MISCELLANEOUS OCCUPATIONS

DOMESTIC SERVICES

Domestic servants could be classified as rural and urban. They could also be classified on the basis of the nature of their work as cook, driver, those undertaking washing of clothes and cleaning of utensils, etc. Generally, every middle class urban family employs a domestic servant for washing of clothes and cleaning of utensils and some rich families employ cooks, drivers, etc.

In rural areas workers of this category are employed during the agricultural seasons and are paid either in cash or in kind. In rural areas, avenues of employment are limited and naturally mobility is difficult to find among them. In a number of families domestic servants are considered and treated as members of the family itself. In urban areas domestic servants are employed on a full-time or on a part-time basis for doing household work.

The number of persons following this occupation has decreased during the last forty years, as can be seen from the following statement, as they seek employment in new better paid avenues provided by factories, mills and other such establishments which have come up in the district recently.

The 1921, 1931, 1951 and 1961 Censuses classify these services differently. The 1921 Census classified the domestic servants into three categories which are shown in the following statement.

The 1931 Census classified domestic servants under two heads. The following figures pertain to those seeking it as a principal occupation.

The 1951 Census classified domestic services as follows:--

As per 1961 Census, out of 1,743 domestic servants, in the district, 1.194 (642 males, 552 females) were in urban areas of the district. The above figures show that the urban domestic servants constitute about 69 percent of the total in the district, in the category of cooks there are two types viz. those employed regularly in private houses and those employed on special occasions e. g., marriage and festival ceremonies. The cook.- are paid remuneration depending upon their skill and the amount of work, generally in cash and in addition to meals which are also provided. The payment ranges between Rs. 30 and Rs. 70 per month. The earnings of those employed for washing of clothes and cleaning of utensils vary generally depending upon the amount of work and more particularly upon the number of members in a family. The payment varies between Rs. 8 and Rs. 20 per month. An urban domestic servant is paid higher than a rural one.

The urban domestic services are characterised by absenteism from work as the domestic servants go to their native places to carry on work in connection with the cultivable land that they possess and which thus supplies their families with a substantial means of livelihood.

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