JAMIA MILLIA ISLAMIA

2020-2025
PROJECT ON LAW & POVERTY

Topic: “BONDED LABOUR”

 Acknowledgement

I would like to express my special thanks of

gratitude to my teacher DR RASHEEDA CA who
gave me the golden opportunity to do this
wonderful project on the topic BONDED
LABOUR, which also helped me in doing a lot of
Research and I came to know about so many new
things I am really thankful to him.
Secondly, I would also like to thank my parents and
friends who helped me a lot in finalizing this
project.
 CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION
2. WHAT IS BONDED LABOUR?
3. THE CONCEPT
4. INDIAN CONSTITUTION
5. JUDICAL ACTIVISM IN RELATION TO THE
ERADICATION OF BONDED LABOUR
6. CAUSES OF BONDED LABOUR
7. POSITION IN INDIA
8. MISERY AND SUFFERING IN BONDAGE
9. CONCLUSION
 INTRODUCTION

The origin of bonded labour can be traced from the caste hierarchy and
feudal structure. In earlier times the people were divided into four
categories i.e. Brahmin, kshatriya, vaishya and shudra. Since the lower
caste persons did not have enough land to cultivate, they needed money
for fulfillment of social obligations besides satisfaction of their
physiological needs and for this purpose they become indebted to the
higher caste persons. As the debtor has nothing to offer as security, the
creditor demanded that he pledges his person and work for the creditor in
lieu of the redemption of debt and interest. Guarantee of a permanent
source of cheap labour on a long term basis was the main interest of the
money lender. A man keeping another man in perpetual bondage for his
selfish and per-sonal designs is a kind of man’s cruelty to man which is
not confined to a particular country or a particular region but is found as
a global phe•nomenon for thousands of years, right from the Biblical days
to the present era. The nomenclature changed from period to period and
place to place: slave, serf, and bonded labour.

In India, this type of exploitation of man remained prevalent in the name

of beggar and riot for years. The term ‘bonded labour’ or bandhua
mazdoor is of recent origin. Despite the abolition of the zamindari
system, land reforms, Bhoodan movement, en•actment of legislation
(Bonded Labour Abolition Act, 1976), establishment of Panchayati Raj,
interest shown by Social Action Groups and spirited individuals from
society, lakhs of bonded labourers continue to be exploited and carry the
yoke of neglect, suffering and frustration in abject silence.

In fact, the system of bonded labour, as prevalent in Indian society, is a

relic of feudal hierarchical society. A considerable interest has come to be
shown in bonded labour during the past two decades by social workers,
social scientists and the government because it is considered
in•compatible with our social ideal of egalitarianism with our
commitment to human rights.
 WHAT IS BONDED LABOUR?

Bonded labour (or debt bondage) occurs when a person’s labour is

demanded in return for a loan. The person is then tricked into working
for little or no pay. The value of their work is usually greater than the
original loan. In many cases the loan is passed down from parent to child.
Female bonded labourers will often be subject to sexual abuse by their
‘employer’. Around 20 million people are estimated to be in bonded
labour worldwide. Bonded labour is most likely to exist in situations of
poverty where an unexpected expense such as medical costs or a marriage
dowry forces an individual to borrow. Bonded labourers are usually
unable to defend their rights or are bound by a misplaced sense of duty to
repay the debt owed by their family.

Debt bondage in India was legally abolished in 1976 but it remains

prevalent, with weak enforcement of the law by governments.[1] Bonded
labour involves the exploitive interlinking of credit and labor agreements
that devolve into slave-like exploitation due to severe power imbalances
between the lender and the borrower.

The rise of Dalit activism, government legislation starting as early as 1949,

as well as ongoing work by NGOs and government offices to enforce
labour laws and rehabilitate those in debt, appears to have contributed to
the reduction of bonded labour in India. However, according to research
papers presented by the International Labour Organization, there are still
many obstacles to the eradication of bonded labour in India.
INDIAN CONSTITUTION

Article 21 of the Constitution of India guarantees the right to life and

liberty. The Indian Supreme Court has interpreted the right of liberty to
include, among other things, the right of free movement, the right to eat,
sleep and work when one pleases, the right to be free from inhuman and
degrading treatment, the right to integrity and dignity of the person, the
right to the benefits of protective labour legislation, and the right to
speedy justice. The practice of bonded labour violates all of these
constitutionally-mandated rights.

