HYDERABAD: Barely a kilometre away from Charminar is the bustling slave market of Hyderabad where labour charges are still measured in kilograms. A kilogram of safety pins earns a woman Rs 4 even as another makes Rs 12 for making a kilogram of incense sticks. A young girl stitches petticoats and makes Rs 15 for a making a dozen of these garments.

It is 12 noon and in the dingy and laidback bylanes of Amannagar area (named after MBT founder Amanullah Khan ), poverty stares at you. Children of school-going age are seen running errands or playing around aimlessly during school hours. The narrow gullies snaking between one to two-room houses here are the hub for hectic manufacturing activity where women are busy rolling incense sticks by the dozens, sticking stones on bangles or making safety pins even as men are seen busy doing zari work on saris with an amazing expertise.

These artisans and hundreds of others spread over old city, a chunk of them women, form the backbone of the wholesale markets in the city. They are the skilled and cheap labour catering to the market requirements by the hour from home.

Meet Shabana Begum, 30, who on Tuesday morning was busy sticking stones making an intricate design on bangles with a portable furnace in front of her in a one-room rented house in Amannagar area. She tells TOI that she makes Rs 30 for this back-breaking work on a dozen bangles, which requires at least three to four hours of work a day. The middlemen drops by at regular intervals to supply raw material at home and Shabana, who relocated from Bidar to make a living, says she is unaware of the cost of the set in the market. "I make 15-20 sets a month. Headache, fever and shoulder pain are a regular because of this work but managing to pay the school fee of my children," she says, adding that her jobless husband does not allow her to step out of the house for work.

Few blocks away from Shabana's house, TOI finds Rubeena Begum, 17, covered in a cloud of coal powder, an ingredient used in making incense sticks. The trader she works for, pays her Rs 12 for every kilogram of sticks (550 sticks make a kilogram) when the selling price is Rs 90. Rubeena says her family of seven sisters and two brothers may not be able to afford a wedding for her and so she is doing the work to save money for her marriage expenses. Most workers in these sweatshops have no bargaining power or means to sell these products directly and are thus easy to exploit. "Lack of mobility, capital and sensitization to market trends is contributing to this situation. Because of economic vulnerability, they cannot afford to not work,'' says Mazher Hussain, director, COVA , an NGO working in Old City.

Asiya Khatoon, who heads Mahila Sanatkar, women artisan's mutually aided cooperative society, says that women in this part of the city are deprived of freedom. "Most women are not allowed to step out of the houses. Men feel women are a threat and restrict their movements but are okay with them working from home," she says. She shares that tailors operating in the area also delegate the work to local women paying Rs 15-20 for stitching a blouse when they charge Rs 150 from the customers.

Observers say that in case of intricately designed bangles and saris which require a lot of hand work, women work long hours but are paid around Rs 500 - 800. This way, they are getting trapped in a cycle of overwork and low pay. "If I refuse, there are several others who are willing to do the work," a worker says. "If these artisans are brought under cooperative societies, it will make a huge difference in their livelihood," says Rubeen Mazher, who runs an NGO called SAFA, that works for women empowerment.

