Caught in a vicious cycle of bonded labour
9 years, 5 months ago

Caught in a vicious cycle of bonded labour

The Hindu  

The State of Karnataka in 2000 woke up to news about a certain medieval-era brutality being committed on bonded labourers, when the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha unearthed the case of five labourers being made to work throughout the day, enchained in shackles, in a quarry in Hangarahalli, near the historic town of Srirangapatna. “In fact the crime itself is morphing and often takes the form of bonded labour trafficking, particularly for migrant labourers. “The district officials show complete indifference to our request for information on the prevalence of bonded labour,” says Mr. Ganeshan. It is “unpardonable”, says the report, that the northern district of Bidar, which recorded the highest number of bonded labour cases as per Jeevika’s compilation of data, sent back money sanctioned by the Centre for a survey.

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History of this topic

Bonded labour system has long-term negative consequences for both the victim and society, says Chittoor District Judge
1 month, 2 weeks ago

Bonded labour system has long-term negative consequences for both the victim and society, says Chittoor District Judge

The Hindu  

Bonded labour has long-term negative consequences not only for the victims but also for society as a whole, 9th Additional District Judge, Chittoor N. Srinivasa Rao said. He was speaking at an awareness programme on the issues, impact and preventive measures related to bonded labour organised to mark Bonded Labour System Abolition Day. “We have also planned cultural activities in …

Rescued bonded labourers recall their woes
1 month, 2 weeks ago

Rescued bonded labourers recall their woes

The Hindu  

Five decades after bonded labour was abolished in India, the evil continues to thrive in some districts of Andhra Pradesh as well as in some other States in India. Three persons, including two women, who were released from the clutches of their employers on the intervention of government and non-governmental agencies, poured out their tales of woe at an interaction, …

Survivors of bonded labour in Maharashtra: unshackled, yet the scars run deep
1 year ago

Survivors of bonded labour in Maharashtra: unshackled, yet the scars run deep

The Hindu  

On a warm morning in March, 100-odd residents of Manavseva Project, a shelter home at Arangaon, 11 km from Ahmednagar town in western Maharashtra, are out in the open, basking in the bright sunshine after breakfast. Police Inspector Sanjay Thenge, who joined the Belvandi police station in 2023, says the prevalence of bonded labour in the district’s Shrigonda taluka came …

Freed labourers bonded to past in Odisha
1 year, 8 months ago

Freed labourers bonded to past in Odisha

The Hindu  

Eight years on, Pune Rout from Odisha’s Nuapada district is unable to forget her ordeal in a brick kiln in Tamil Nadu’s Thiruvallur district, where she was forced to work for 12 hours a day despite being pregnant. On June 23, 2023, the Odisha Human Rights Commission that operates under the State government, directed the Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water …

‘Tortured, Starved, Manhandled’: 37 ‘Bonded Labourers’, Including 12 Kids, Rescued from Bihar
2 years, 5 months ago

‘Tortured, Starved, Manhandled’: 37 ‘Bonded Labourers’, Including 12 Kids, Rescued from Bihar

News 18  

In a horrific incident of bonded labour in Bihar’s Motihari, 37 people – 13 women, 12 men and 12 children — were found to be tortured, manhandled, starved, with no medical help or money at a brick kiln in Kesariya. Internal forced labour constitutes India’s largest trafficking problem; traffickers use debt-based coercion to compel men, women, and children to work …

Supreme Court Issues Notice In Plea Seeking To Enforce Fundamental Rights Of Persons Trafficked Into Bonded Labour
2 years, 7 months ago

Supreme Court Issues Notice In Plea Seeking To Enforce Fundamental Rights Of Persons Trafficked Into Bonded Labour

Live Law  

The Supreme Court of India on Monday sought the response of the Central and the State governments in a plea seeking to enforce the fundamental rights of persons trafficked into bonded labour. The Central and state governments' failure to ensure the effective functioning of vigilance committees, as required under the Bonded Labour Abolition Act, 1976 as well as serious lapses …

Look Into Allegations of Bonded Labourers in Border Villages, Submit Report: MHA To Punjab
3 years, 11 months ago

Look Into Allegations of Bonded Labourers in Border Villages, Submit Report: MHA To Punjab

