Times
of India: Kolkata: Thursday, March 06, 2014.
From now sex
workers of the biggest red light area in Asia will get the opportunity to
access right to information (RTI). An RTI centre has been opened at Sonagachi
to help sex workers access to information through the RTI act. Besides boosting
the confidence of the sex workers this initiative by Durbar Mahila Samanwaya
Committee (DMSC) is also aimed at social inclusion of sex workers.
"Beside
the RTI centre, DMSC also plans to set up a helpline number by the end of this
year to address various issues and problems faced by the sex workers. The main
objective of setting up the RTI centre is to boost the confidence of sex
workers in accessing to information through the RTI Act. This in turn help
social inclusion of sex workers and other marginalized community," said Dr
Samarjit Jana, DMSC chief advisor.
DMSC has been
spearheading movement for the rights of sex workers for years now. Developing
dialogues with political parties, policy makers and connecting with community
based organisation working for sex workers in the country and giving them legal
as well as capacity building training have been part of the organisations
activities.
"Sex
workers and their families can not access various social entitlements offered
to the general citizens. Sex work is like any other profession of the
unorganised sector and hence we should be brought under universal pension
scheme provided by local, state or central government," said Bharati Dey,
president All India Network of Sex-workers.
Dey alleged
that many in the profession are compelled not to access social entitlement and
citizenship identity due to harassment from various quarters. As a result a
large number of sex workers and their families are unable to get citizenship
identity like the voter ID card.
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