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Debt-Slaves Struggle to Escape the Landlords' Grip

by Prakash Khanai
WHEN 27-vear-old
Jagatram Chaudhary looks back on his life, he can only remember work — an enormous amount of work. Which never finishes. Effectively. he is a slave.
He works for a landowner in western Nepal who takes three-quarters of his crop, and gives him around 700 kilogrammes of rice a year. It is not enough to feed his family
His wife. Chulia, also has to do work for the landlord, for which she receives no pay
"I have to work from 4 am," she explains. My days begin with cleaning last night s dirty dishes for the Malikba (landlord). Then I clean the cowshed, feed the cattle and. if the crop Is ready, go to the field. If not. I cook food for my family “
They and other 40.000 Kamaiya families are trapped by debt
Many of them are descen-
dants of 60,000 enslaved agri cultural labourers who were freed by government order in the mid-1920s. The measure was reinforced by land reform in 1963 which put a celling on land-ownership. It was designed to end the zamindar system of powerful landlords with extensive holdings, but many of the larger landlords still find ways of binding agricultural labourers and are still often referred to by villagers as zamindars.
Ine term is used, for example, for Tara Prasad Chaudhary from Banke district, although he refutes the use of the word His family's previously extensive land has been divided among four brothers and other trusted people, but together they still “posses' 60 Kamaiya families
At some time in the past, the need to buy clothes, feed their children or pay for a marriage forced thoie who are now Ka maiyas to borrow from their landlord The loan ensured that
they are indebted to the landlord for generations because
however hard they work they can never fully re-pay It
Some landlords also exploit the illiteracy, innocence and trust of the Kamaiyas
"My father had taken a
1.000 rupee loan when our mother was sick but the land-
lord made It 100 000 rupees, for which, after our father died, we three brothers had to work for 20 years, said a Kamaiya who refused to give his name for fear of reprisals
Once a year, at the February festival of Maghl, landlords without access to Kamaiya can pay off outstanding loans and take over ownership of debtors.
Despite the hardships they
face, Jagatram and Chulia are comparatively lucky. Unlike many landlords who keep Ka-maiyas, theirs does not demand sexual submission from Chulia or their 14-year-old daughter.
Khuntali
In addition. Jagatram. who is disabled with a deformed left foot. Is benefiting from an at tempt by the Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) party and a
group of about 15 non-govern-ment organisations to tackle the problem.
Exchange rate: $ 1 =Rs 60
The writer Is a freelance Nepalese Journalist.