central government is “desirous” of framing a national policy for domestic workers but the move will not help the poor and marginalised workers as the policy “remains just on files." He stressed that a central law will ensure the enforcement of their rights in the letter and spirit. Singh said such a law should aim at securing decent working conditions and provide social security to the estimated 1 core domestic workers in the country. He noted that AIUWC has submitted a draft law for the domestic workers to the Central government, highlighting various aspects like fixations of wages, holidays, social security measures like old age pension and regulation of placement agencies. Domestic workers, who were also present on the occasion, demanded emergency security fund for them. Singh said the Central government has enacted the Unorganised Sector Social Security Act, 2008 for providing social security to the unorganised workers including the domestic ones, but it is “vague” with no clear definition of the domestic workers. Minimum wages have been fixed for domestic workers by several states, including Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Odisha, and Rajasthan, but it is only on “pen and paper” and has “no enforceability”, he added.