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Banded Labour is Widespread

Parliament officially abolished bonded labour in 1976. But there are about 450,000 to 2.6 million bonded labourers in India today, by Jagan Nath.
SLAVERY to dive and
•ell tn India It to (ailed bonded labour Gopal Fa sale. 60. baa worked ■ bonded labourer for 50 years now — just to pay an initial loan of 25 rupeea (now worth about UMI). Hto father, too. was tn bonded labour and ao to his son.
Nakul Faaate, the aon.' was forced in to bonded labour to repay some of hia father's debts Gopal Fa sale himself, after the initial 25 rupeea. had to borrow some more from the money lenders to support his family and got deeper into debt.
Lakshman, another bonded labourer has pawned all his wife's jewellery and an old wristwatch to gain freedom. But he had to borrow again and now finds himself still tn bonded labour
And Banaral. 28. weeps bit teriy in front of his but. want Ing to go home to Bihar state to ace hto ailing father But the terms of hia bonded labour do not allow workers to leave work In debt, they have no choice.
Bonded labour fa a blot on Indian eoctety. representing the lowest relationship between a creditor and debtor. A debtor binds himself or hto offspring to work on meagre wage to repay a loan taken to
Even after the debtor dies, the burden ia automatically paaaed on to hie aon The bonded labourer to also denied freedom of movement anywhere in India. And he cannot seek alternative employment to cam a reasonable wage
The National Sample Survey Organisation estimate a there
are 450.000 bonded labourers In India. But other*. notably the National Labour institute and the Gandhi Peace Pou ndation. put the number at around 2.6 million. BOiar State reportedly has the largest, with about 380.000 bonded
Parliament officially aboi Ished bonded labour In 1976 But the practice continues and la widespread. There are still ao many labourer* living tn perpetual bondage and ao
many more awaiting rehabilitation after their so-called re-tease from bondage
According to the Union Ministry of Labour, around 250.000 labourers have been mandatorily released from bondage, mostly in the states of Tamil Nadu. Orissa. Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh
Bonded labour toils on the fringes of the unemployment scale. seemingly employed but on starvation wages. ft is the lot of the poor who. orectoely because they are unskilled or have no opportunity to aurk. are forced to borrow then pay with labour.
It Is an ares where the transformation from traditional to modern patterns of economic organisation had little Impact. Bonded labour to still pervasively rural and manual.
The number of bonded labour Is high in areas where
Ihe/e are more agricultural labourers than the total rung worker And It to found to sr eas with httle econo* devei
with little Irrigation
Yet the transition from labour to capital Intensive eco nomtes has a profound impact on bonded labour especially those re teased from this ifc^J work No longer is the rural economy, for Instance able lo absorb them upon release from bonded labour
The persistent decline in labour absorptive capacity of agriculture and the continuing growth of the labour force have put Increasing pressures on those recently released from bonded labour. Chronic unem ploy men t and underemploy ment of this unskilled and semiskilled amrkforce has become a growing concern.
The marginalisation of an skilled worker* In the wake of
sprawling Informal sector characterised by minimal incomes in return for a hfe of drudgery with no hope of advancement.' note* the UN Economic and Social Comm toston for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)
In a background paper pre pared for the Fourth Aston and Pacific Ministerial Conference on Social Welfare and Social
Development (Manila October tton and skills training an^ non about job opportunitie* to the modern sector (unskilled workers) are being tncrea* tngfy toofated reinforcing the vicious circle of absolute poverty end striking socio
The marginalisation of nn-skiBed and semi stalled worker* to partly to bfame for the continuing existence of bonded labour But to some extent. too. it continue* because the government to stow to identify bonded labourer* and
met fortifying ’tasted labourer* has yet to be made. Then there Is rehabilitation when, aa in some rases lands
are unsuitable for cultivation
Sometimes the time lag to too long between reteaae from bonded labour to rehabibtatton In the intervening period, for example no subsistence allowance to released Nor to the labourer In some sort of skills training. In many cases, they are forced back into debt and then bonded labour *ln
To give more teeth to the Bonded Labour Abolition Act of 1976. India plan* to set up a National Authority on Bonded Labour This body will speed up and oversee the identification. reteaae and rehabilitation of bonded labour
An important measure under ronsfoeration to a legal provision for the restoration of land belonging to bonded ourer* but usurped by money lender* _ Etepthnew*.