In this issue

Cover Story

The Invisible Millions

While we talk about human rights abuse in different places, going as far as Guantanamo Bay, many of us don't realise that the worst kind of abuse is taking place inside our very homes. Most of us employ homeworkers to do all the dirtiest jobs in our houses and in return they are treated like third class citizens. And the worst part of it is that there are no laws saying we can't do so. While they toil away day in and day out, no law categorises them as 'workers'. If they are inside our houses, they are at our complete mercy.
It's like a scene out of the dark ages. But it's such an everyday sight that it does not occur to many of us how odd and downright atrocious the situation is. The harsh and appalling conditions most homeworkers have to live in, in clear view of the authorities, have turned them into the 'invisible millions'.

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