Mumbai: Domestic Workers Sector Skill Council (DWSSC) organized Round Table Conference aiming to engage Industry & Knowledge Partners to form a Special Interest Group (SIG) – a consortium of members who would like to come together for skills, employability and entrepreneurship under CSR and fee based funding under the leadership of Domestic Worker Sector Skill Council.
Special Guest, Padamshree, Shri. Manoj Joshi, a films & theatre personality said “Domestic Workers & Caregivers have a very strong inherent skill set called “Vyavahar”. It is an income generating sector leading to “Swaraj’ & Samriddhi” and a very important sector creating exceptional opportunities all over the country both in villages & overseas.
Guest of Honour, Dr. Vinita Aggarwal, Executive Member, NCVET in her key address emphasized that Domestic Workers Sector directly & indirectly leads to an increase the Women’s Participation in the active workforce. She also highlighted that there is a high demand for skilled Domestic Workers in the market, both Domestic & International. They are vulnerable because they are untrained. Hence skilling is extremely critical.
Dr. Shalini Bharat, Vice Chancellor, TISS & DWSSC Director, welcomed the audience in her context-setting speech & shared the journey and gradual evolution of Sir Dorabji Tata Graduate School of Social Work to Tata Institute of Social Sciences which today serves with more than 32 vocational courses & programs. It also highlighted the need for digitization and the huge potential of the workforce in International Migration.
During the open house, related topics were discussed, including the incorporation of cutting-edge technology, the requirement to raise money through CSR initiatives for improved infrastructures and training inputs, and the creation of a Special Invitation Group for the new employment & entrepreneurship opportunities by engaging industry as skill center & for fee-based training.
In her welcome address, Ms. Pritha Dutt, DWSSC Chairperson stated sectors catered by DWSSC are informal and unorganized, which forms a large number of the workforce. Women’s workforce constitutes the majority in this sector ranging from Housekeeping, Caregiving, Laundry Services, Sanitation & Home Management. This is the only sector that provides the right impetus and support to the workforce thus helping the earning livelihoods and reaching the goal of financial security & stability.
Mr. K Ganesh, DWSSC Director Successful Entrepreneur & Founder-Promoter of Portea Medical, BigBasket, & HomeLane, addressed the audience in his context-setting speech about Industry Perspective highlighting the need for creating micro-entrepreneurs through self-employment. He emphasized that the focus should be on core local challenges in India in Tier 2 & 3 cities and how entrepreneurs can help tackle these issues and create value for all stakeholders by sharing examples of IT industries, BPOs, and NASSCOM.
Mr. Harish Nandan Sahay, DWSSC Additional Director urged the audience to come forward to form the Special Interest Group for the benefits and upliftment of Domestic Workers & Caregivers, emphasizing the need for skilling and training to make the job roles aspirational and break the social barriers. He impedes Industry to come forward with Industry based skill programs.
Dr. Sanjay Gandhi, Mr. Pradeep Tupe & Mr. Prashant Pund, Vice Presidents, PMA, addressed the Context Setting for the Special Interest Group & shared their experience & passion being associated with the skilling ecosystem. Mr. Pradeep shared his experience of working in skill development ecosystems such as Learn & Earn for enabling tech platforms for our sector.
Prof Bino Paul, Deputy Director, and Pro-Vice Chancellor, TISS gave a presentation on “Domestic Workers & their Skill and Education Status: Findings from Periodic Labor Force Survey 2021” which explored some important aspects of the predominance of Women to the tune of 89.4% in this sector.
Ms. Mona Gupta, CEO of, DWSSC concluded the Round Table Conference with the following
- Engagement model for SIG
- Identifying partner strengths to plug the gaps concerning employees sensitization, sharing of data of trained candidates & leveraging the platform to bring demand & supply together.
