If She Leaves Broom, She Has No Room to Live!

“I have three children. They are studying in a Government  School at Kondapur. My husband is working with a vendor  in a vegetable market.” says Fathima, a domestic help, who is idle because of Covid-19. As a human who needs to survive with a lone kidney, in the place of two, Fathima’s family is now dependent on only one’s earning, that is her husband’s. This is the plight of servant maids  in Hyderabad City. Perhaps 40 lakhs domestic workers  in India are meeting with the similar fate.

Because of the contagious  nature of the disease, every middle class  household is keeping these workers at bay and making them penniless. The women, whose proportion is high among the domestic help, who are married to low-wage workers, need to earn to feed their children at least. Fathima’s husband doesn’t earn much despite his day long labour in the market.

Fathima had been working in 4 flats in Kalki Apartments, Madinaguda till Covid-19 hit her profession. She would get Rs. 15,000 per month for her four hours toil a day. Hardly she would spend her time  from 8 AM to 12 noon in these flats.

Same is the case with Sobhamma. Her husband, as an auto riskaw driver, had earned good amount, before the lock down was imposed. He remained idle for more than two months. Though Unlock-1 was initiated, he couldn’t earn much, as people didn’t prefer auto-rikshaws. She would work in Gayatri Aparments in the same locality and bring home not less than Rs. 10,000 per month. The couple would feed their two children without a hassle. Now they are helpless.

To make their suffering worse, they need to pay rent for their single-roomed dwellings. Fathima and Sobhamma are now indebted to their house owners in Kondapur and Lingampalli. Both of them originally hailed from  remote villages in Mahabubnagar and Medak districts. They had to come to city, as they didn’t find work, as agriculture was in bad shape.

Most of the domestic workers in the city are caught between the devil and the deep sea. They can neither go back to their villages nor stay in the city.

B. Narayana, Student, AP College of Journalism