Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee (DMSC), an organization of sex workers, functions as an exclusive forum for female, male and transgender sex workers. DMSC has about 50 branches in the state of West Bengal, India, and supports 40,000 sex workers across West Bengal, India. DMSC demands decriminalization of adult sex work in all its aspects and social recognition of sex work as an occupation. DMSC supports sex workers’ right to self-determination and demands abolition of all laws that restrict the human rights of sex workers and limit their enfranchisement as full citizens. As a community, they work with explicit objective to promote and protect rights of sex workers and demands recognition of sex work as ‘legitimate work’. The sex workers have decided to claim their space and same status as that of any other self-employed professional group. They believe in self regulatory mechanisms and have started a Self-Regulatory Board in about 30 red light districts, the main objective of which is mainly preventing entry of minor girls and coercion of unwilling adults into the sex trade. DMSC for the last thirty years has been running HIV/AIDS targeted intervention programs in about 40 red light districts including the WHO acclaimed ‘Sonagachi Project’ as well as in street settings covering a population of over 20,000 sex workers and 10,000 clients. DMSC also runs a non-formal education program across 17 sites in West Bengal, serving approximately 450 children of sex workers. Beyond sex workers' rights, DMSC extends its intersectional movement to marginalized communities by driving ongoing educational, developmental, and financial support for the indigenous Munda and Sabar people in Amlasole, Jhargram, while actively empowering the vulnerable Nachni folk artists of Purulia through social security access, and childhood education programs. The main objectives of the education programme are providing pre-school child care (sometimes delivered by older sex workers), extra academic support for junior school-going children, education centers for school drop-outs and special coaching centers for senior school children.
Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee takes pride in organising West Bengal’s first sex worker-led Durga Puja-a historic celebration of inclusion, dignity and equal rights.
The sacred soil collected from the doorsteps of sex workers symbolises a long history of exclusion, social stigma and the longing for acceptance. For years, many sex workers and their families were deprived of the joy of celebrating Durga Puja with dignity and belonging. Durbar’s Puja is a heartfelt effort to reclaim that joy, honour their identity and create a space where every family can celebrate without discrimination.
We appeal for your generous support and donations to help us keep this meaningful tradition alive. Your contribution is more than a donation—it is a gesture of solidarity, respect and shared humanity. Together, let us make the joy of Durga Puja truly inclusive.
Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee (DMSC) is a collective of female, male, and transgender sex workers in West Bengal, India, with over 40,000 members across 50 branches. For more than three decades, DMSC has worked to secure the rights, dignity, and recognition of s...
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