Context:

While May 1 is International Labour Day, which celebrates the dignity of labour and workers' rights, the plight of millions enslaved in bonded slavery in India serves as a sobering reminder of continuous exploitation.

Bonded Labour in India: Personal Accounts and Broader Implications

Modern slavery—bonded labor—still afflicters many areas of India, ensnaring people and families in cycles of violence, exploitation, and torture. In sectors like agriculture, brick kilns, and other low-wage industries, bonded labour continues despite legislative systems forbidding such methods.

Case Study 1: Mukesh Adivasi – A Tragic Journey of Exploitation

• Lured by false promises: In 2023, Mukesh Adivasi, a 35-year-old from Shivpuri, Madhya Pradesh, was promised work and a better life for his family.
• Trafficked to Karnataka: Mukesh and his family were trafficked over 1,400 kilometers to Karnataka to work on a sugarcane farm, where they were subjected to brutal conditions and forced to work up to 16 hours daily.
• Violence and Injury: Mukesh faced violence when he demanded wages, resulting in a shattered leg and long-term psychological trauma.
• Rescue and Lingering Trauma: Although he was eventually rescued, the scars of physical and emotional abuse continue to affect him and his family.

Case Study 2: K. Thenmozhi – A Young Girl’s Life of Bondage

• Family's Debt Trap: K. Thenmozhi, a 13-year-old girl from Andhra Pradesh, became a victim of bonded labour after her family took a ₹2,000 advance to survive their poverty.
• Exploitation in a Brick Kiln: She and her family were forced into long workdays, subjected to beatings, verbal abuse, and confinement at a brick kiln in Bengaluru.
• Escape and Rescue: They escaped as a result of a visit from a social worker, which prompted them to abandon their shoes and run back to their hamlet.

Broader Implications of Bonded Labour

• Prevalence in Various Sectors: Workers are subjected to exploitative working conditions in industries such as agriculture, construction, and brick kilns, where bonded labour remains prevalent.
• Legal Framework: Despite the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act of 1976, such practices continue because to poverty, illiteracy, and a lack of effective law enforcement.
• Urgency for Change: Stronger enforcement, awareness initiatives, and social support networks are required to eliminate bonded labour and rehabilitate victims.

Status of Bonded Labour in India

• According to the slavery Ministry data, India formally eliminated bonded slavery in 1975. In 2016, Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya proposed a strategy to rescue and rehabilitate 1.84 crore bonded labourers by 2030.
• Rehabilitation Data (2016–2021): In December 2021, Member of Parliament Mohammed Jawed posed an inquiry in Parliament. The government stated that only 12,760 bonded labourers were rescued and rehabilitated from 2016 to 2021.
• Expanding Disparity: This indicates that of the 1.84 crore projected bonded labourers, approximately 1.71 crore remain ensnared.
• Realising the 2030 objective necessitates the annual rescue of over 1.1 million workers, a striking disparity compared to the roughly 12,000 rescued over five years, rendering the target exceedingly impractical.
• Forced slavery: In addition to bonded slavery, millions of unorganised workers, particularly migrants, endure circumstances of forced labour. These circumstances closely resemble bonded labour characterised by force, exploitation, and insufficient protections.
• Informal Employment: The National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) reports that India's workforce comprises 470 million individuals, of which merely 80 million are employed in the organised sector. A substantial 39 crore individuals are employed in the unorganised sector.
• The International Labour Organisation's (ILO) India work Report 2024 indicates that India's labour market is characterised by low-quality, informal work, frequently devoid of rights and protections.
• Investigative Findings: Research conducted since early 2022 demonstrates the role of forced labour in sustaining Indian industry. Workers interviewed, primarily migrants affected by climate change, poverty, and employment shortages, encounter volatile salaries, insufficient compensation, and job instability.

Key Factors Contributing to Bonded Labour in India

Economic Vulnerability

• Borrowing money from agents or employers in times of financial hardship is a common way for people to end themselves in bonded servitude.
• Example: A family in Andhra Pradesh takes an advance of ₹2,000 to work at a brick kiln, getting trapped in a cycle of forced labour.

Social Discrimination and Exclusion

• Marginalized communities, particularly lower-caste and ethnic minorities, are disproportionately affected by bonded labour due to societal inequalities. For example a tribal family from Madhya Pradesh faces exploitation in a sugarcane farm in Karnataka.

Lack of Education and Awareness

• Illiteracy and lack of access to vital information hinder workers from understanding their legal rights, making them more vulnerable to exploitation.
• Example: Migrant workers often unknowingly agree to exploitative terms, not realizing they have legal protections, especially in informal sectors.

Structural Causes of Bonded Labour

• Immediate Crises: People become enslaved when they accept advances from employers due to personal hardships such as illness, dowries, food insecurity, or unemployment.
• Deep Structural Inequities: Further entrenching bonded labour is the confluence of factors like as caste-based discrimination, low literacy rates, restricted access to banking and judicial systems, and the monopolistic dominance of local elites.
• Exploitation and Control: When something starts out as a financial transaction, it frequently evolves into mechanisms of exploitation and control, making it possible for individuals to be trapped in an ongoing cycle of forced employment.

Government's Response and Challenges

• Legal Abolition: India legally abolished bonded labour in 1975, followed by the introduction of ambitious goals to eradicate it.
• Rehabilitation Plan: In 2016, the government launched a 15-year plan aimed at rehabilitating 1.84 crore bonded labourers by 2030.
• Slow Progress: As of 2021, about 12,760 bonded labourers had been liberated, constituting a minuscule portion of the objective. To attain the objective by 2030, India must liberate nearly 1.1 million bonded labourers per year, a job that appears more implausible considering the existing initiatives.

What was Dr. B.R. Ambedkar's contribution to worker rights? Dr. Ambedkar advocated for the legal recognition of trade unions and collective bargaining, arguing that these were critical to industrial democracy. As a Labour Member of the Viceroy's Executive Council (1942-46), he enacted legislation ensuring trade union registration and promoting fair bargaining between workers and employers. He was instrumental in developing core labour rules governing working hours, minimum salaries, and social security benefits. For example, the Indian Factories Act of 1948, which limited labour hours and provided basic worker safeguards, represented Ambedkar's vision for humane working conditions.

Issues with Bonded Labour in India

• Emphasising the severity of the matter, the Supreme Court of India has instructed the Centre to create a plan to solve inter-state trafficking of bonded labourers.
• Critics say that the Code on Wages may inadvertently legalise bonded labour since it fails to address coercive labour practices or debt-based exploitation.
• Factors such as medical emergency, dowry responsibilities, job loss, or food insecurity force families to borrow money or take advances, which frequently leads to debt bonds.
• Issues including caste discrimination, illiteracy, a lack of information, and monopolised local markets turn economic reliance into a tool for exploitation and social control.
• Absence of Collective Bargaining: Unorganised workers, particularly migrants, lack unionisation, denying them collective bargaining power.
• But the Labour Codes (2019–2020) have undermined these protections by giving business interests top priority over worker welfare.

Conclusion

This is not only monitoring; it's a system set in motion for profit over people that ignores modern-day slavery. Shamefully, India's economy depends on bonded and forced labour, therefore abusing its most defenceless people.

Practice Questions: Suggest comprehensive reforms for eradicating modern slavery while ensuring dignified livelihood opportunities. (250 Words)