NRLM Partners with Bandhua 1947 to Combat Bonded Labour

A moment that had many of us at the Bandhua 1947 office celebrating was the statement made by Jairam Ramesh, expressing his keenness for the government to be a part of the national campaign against bonded labour.

“We cannot say that we have abolished bonded labour. It may be true on paper and we have laws on it, but we haven’t managed to finish it,” said Jairam Ramesh, Union Minister for Rural Development. He admitted that millions were still enslaved, even four decades after India enacted the Bonded Labour System Abolition Act in 1976.

“Under the National Rural Livelihoods Mission umbrella, we will begin pilot projects in 10 districts which are considered to have a substantial population of bonded labourers. We will locate the bonded labourers there, get surveys done, rehabilitate them and create conditions for alternative livelihood,” he said to the media.

Why are we so elated? Because in order for freedom to prevail, the system needs to change. For years, states governments have sworn that there is no bonded labour in their states, but the media has played a massive role to bring the truth to the surface. After umpteen media reports on bondage and slavery, the government has decided to step up to the plate. The NRLM has signed up to be an institutional partner of the Bandhua 1947 campaign.

What does this mean? Starting December 2013, NRLM will fund projects in the districts of Gaya (Bihar), Bastar & Kondagaon (Chhattisgarh), Bolangir & Naupada (Odisha), Gumla (Jharkhand), Prakasam & Chittoor (Andhra Pradesh), Kanchipuram & Vellore (Tamil Nadu). They will help locate and rehabilitate bonded labourers by inclusion in self-help groups and their federations, provision of soft loans and vulnerability reduction funds, and special projects for alternative livelihoods including skill development interventions. Sarada Muraleedharan, COO of the NRLM also stated that convergence with the interventions of the Ministry of Labour for rehabilitation of bonded labour are also underway.

Chhattisgarhi Men and Women Freed Due to Government Collaboration

Bringing freedom to bonded labourers is only possible with government intervention, and their actions go a long way in determining the successful release of labourers and accountability for perpetrators.  When they choose to focus on the labourers and take the time to work for their best interests, great successes in rescue and restoration can be possible.  Last month, the collaboration between Chhattisgarh government and the Karnataka government showed that both rescue and rehabilitation are possible with determination and effort.

At the end of August, Jan Jagriti Kendra (JJK), an NGO, heard of several Chhattisgarhi women who had been reported missing and learned that they were working in Bangalore.  Two labour officials traveled from Chhattisgarh to Bangalore and managed to get seven women released from a massive construction site where they had been living and working.  Once back in Chhattisgarh, the women told the officials that several others were trapped at the same site – forced to work about thirteen hours a day for less than three percent of the wages that had been promised to them.  Determined to rescue the others trapped at the facility, more labour officials traveled back to Bangalore.

On 2 Septemeber, the Chhattisgarh officials and the local Tahsildhar, under the swift direction of the Deputy Commissioner, assisted by International Justice Mission (IJM), entered the construction site to rescue these missing individuals.

Upon entering the facility, the Tahsildar’s team and the police quickly gathered a group of women and began to briefly inquire them about their working conditions.  When it became known that more labourers were being hidden away, the team moved quickly to find them.  As the labourers were escorted out of the facility to go to the Assistant Commissioner’s office for further inquiry, one of the construction site managers ran into the vehicle and ordered the labourers to go back to the facility.  Terrified, the women ran out of the vehicle and hid in nearby bushes.  Thanks to the intervention of the local police, and the Tahsildhar, IJM staff managed to get the labourers back into the vehicle.  By this time, a group of men who had been hidden away were brought out the facility to join the other labourers.  In total, 28 labourers were escorted safely to the Assistant Commissioner’s office.

Once at his office, the Assistant Commissioner decided to only do a brief inquiry of the labourers given the late hour and sent them to accommodations where they could get a meal and good rest before resuming the full inquiry the next day.

During the inquiry it was clear that these labourers had been forced to work not only long hours for little pay, but also under threats from their managers and even physical abuse in some cases.  The labourers were forbidden from speaking with each other while working and were only allowed outside of the facility once a week with very careful supervision.  The Assistant Commissioner recognized that they were bonded labourers and presented release certificates to each one of them.

In an unprecedented move, he also ordered that the construction managers pay back the wages that were owed to the labourers, and that the owner pay for the train fare of the labourers’ return trip to Chhattisgarh.  The Assistant Commissioner went a step further to hold the managers responsible and ordered that the police arrest the dalals and hold them in custody for two days.

As he said during the inquiry, “I know how these downtrodden suffer.  I want to do justice.”

The labourers reached Chhattisgarh safely where they are beginning their road to healing and restoration with the help of JJK social workers.

The collaboration and determination of the government officials in this case show what can be possible in the future regarding bonded labourers.  Victims of bonded labour can know that not only is their rescue possible, but those responsible for their bondage will be held accountable.  As this case goes forward, hopefully the actions of the court will reflect the dedication of their District Administration counterparts to do justice.