Puspal managed to leave thanks to the great support her family received from our project partners, but usually that it is extremely difficult. People bonded by debt face coercion, violence and intimidation if they try to leave. Bonded labour has existed for hundreds of years. Debt bondage was used to trap indentured labourers into working on plantations in Africa, the Caribbean and South-East Asia, following the abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Bonded labour is most widespread in South Asian countries such as India and Pakistan.
Often entire families have to work to pay off the debt taken by one of its members. Sometimes, the debt can be passed down the generations and children can be held in debt bondage because of a loan their parents had taken decades ago. In South Asia it still flourishes in agriculture, brick kilns, mills, mines and factories.
Anti-Slavery International works in India where hundreds of thousands men, women and children are forced to work as bonded labourers in brick kilns and agriculture, often suffering extreme exploitation and abuse. Debt bondage in a wider sense is spread much beyond South Asia and is an element of many other forms of slavery such as forced labour and trafficking.
However, due to administrative neglect and lack of political will, the implementation has not been effective. This could also be because the victims are from socially and economically weaker sections with no proper representation, say experts. After , some bonded labour cases were filed under Section of the Indian Penal Code, which addresses the issue of human trafficking comprehensively. The Action Plan on the Rehabilitation of Bonded Labourers in Karnataka, drafted last year on the basis of the findings of a committee, says most district-level vigilance committees are inactive.
Shivaji Ganeshan, chairman, State-level Bonded Labour Verification Committee, explicitly mentions how district-level officials are in denial. L K Atheeq, principal secretary, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department, Government of Karnataka, said vigilance committees would soon be reconstituted as required by law, and a comprehensive survey of bonded labourers conducted. Simultaneously, the government is planning awareness programmes. P Sunil Kumar, deputy commissioner, Koppal, told DH since there was no visible difference between bonded labourers and other workers, junior officials were hesitant to carry out inspections.
Another challenge is the existence of illegal kilns, which put migrants at greater danger. In Koppal, the district administration has issued notices to such kilns and given them an opportunity to get non-agricultural land certificates.
Another aspect key to combating bonded labour is to hold all perpetrators accountable, Prathima believes. Also, often, people operate from different states. So they are not included in the accused list. South Koreans decode global popularity of K-dramas. Blasts and gunfire rock Afghan capital. Bounce turns old scooters into electric vehicles.
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