While she has written to the Collector’s office about it, she is yet to hear from them. Prema’s application for a ration card was denied multiple times. Naturally, there was an immediate call for help from the community soon after the lockdown was put in place.” This major hitch of not having the key to basic amenities looks likely to persist, lockdown or not. That is why they do not have a permanent address and are forced to lose out on the benefits made available by the government. “As sex workers constantly face prejudice for the job they hold, they are having to move houses often to remain safe. “Around 178 ration packets have been handed over to sex workers in Tamil Nadu,” says Kamala*, a sex worker in Madurai and member of the NNSW and Vadamalar Federation. The NNSW, acting via Vadamalar Federation and SIAAP in Tamil Nadu, has disbursed funds for relief drives. With their long years of work in this region, groups that have always championed for the sex workers have stepped in to bridge the divide as much as they can.
Since his death, it has been very difficult,” narrates Prema. When my husband was alive, I was able to rely on him and his source of income. That day I came back home and fainted out of hunger because I didn’t have anything left to eat. She was rude to me and said that I didn’t have a family to support like she does, hence she didn’t want to help me. “Recently, I had run out of rice and asked my sister for help. That she does not have other mouths to feed discourages fellow workers from sharing their resources, it seems. Prema*, like many in her line of work, has no family or friends to turn to in times of need. Like everywhere else, being a single woman having to fend for herself comes with its own set of problems here too. Worry and uncertainty has had her considering suicide as well. I have managed till now with the ration packet provided by the Vadamalar Federation, but I have no idea what to do when that runs out,” she says. However, when the lockdown extension was announced, I lost hope and am now scared of the future. “I thought that I will be able to make some money after the lockdown is lifted and everything in my life will go back to normal. While her neighbours were able to benefit from the distribution of dry rations and aid of Rs 1,000 from the government, she could not avail of the same - because of no ration card. Padmaja*, another sex worker from the Theni district, has been struggling to make ends meet she has a 20-year-old son with mental illness to care for too. Without the work, they find that they are not able to afford even the essentials. The lockdown has been much worse on those who are the sole breadwinners in the family. When her daughter continued to speak to me, she pulled her away and instructed her to not talk to me because I am a sex worker,” she narrates. One woman I approached demeaned me for my profession. I have been trying to ask for loans from the people in my neighbourhood. We were unprepared and hadn’t saved any money.
“As the lockdown was so sudden, my sons and I didn’t expect that there would be a loss of income. It was so with Padma* from Theni district. While organisations like National Network of Sex Workers (NNSW), SIAAP and Vadamalar Federation have been campaigning for the rights of sex workers for years, it does not change the fact that the men and women have no one to turn to in times of emergencies.Įven otherwise good Samaritans seem to shirk away from this demographic. In times like these, the government has overlooked the profession and failed to consider it a part of the unorganised sector,” says Janani, an officer at South India AIDS Action Programme (SIAAP). As most sex workers do not have a permanent residence, they do not qualify to apply for one. “The government has been providing dry rations to those with ration cards. Take the provision of dry rations, for instance.
This was only made worse by the fact that hardly any help comes their way. Without much savings to their name, staying afloat through the workless period has turned out to be quite a gruelling challenge.
Like any other unorganised sector dependent on everyday work and transient income, sex workers too were caught off guard at the sudden implementation of the lockdown. Virus or not, sex workers often don’t make it to the list of beneficiaries in any of these programmes. Despite the effort, certain sections of our society slip through the cracks.