ST just a tag for them

While several communities in the country are queuing up to get the ST tag to improve their economic and educational condition, those already having the ST status in states like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Orissa are fleeing their jungle villages to escape extreme poverty.

A study of migrant domestic workers from five tribal districts of these three states, conducted by NGO Drishti, states that poverty and lack of local employment is forcing an estimated 35,000 tribal girls to migrate to cities like Delhi, Chandigarh and Mumbai annually.

"The proportion of people migrating from tribal areas is very high because of meagre income from agriculture as well as extreme poverty of these tribal families," Anjali Deshpande, secretary, Drishti, told Business Standard.

A majority of these girls surveyed are in the 18-25 age group (57 per cent), with the girls below 18 years coming second at 22 per cent.

The report of the Pune- based NGO in association with the Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini's Social Research Cell also states that 69 per cent of these female domestic workers (FDWs) migrate to Delhi, followed by Mumbai, Punjab and Haryana.

"Basically, it is the lack of proper implementation of the government programmes meant for these tribal people that is aggravating their plight and making them vulnerable," Deshpande said.

Most of the girls (82 per cent) surveyed showed that they were educated till seventh standard or above, but did not find enough opportunities to survive in their regions, Yashawant Thackar, research associate with the project, said.

The report also comes as a warning as it states that because of large demand for domestic labour, a well organised placement agency network has emerged for supplying the girls in Delhi and elsewhere. "These girls are systematically lured for the purpose," it states.

According to Drishti, there are 800 to 1,000 of such agencies in operation in certain parts of Delhi itself.

"These agencies exploit them financially by collecting wages from the houses (Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000), but paying only Rs 2,500 to Rs 3,500 per month to the girl working as a domestic help."

Deshpande said this could be considered a case of bonded labour. In some cases, these girls are also the victims of sexual harassment, but the response of the authorities to their plight is not adequate, the NGO says.

This was even conceded by an official in the Social Justice Ministry, "Though the Ministries of Women and Child Development, Tribal Affairs, Social Justice and Labour have individual programmes in their domain related with tribal welfare, there is a lack of an exclusive programme or policy to take up the cause of tribal girls working as domestic workers."