Ms. Girija (Name Changed) migrated from Tikamgarh, Madhya Pradesh to work in the national capital Delhi. For the last 15 years, she is working in Delhi as Gardener in Pitampura Delhi Development Authority Garden. The salary drawn in her name was Rs.16000/month but was paid only Rs. 8000 by the Junior Engineer. She was never given any detail of her bank account and ATM card.

When she started probing why was she not fully paid her salary and asked for her full salary. She was asked not to come to the office to work. The Junior Engineer was anxious that he have to pay her full salary for the last 15 years. Hence, he restricted her to enter the office premises and stopped her from meeting higher officials. Girija was helpless and terrified but could not do anything to get her job and money back, helplessly she sat at home last 8 months.

An estimated 450 million internal migrant workers make up 92 percent of the workforce in India. They are mainly engaged in manual daily-wage work and are traditionally exposed to bonded labour, which is forced labour in lieu of debt, and other forms of modern slavery. Almost every migrant has experienced some type of exploitation in one way or another.

There are several Girija’s who faced different types of exploitation in their day-to-day life. They are leading a life where exploitation and vulnerability are the norms. Despite having legal provisions, ignorance and illiteracy halt natural justice.

Girija got the opportunity to meet the Nirmana team through a common friend in a colony where she resides. Nirmana, the non-profit organisation working for the rights of India’s poor, working and unorganised labour partnered with Caritas India under the Pravasi Bandhu Programme to assist, support and protect internal migrant workers and to create awareness about their rights.

Nirmana organized two days of legal awareness training sessions for Domestic and Construction Workers with the collaboration of M.A.P Migration and Asylum project, Delhi on the theme “Training and Sensitization of migrant Domestic and Construction Workers on Safety and Security on the 21st and 22nd of July on their Migration Resource centre in Haiderpur. First-day session was for the Domestic workers and 2nd day covered Construction workers.

The first-day session was presided by Advocate Ms. Gauri and Advocate Ms. Aastha. The topics covered were the Rights of women Domestic workers, issues of wages, Domestic violence at the worksite, sexual harassment and unpaid Wage or withholding wages by the employers. Migration and Asylum (M.A.P) works within the Jurisdiction of Delhi Providing free legal counselling and support to Domestic workers and Construction workers with regards to their rights, issues of wages, domestic violence at the worksite, sexual harassment and in the cases of unpaid or withheld wages of Domestic workers or migrants construction workers. They provide complete support in filing litigation, FIR, advocacy, and capacity building toward the protection of migrant workers and domestic workers. Some of the cases that surfaced during the training session are as follows wherein they readily accepted to support the applicant. Some of the helplines telephone numbers provided by them to reach out to them in times of emergencies are as follows: –

1. Delhi Women Commission No. 181,011-23379181
2. Delhi Legal Assistance No. 1516
3. POSH DCC – 23386982, dcnd@nic.in
4. MSF – Mental Assistance Contact No.18001021075
5. Women Help line – Shakti Shalini – 011-24373737 & 24342437
6. Talika – 011-40848858 – ( Talika App) on google play store. Use in case of any  Domestic Violence.