As a society, we must ensure that sex workers get at least free delivery of dry rations
A critical social issue that has caught the attention of the Supreme Court is a plea by sex workers for their right not to go hungry. The COVID-19 pandemic has upset their business; most of them are jobless and, therefore, unable to afford two square meals a day. The minimum they ask for is the distribution of free dry rations. Unfortunately, they cannot get hold of these if the Government is willing to give because they do not have identity cards. Most cannot furnish proof of residence and do not have ration cards. They contend that being victims of bad social profiling, nobody is willing to hear their complaints. The Supreme Court has since asked the Union Government to provide sex workers rations without insisting on them furnishing identity proofs. It has similarly directed the States. There is a caveat. Sex workers need to be identified by the National Aids Control Organisation (Naco) to become eligible for the rations. Realising that hardly a small section is registered with the organisation, the court pointed out that the help of local community bodies should be sought to identify sex workers. The court simultaneously wanted the Governments to begin the process of issuing ration cards, voter identity and Aadhaar cards to the recognised sex workers without insisting on identity proof. Easier said than done. Sex workers are easily the most stigmatised segment of the country’s population. They provide a service that is never formally acknowledged by the service-seekers. They are subjected to humiliation, discrimination and ostracisation. They live in single-room tenements in ghettos amid unhygienic conditions.
It is thanks to non-governmental organisations that they access medicare and their children are enrolled in schools. Even though sex is not a crime in India, they are subjected to routine police raids because some aspects of their profession are criminalised under law, like managing brothels and soliciting in public places. The pandemic lockdown put a stop to their business, but their expenses remained the same, turning their lives into a thankless grind. As a result, sex workers are generally suspicious of people inquiring about them and that is why it is difficult to obtain data about them. The West Bengal Government, for instance, submitted to the Supreme Court that they identified only 6,227 sex workers. Maharashtra said Naco identified only 27,871 workers. The figures are simply unbelievable. It probably shows the effort was non-serious. With such an attitude, the apex court orders about issuing them identity cards will never get implemented. The Supreme Court should explore giving the job of identifying sex workers to the National Network of Sex Workers, a collective that promotes their rights at the local and national levels. Community members will be in the best position to reach out to the sex workers in confidence and get them their institutional dues. In a society that still refuses to recognise them, an identity card at least gives them a sense of belonging.