(Bangalore)  “Only after I submitted the HIV test report did they pay me my three months’ salary,” said 32-year-old Krishna. Even then, he says, he was paid only half his original salary. Before he quit, he worked as a field worker (or community mobiliser) with Suraksha, an NGO that works with sex workers and sexual minorities in creating awareness among ‘high risk’ categories in Bangalore Rural and Ramanagara districts.

As field staff, Krishna earns Rs4,000. His job requires him to create awareness about HIV/Aids, “I had a target of making 120 or more contacts, of which 35 to40 per cent should be convinced to undergo a clinical check up and about 10 per cent agreeing to go to the Integrated Counselling and Training Centre (ICTC) for HIV testing.”

As an MSM (male having sex with male), ‘contacts’ are people in the MSM community (hijras, bisexuals), Krishna’s goal was to get these people who fall under the ‘high risk’ category to go to ICTC and undergo an HIV test. The other two categories that fall under high risk are sex workers and IDUs (Injected Drug Users).

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