Kerala - Kochi   

Project for Indian maids’ welfare

Kochi: As tales of exploitation of Indian domestic helps, especially of those from Kerala and Andhra Pradesh, in the Gulf countries continue to surface, the Central Social Welfare Board, along with the Union Ministry for Overseas Indian Affairs, is drawing up a project for the welfare of domestic workers..

The project, expected to be ready by April, is mainly for Kerala as many women from the State go to the Gulf to work as housemaids but end up being exploited, Board Chairperson Rajani Patil, who was on a recent visit to Kochi, said.

The aim is to launch some awareness schemes right from self- defence to handle any situation they were in, Ms. Patil said.

This will help the women if they find themselves in difficult situations, Ms. Patil said.

Nearly 200,000 Indian women are believed to be working as household service workers in the Gulf.

Complaints of physical torture and abuse and non-payment of salary for several months abound, social activists here say. Some who are lucky are able to find their way back to the State, but many languish in the Gulf in virtual house arrests and their families here have no clue about their whereabouts.

The Overseas Indian Affairs Ministry has made stringent rules with regard to women going abroad as domestic helps. They have to register with the respective Indian embassies as soon as they reach the Gulf countries, she pointed out.

Ms. Patil said she had visited several Gulf countries as part of a delegation of MPs and it was noticed that several women, mostly from Kerala, had been taken for a ride by recruiting agents and were being trafficked. — PTI

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