Midnight, blazing lights, jam-packed streets, hundreds of women in provocative outfits, exaggerated lipsticks, Screams in the air, Sex, and the city.
Those were the daily scenes of the red light areas prior to the corona pandemic, but life changed for the sex workers subsequently. As a result of the outburst in Corona cases, the central government imposed a nationwide lockdown; everything except the essential services was under the shutdown. Citizens have forced to stay inside the home, roads in every city were seen empty.
Each sector had been facing this crisis, but the lives of sex workers were affected in an unprecedented way. These people remained with no choices but to survive with hardly any source of income. The main reason behind the dilemma of sex workers is that; The Indian government never acknowledges the existence of these areas. These areas remained distant from the government’s beneficial services due to the negligence of the government. As the factory workers and migrants returned to their villages, sex workers were left with the fear of starvation to their families.
Sex workers who used to charge 1000 INR per client had to cut the charges to 250-300 rupees. These places accommodate thousands of people with Several STDs. These areas are more prone to the increment in the cases of this virus going unnoticed. The sex workers were neither provided with information about the importance of maintaining hygiene nor any particular plan to vaccinate these workers were made. Many sex workers who came from other cities who got stuck there had no money to pay their rent and went homeless. Many Non-Government Organizations came forward to help these sectors but it was not sufficient for such great numbers of sex workers.
Social distancing will be having an enormous negative effect on the earning process of these sex workers; The government must come up with a financial package for these sectors.