News 18  

The Union home ministry has asked the Punjab government to look into allegations that farm workers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh were being trafficked to the state and forced to work as bonded labourers. The home ministry’s letter, dated March 17, says the Border Security Force has highlighted trafficking, narcotics abuse and bonded labour in the state, asking the chief …

Silk slaves: India’s bonded laborers are forced to work to pay off debts
4 years ago

Silk slaves: India’s bonded laborers are forced to work to pay off debts

CNN  

Karnataka, India CNN — The state of Karnataka, located in southwest India, is known for its silk. The process can be lengthy – sometimes taking years – and can require bonded laborers to come forward to authorities in the face of social pressures and intimidation. “It is very difficult to convince the bonded laborers, because they feel that they are …

8-yr-old Dies After Bonded Labourer Parents Not Allowed to Visit Hospital, Confined & Beaten in MP
4 years, 5 months ago

8-yr-old Dies After Bonded Labourer Parents Not Allowed to Visit Hospital, Confined & Beaten in MP

News 18  

An eight-year-old boy named Deshraj lost his life after his parents were physically barred from taking him to the hospital for treatment allegedly by some upper-caste men who had trapped the family into bonded labour since the last five years for merely Rs 25,000 in Madhya Pradesh’s Guna district. The family is now waiting for justice, unpaid wages and documentation, …

SC Issues Notice On Plea Seeking Urgent Release Of 187 Bonded Labourers Held At Brick Kilns In Bihar, UP [Read Order]
4 years, 9 months ago

SC Issues Notice On Plea Seeking Urgent Release Of 187 Bonded Labourers Held At Brick Kilns In Bihar, UP [Read Order]

Live Law  

The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notice on a PIL seeking urgent release and rehabilitation of 187 victims of bonded labour who are being held at three different brick kilns in the States of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. No Action by the NHRC The plea avers that on May 8, the Petitioner with the assistance of a civil society organisation …

Breaking free from the shackles of bonded labour
5 years, 1 month ago

Breaking free from the shackles of bonded labour

The Hindu  

Papamma, 26, who works in baby corn fields with her husband at Harohalli taluk of Ramanagara district, savours her freedom. There are some former bonded labourers like Papamma who are slowly rebuilding their lives and helping others. To ensure that more people like her are able to come out of the clutches of bonded labour and are rehabilitated successfully, a …

45 exploited Madhya Pradesh workers return after paying ‘recovery amount’
5 years, 2 months ago

45 exploited Madhya Pradesh workers return after paying ‘recovery amount’

The Hindu  

When 16-year-old Ajeet Kumar, a school dropout, left home for the first time to work — that too 1,100 km away in Maharashtra — he was certain he would return with enough to at least pay his younger brother’s school fee. “They told us they bought us for ₹4.5 lakh, and so we were indebted, had to work without protest …

Adivasis and the Indian State: Tribal groups particularly vulnerable to bonded labour, strict enforcement needed to prevent exploitation
5 years, 6 months ago

Adivasis and the Indian State: Tribal groups particularly vulnerable to bonded labour, strict enforcement needed to prevent exploitation

Firstpost  

Editor’s Note: In this eighteen-part series, we will attempt to address the tropes associated with the communities in question from an Adivasi perspective while also exploring the contemporary relationship of Adivasi citizens with the Indian government. *** This picture of Kasi taken last month during a bonded labour rescue operation in Tamil Nadu, jolted the nation’s conscience. This is a …

Opinion | Bonded labour is a shame
5 years, 8 months ago

Opinion | Bonded labour is a shame

Live Mint  

The dramatic picture of an emaciated old man falling at the feet of Tamil Nadu state officials, presumably thanking them for his freedom, puts India to shame as a nation. That the phenomenon of bonded labour persists should shock a country trying to modernize and swell its economy to $5 trillion in five years. In the instant case, 42 bonded …

Kerala: Bonded labour still chains lives
7 years ago

Kerala: Bonded labour still chains lives

Deccan Chronicle  

Kannur: Dismissing all the claims of the state government that there was no bonded labour cases in the state, an NGO that is headquartered in Chennai and works across South India states, claimed that intervened in 16 cases in Wayanad and Kannur in the last two years and rescued and rehabilitated 16 of them. “Till date, 17 men and five …

