Soon after demonetisation, we were asked to go digital, cashless, and so on. Now, during the coronavirus lockdown, it has been beneficial. In fact, the government has urged people to make digital transactions as a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
In the first week of the month, we generally pay our domestic staff — people who help us with house chores, chauffeurs, gardeners and so on.
Until now, most of us have paid them cash. But for March and April (in case the period of lockdown is extended), many of us have opted for online transactions — via funds transfer through bank accounts, Google Pay and the likes.
We spoke to a few women to know how they are going about the process.
"I have two house helps coming in, one does sweeping and dusting, and the other makes rotis. One of them stopped coming from the first week of March, and she took an advance salary. And, as far as the second one is concerned, I will call her up and find out if she has Google Pay option or I will transfer her salary to her bank account."
—Shilpa Damle, Pimple Saudagar
"So far, I have paid my bai in cash. This month though I took her bank account details and transferred the salary. I will be paying her full month salary for April too."
—Tanuja Modak, Bavdhan
"I have three women as house help. For one of them, I have been transferring the salary to her account for almost a year now. I told her it would be a good way to save some money. The second one came in person to collect her salary because her husband was without work, and she needed money. The third one is comfortable being paid on April 15, after she resumes work."
— Meenakshi Damle, Bhandarkar Road
"I have always transferred the salary to my domestic help’s account. I have been doing this for about three years now. So this month wasn’t any different. I also intend to pay her full salary for April."
—Pallavi Kadle, Mayur Colony, Kothrud
"I have always paid my bai in cash. On March 31, she came and collected her salary."
—Kavita Sanghvi, Sadashiv Peth
"My bai has her bank account, and she also uses GPay. So I transferred money to her account. Why not make use of technology in such a scenario?"
—Dr Nikita Gholap, Subhash Nagar, Sadashiv Peth
"Both my bais have left for their villages. They told me to pay them after they resume work. I also intend to pay them a full-month salary for April."
—Deepmala Kuwar, Manjari