Article 23 of the Constitution prohibits the practice of debt bondage and

other forms of slavery both modern and ancient. Traffic in human beings
and begar and other similar forms of forced labour are prohibited and any
contravention of this provision shall be an offence punishable in
accordance with the law.

Begar is a form of forced labour under which a person is compelled to

work without receiving any remuneration. Other similar forms of forced
labour were interpreted the Supreme Court when it ruled in the Asiad
Workers Case[4] that:

both unpaid and paid labour were prohibited by Article 23, so long as the
element of force or compulsion was present in the worker's ongoing
services to the employer. The Supreme Court also interpreted the term
forced labour to mean providing provides labour or service to another for
remuneration which is less than minimum wage. All labour rewarded with
less than the minimum wage, then, constitutes forced labor and violates
the Constitution of India. The Supreme Court ruled that:

it is the plainest requirement of Articles 21 and 23 of the Constitution that

bonded labourers must be identified and released and on release, they
must be suitably rehabilitated.... any failure of action on the part of the
State Governments in implementing the provisions of the Bonded Labour
System (Abolition) Act would be the clearest violation of Article 21 and
Article 23 of the Constitution.
Article 24 prohibits the employment of children in factories, mines, and
other hazardous occupations. Together, Articles 23 and 24 are placed
under the heading "Right against Exploitation," one of India's
constitutionally-proclaimed fundamental rights.

Article 39 requires the state to "direct its policy toward securing":

(e) that the health and strength of workers... and the tender age of
children are not abused and that citizens are not forced by economic
necessity to enter avocations unsuited to their age or strength.

(f) that children are given opportunities and facilities to develop in a

healthy manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity and that
childhood and youth are protected against exploitation and against moral
and material abandonment."
BONDED LABOUR SYSTEM (ABOLITION) ACT, 1976

The Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act purports to abolish all debt
agreements and obligations arising out of India's longstanding bonded
labour system. It is the legislative fulfilment of the Indian Constitution's
mandate against begar and forced labour. It frees all bonded labourers,
cancels any outstanding debts against them, prohibits the creation of new
bondage agreements, and orders the economic rehabilitation of freed
bonded labourers by the state. It also criminalizes all post-act attempts to
compel a person to engage in bonded labour, with maximum penalties of
three years in prison and a 2,000 rupee fine. The Bonded Labour System
(Abolition) Act offers the following definition of the practices being
abolished.

Salient Features of the Act

1) Totally abolishes bonded labour

2) To identify and rehabilitate bonded labourers

3) Identify certain scheme an committees to be formed at the district

level

4) Punishment of up to 3yrs imprisonment and/or fine

5) Any attachment of property of bonded labourers stands cancelled

form the date of enforcement of the act

6) Employers not to evict the bonded labourer from the accommodation

provided
Causes of Bonded Labour:

Though the main causes of origin, growth and perpetuation of bonded

labour system are economic, the social and religious factors to support the
custom. The economic causes include: extreme poverty of people,
inability to find work for livelihood, inadequate size of the landholdings
to support family, lack of alternative small-scale loans for the rural and
urban poor, natural calamities like drought, floods etc., destruction of
men ‘animals, absence of rains, drying away of wells, meagre income from
forest produce, and inflation and constant rising prices.

The social factors include:

High expenses on occasions like marriage, death, feast, birth of a child,

etc., leading to heavy debts, caste-based discrimination, lack of concrete
social welfare schemes to safeguard against hunger and illness, non-
compulsory and unequal educational system, and indifference and
corruption among government officials.

Sometimes, exploitation by some persons in a village also compels people

to migrate to some other place and seek not only employment on the
employer’s conditions but also get protection from influential persons.
Religious arguments are used to con•vince the people of low castes that
religion enjoins upon them to serve people of high castes. Illiteracy,
ignorance, immaturity and lack of skill and professional training sustain
such beliefs. Broadly speaking, it may be maintained that bondage
originates mainly from economic and social pressures.
The Legislation:

The pernicious and inhuman, callous, reprehensible practice of bonded

la•bour existed in many states in India. After independence, it could not
be allowed to continue to blight national life any longer. As such, when
the Constitution of India was framed, Article 23 was enshrined in it which
prohibited ‘traffic in human beings’, ‘beggar’ and other similar forms of
forced labour.

