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MISCELLANEOUS OCCUPATIONS
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DOMESTIC SERVICES
An indication of the growing prospect of the urbanites is the
positive increase in the number of domestic servants employed in the households. It is necessary to distinguish between rural domestic servants and their urban counterparts. In rural areas, the domestic servants are employed only during the agricultural operations and are paid in cash and kind according to the work performed. The other category of rural servants now fast disappearing is the one where a worker is employed in the family of a Jagirdar, an Inamdar or a landlord in return for the monetary help received by him from the household, the period of service extending from about two years to five, depending upon the amount of loan taken. In urban areas, two distinct classes of domestic servants are to be met with. The one employed as a full time farming servant who is expected to do every possible kind of family service and the other, employed partly to do certain specific jobs such as washing of clothes and utensils.
In the district, a survey was conducted in most of the taluka places. Of the total number of domestic servants, the majority belonged to the latter class. Their earnings varied between Rs. 25 and Rs. 45 depending upon the number of families in which they secured employment. In the case of the former, the earnings were between Rs. 15 and Rs. 25 per month depending upon the class of family in which they were employed. Besides, they were also provided with meals, clothing, some space to lie down, etc., which compensated for the imaginary loss they seem to incur by being employed in a single family
only. Generally, the employees of the latter category were mostly women, the male members being employed in other types of establishment.
Even though during the last few years their earnings as a class have increased,
their living conditions are far from satisfactory.
Very few have their own houses. Most of them live in a single
room tenement which is exposed to heat in summer and rain in
the rainy season. The food they consume and the clothes they
put on are clearly a sign of a sub-standard existence. Children
they cannot afford to educate but they have a light of hope in the
scheme of the Government to provide free education to the ward
of the low income group parents. However, some awakening in
visible in the people of this class who are now trying to form
associations of their own on the same pattern as the Trade Union
of industrial workers and so far they have responded well to the
call given by their leaders. A time seems to have come when
persons in this category might enjoy the same status as earners in
any other occupation.
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