Kerala still haunted by bonded labour
7 years, 8 months ago

Kerala still haunted by bonded labour

Deccan Chronicle  

KOZHIKODE: Bonded labour still exists in the hundred percent literate state of Kerala. Eight cases against bonded labour of various forms were registered in the past one-and-half-years in the Panamaram, Vellamunda, Alakode and Chokli police stations. Through the intervention of Sub-Divisional Majistrate and others, the advocate was made to pay Rs 2.10 lakh to the boy,” FSD Kannur district coordinator …

234 bonded labourers found in Mysuru
7 years, 8 months ago

234 bonded labourers found in Mysuru

Deccan Chronicle  

Mysuru: Employing bonded labour may be a crime, but the system appears to be still in vogue in Mysuru district. While 669 cases of bonded labour, including 442 in HD Kote, 187 in Hunsur, 35 in Periyapatna and five in KR nagar were reported between the years in question, only 234 were found to be genuine on investigation, according to …

Is bonded labour officially abolished?
8 years, 6 months ago

Is bonded labour officially abolished?

Deccan Chronicle  

Chennai: It has been 6 days since 20-year-old Tamilselvi, a mother of a three-month old baby, was rescued by the Coimbatore district administration. Revenue department officials from Coimbatore who rescued Tamilselvi on September 3 are now processing the financial help under the provisions of Bonded Labour System act, 1976. When the couple sought permission to go to the hospital, the …

Bonded labour case points to a wide trafficking network
9 years, 9 months ago

Bonded labour case points to a wide trafficking network

The Hindu  

The recent raid on an agarbatti factory on the outskirts of Bengaluru, in which 107 labourers were rescued, points to a trafficking network that runs much deeper than what this specific case reveals. “We ate rice and watery cabbage sambhar that even pigs wouldn’t eat,” said Sakhicharan Soren from West Bengal. “We were beaten even if spoke much to each …

107 bonded labourers rescued
9 years, 9 months ago

107 bonded labourers rescued

The Hindu  

Over 100 persons, including five children, were rescued from “jail-like” conditions in an agarbatti factory at Kaggalipura, close to Kanakapura, on the outskirts of the city on Thursday. However, on enquiry, they found that 107 workers – mainly from West Bengal, Assam, Jharkhand and Nepal – were forced to work there without proper payment. According to International Justice Mission, which …

56 bonded labourers rescued
11 years ago

56 bonded labourers rescued

The Hindu  

Fifty six bonded labourers including 10 children below the age of 10 were rescued by revenue and police officials from a brick kiln on the banks of Thirumalairajan river at Kabisthalam in Papanasam taluk on Sunday. All the 56 persons were employed at the kiln as bonded labourers after taking advances from kiln owners. M. Govinda Rao, Sub-Collector, Kumbakonam told …

India's slavery shame: Govt to rehabilitate bonded labourers, says Ramesh
11 years, 5 months ago

India's slavery shame: Govt to rehabilitate bonded labourers, says Ramesh

Firstpost  

New Delhi: Concerned over the prevalence of bonded labour in the country, the government today decided to initiate massive programmes to rehabilitate and provide alternative livelihood for people living in conditions of modern-day slavery. Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said that initially 10 critically vulnerable districts have been taken up to rehabilitate bonded labourers through the Centre’s ambitious National Rural …

118 bonded labourers rescued in TN
11 years, 7 months ago

118 bonded labourers rescued in TN

India TV News  

Chennai: More than 100 bonded labourers hailing from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha and Tamil Nadu have been rescued from 27 locations in Krishnagiri District during raids this week. Based on a National Human Rights Commission's notification to Krishnagiri district administration that there was a possibility of bonded labour cases in 27 places, a team led by Sub-Collector Parveen P Nair …

273 bonded labourers rescued in Tiruvallur
11 years, 9 months ago

273 bonded labourers rescued in Tiruvallur

The Hindu  

Uttam was given only one day off in a week to venture out of the brick kiln. Uttam was one of the 273 labourers from Odisha who were tricked into working as bonded labourers at two brick kilns in Chennai’s neighbouring Tiruvallur district. After seven months of working close to 17 hours a day for six days a week at …

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