During rediff.com's visit to Durbar's office in Sonagachi last Monday, Santanu Chatterjee, head of Usha Credit, a sister organisation of Durbar, briefed us about the new policy -- exclusively for sex workers of Sonagachi -- and its benefits.

"In March 2008, V Ravi Kumar, marketing manager, LIC, Mumbai, wrote a letter to us and also to the general manager of the bank that we operate from -- State Cooperative Bank, Waterloo Street -- confirming that Jeevan Madhur policy holders can write 'sex work' as profession in their applications. This is a major breakthrough for each and every Durbar member," Chatterjee stated.