Insurance victory for Indian prostitutes

By Sujoy Dhar

KOLKATA (Reuters Life!) - Bharati Dey, a former prostitute, has been granted a life insurance cover which she says is a step forward in her campaign to legalise the profession in India.

Once practising her trade in the run-down quarters of Kolkata's Sonagachi, one of Asia's largest red light districts, she is now a proud holder of a policy from India's largest state-owned life insurance company.

"The policy won't change much in our life, but this small step is a giant leap forward in our struggle for legal recognition of sex work," said Dey.

"We live in a no-man's land in India where we are harassed by cops and rowdies," added the 45-year-old.

Prostitution is still illegal in India, although it is a thriving underground industry. Voluntary groups estimate that there are about 2 million female sex workers, most of them trafficked or forced into the work by poverty.

Over the last month around 250 sex workers in the city have been given life insurance policies by the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India. Prostitutes say it is a breakthrough in their efforts to get legal recognition for their work.

Without many official documents, prostitutes are rarely able to open accounts in banks or join the financial mainstream.

Dey is a member of the Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee (Indomitable Women's Coordination Committee), a forum of 65,000 sex workers in West Bengal.