A lot is said about the plight of sex workers across the country but little is done. To help sex workers get a foothold in the society and to lead a life bereft of worries, a Kolkata-based NGO -- Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee -- has joined hands with the state-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India.
LIC has granted sex workers an insurance policy (life cover) in March this year. In doing that, LIC has recognised sex trade as a profession, something Durbar workers have been fighting for, for long.
A non-government organisation for, of and by the sex workers, Durbar not only looks after the well being of women in the sex trade, but also assists them in becoming financially independent.
The NGO at Sonagachi, Kolkata's red light district, one of Asia's largest, has become a name to reckon with even in international circles for its focussed approach towards anti-HIV/AIDS campaign. It has 65,000 sex workers as members in West Bengal.
Envisioned and conceptualised by a city-based physician Dr Smarajit Jana, Durbar works round the clock to fetch a legal, professional status for sex work to help bring these women into the mainstream and fight poverty and discrimination.
Text: Indrani Roy Mitra
Image: This file photograph shows Indian sex workers check through their application forms at State Bank of India as they await their turn to open a savings account at a branch of the bank in Kolkata. | Photograph: Deshakalyan Chowdhury/AFP/Getty Images
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