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Bonded Labour: What The Data Says

The_Nephesh
Brick Kiln Workers in Andhra Pradesh

Introduction

After getting acquainted with the term bonded labour and the types of bonded labour (BL) system predominates in India it’s a high time for us to understand what the Indian data and the international data reveals to us about the bonded labour. Along with that we can focus on what are the factors which contributed to the prevalence of bonded labour and what does our government is doing when they come across this type of incidences.

What The Data Says

It is projected by Siddharth Kara in his book Kara, Siddharth (2012). Bonded Labor: Tackling the System of Slavery in South Asia. New York: Columbia University Press. he says that 84 to 88% of the bonded laborers in the globe are in South Asia.Knight, Sarah (July 1, 2012). “Debt-Bondage Slavery in India”. Global Dialogue. 14: 62–72 – via ProQuest. He says Out of all forms of structures in oppression in the world, the Indian debt bondage system has one of the maximum numbers of obliged laborers. Another book author Acharya, Arun Kumar; Naranjo, Diego López (2019), “Practices of Bonded Labour in India: Forms of Exploitation and Human Rights Violations”, The SAGE Handbook of Human Trafficking and Modern-Day Slavery, SAGE Publications Ltd, pp. 126–138 according to  him Ministry of Labor and Employment (Mole) of the Government of India, there are over 300,000 bonded laborers in India, with a majority of them in the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Odisha.

New research developed jointly by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Walk Free Foundation , in partnership with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), has uncovered the exact dimension of modern slavery around the world. The data, released during the United Nations General Assembly, shows that more than 40 million people around the world were victims of modern slavery in 2016. The ILO have also released a companion estimate of child labour, which confirms that about 152 million children, aged between 5 and 17, were subject to child labour source https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_574717/lang–en/index.htm. Accessed on 03/05/2022.

The new estimates also show that women and girls are disproportionately affected by modern slavery, reporting almost 29 million, or 71 per cent of the overall total. Women represent 99 per cent of the victims of forced labour in the commercial sex industry and 84 per cent of forced marriages source https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_574717/lang–en/index.htm. Accessed on 03/05/2022.

The research reveals that among the 40 million victims of modern slavery, about 25 million were in forced labour, and 15 million were in forced marriage source https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_574717/lang–en/index.htm. Accessed on 03/05/2022.

Child labour remains concentrated primarily in agriculture (70.9 per cent). Almost one in five child labourers work in the services sector (17.1 per cent) while 11.9 per cent of child labourers work in industry source https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_574717/lang–en/index.htm. Accessed on 03/05/2022.

On a more recent note, according to the author Acharya, Arun Kumar; Naranjo, Diego López (2019), “Practices of Bonded Labour in India: Forms of Exploitation and Human Rights Violations”, The SAGE Handbook of Human Trafficking and Modern-Day Slavery, SAGE Publications Ltd, pp. 126–138 he says 2016 Global Slavery Index, India has the 4th most slaves with 19 million Indians enslaved in some form, including debt bondage. As per Bhukuth, Augendra; Ballet, Jérôme; Sirven, Nicolas (2018). “Bonded Labour or What Else? A Case Study in Tamil Nadu, India: Bonded Labour”. Journal of International Development. 30 (5): 745–759 Many Indians enter debt bondage to reduce alternative risks of financial liability and hostility.

What gave a rise to bonded labour?

After knowing these many things, it is legit to think what substance gave a rise to bonded labour. Arun Kumar Acharya and Sarah Knight says in their book Acharya, Arun Kumar; Naranjo, Diego López (2019), “Practices of Bonded Labour in India: Forms of Exploitation and Human Rights Violations”, The SAGE Handbook of Human Trafficking and Modern-Day Slavery, SAGE Publications Ltd, pp. 126–138 and Knight, Sarah (July 1, 2012). “Debt-Bondage Slavery in India”. Global Dialogue. 14: 62–72 – via ProQuest it is the Indian caste system has led to societal imbalance and exploitation which collectively allow this system to continue.

Is our government doing anything?

The Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Ordinance was promulgated on 25th October 1975. This was later replaced by the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976. Under the Act, it is the responsibility of State governments to identify, release and rehabilitate the bonded labour.

To assist the State Governments in the task of rehabilitation of identified and released bonded labourers, a Centrally Sponsored Plan Scheme for Rehabilitation of Bonded Labour was in operation since May 1978. Originally the Scheme provided for rehabilitation assistance up to a ceiling limit of Rs. 4000 per bonded labour to be equally shared by Central Government and State Governments on 50:50 basis. This amount was raised to Rs. 6250 i.e., 01/02/86; and to Rs. 10,000 i.e., 01/04/95. Out of this, Rs. 1000 was to be given as subsistence allowance to meet travel expenses etc. to the state of origin in case the released bonded labour was to be repatriated to his or her native place/ State or for their subsistence until they are rehabilitated. With effect from 01/04/1999, only Rehabilitation assistance was enhanced to Rs. 20,000/-. The scheme was last revised in May 2000 wherein survey component, awareness generation activities and evaluation studies were included as additional items in the existing scheme.

The revised Scheme is a Central Sector Scheme and came into effect from 27/01/2022. The Salient features are as follows.

The Rehabilitation package shall be

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