Sex workers in Sonagachi, Asia's largest red-light district, are pleading for relief from stringent voter ID rules that they say are impossible to meet, potentially leading to exclusion from the voters' list.
The decision came amid rising concerns in the city's red-light districts over difficulties in completing SIR enumeration forms.
Thousands of sex workers in Sonagachi have lost their lifelong savings by investing in Ponzi schemes similar to the fate of thousands of investors allegedly duped by the Saradha Group and other chitfunds.
India's largest state bank is looking to expand it customer base by encouraging sex workers in Kolkata to deposit their nightly takings in a savings account, a bank official said.
The Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee, an NGO in the heart of Kolkata's red light district, has decided to celebrate Durga Puja, reports Indrani Roy/Rediff.com.Speaking to Indrani Roy/Rediff.com, the sex workers say that they want to get rid of ostracisation and be allowed to celebrate Durga Puja just as others do.
GenNext designer Sumiran Sharma, 30, of ANAAM talks about his collection, design inspiration and why he wants to style Kangana Ranaut.
Sex workers in Kolkata's largest red light area Sonagachi have been asked by an NGO, working for their welfare, not to entertain Africans who are regular visitors to the place in the wake of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
'When workers in other industries enjoy protection, why should sex workers not receive similar protection?' 'Sex work should be treated as work and brought under the work schedule of the labour department.' 'We will only end up giving immunity to the pimps and brothels to buy or sell human beings. This will in turn increase trafficking of young women and children.' Rashme Sehgal reports on the debate over legalising prostitution, a bugle in whose favour has been sounded by the new chairperson of the National Commission for Women, Lalitha Kumaramangalam.
Bharti Kher is a researcher, a mathematician, an anthropologist, and a rare contemporary artist pushing boundaries in her creative quest.
Directors Rajesh Touchriver and Sunitha Krishnan reveal the challenges and difficulties they faced in the writing, production and distribution of Naa Bangaru Talli.
Single mother Gauri Sawant hopes to change the way people view transgenders in India.
'I told the lady I was two months pregnant, but that did not seem to bother her.' A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com visits the infamous cages of Mumbai's oldest red light district, Kamathipura, to find out how human trafficking has given India the awful reputation of the nation with the highest slavery rates in the world.
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