However, no serious effort was made to give effect to this Article and
stamp out the shocking practice of bonded labour. The Forced Labour
(Abolition) Convention adopted by the International Labour Organisation
(ILO) in 1919 was ratified by India only in November 1954.

Some states in India had also enacted laws for abolishing bonded labour
For example, the Bihar Kamianti Act was passed in 1920, the Madras
Agency Debt Bondage Regulation in 1940, Kabadi System Regula•tion in
Bastar in Madhya Pradesh in 1943, Hyderabad Bhagela Agreement
Regulation in 1943, Orissa Debt Bonded Abolition Regulation in 1948,
Rajasthan Sagri System Abolition Act in 1961 (which was amended in
1975), and Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, Kerala in 1975.

Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986

The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act was enacted in 1986
and defines a child as “a person who has not completed their fourteenth
year of age” [Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, Part I,
Section 2(ii)]. It does not prohibit child labor per se, nor does it set a
minimum age for the employment of children. Instead, it regulates the
hours and conditions of work for child laborers, while prohibiting the
employment of children in twenty-five hazardous industries.
Minimum Wages Act, 1948

The Minimum Wages Act sets the minimum wage for certain enumerated
occupations and requires that overtime be paid to all workers who work
beyond a “normal working day.” In the case of children under fourteen, a
“normal working day” is four and a half hours.

Shops and Establishments Act, 1961

This law, which applies to shops, hotels, restaurants, and places of

amusement, regulates the hours of work and prohibits the employment of
children below a certain age, to be determined by the states. In eleven
states, the minimum age for a child worker is fourteen years; in thirteen
states, the minimum age is twelve years.

In addition to domestic laws, India is a party to numerous international

human rights conventions and is thus legally bound by them. An
extensive review is presented by the Human Rights Watch report on
bonded labor in India.

Plantation Labour Act, 1951

This act regulates the work and wage conditions of plantation workers,
including children over the age of fourteen.

Apprentices Act, 1961

The Apprentices Act regulates the rights and work hours of apprentices,
and sets the minimum age for apprenticeships at fourteen years.
Conclusion

The Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act was enacted in 1976. Twenty
years later, Human Rights Watch has found that the goals of this law-to
punish employers of bonded labour and to identify, release, and
rehabilitate bonded labourers-have not been met. The bonded labour
system continues to thrive. The district-level vigilance committees,
mandated by the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act and constituting
the key to the enforcement of the act, have not been formed in most
districts. Those that have formed tend to lie dormant or, worse yet, are
comprised of members unsympathetic to the plight of bonded laborers.

Whether for lack of will or lack of support, India's district collectors have
failed utterly to enforce the provisions of the Bonded Labour System
(Abolition) Act. The state of Tamil Nadu has an estimated one million
bonded labourers; according to the North Arcot District Collector, these
were the first charges ever brought under the act in Tamil Nadu.

The mandated rehabilitation of released workers is essential. Without

adequate rehabilitation, those who are released will quickly fall again into
bondage. This has been established repeatedly, among both adult and
child bonded laborers. Nonetheless, the central and state governments
have jointly failed to implement the required rehabilitation procedures.
Rehabilitation allowances are distributed late, or are not distributed at all,
or are paid out at half the proper rate, with corrupt officials pocketing the
difference. One government-appointed commission found that court
orders mandating the rehabilitation of bonded laborers were routinely
ignored.
Finally, the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act directs vigilance
committees and district collectors to institute savings and credit programs
at the community level, so that the impoverished might have access to a
small loan during financial emergencies. This resource is crucial. Just as
enforcement of the law against employers would work to terminate the
demand for bonded labour, so would available credit work to end the
supply. Nearly every child interviewed by Human Rights Watch told the
same story: they were sold to their employers because their parents were
desperate for money and had no other way to get it. For some, it was the
illness or death of a parent, for others, the marriage of a sister, and for
others still, the need to buy food or put a roof over their heads. In most
cases, the amount of the debt incurred was very small.

The eradication of bonded child labor in India depends on the Indian

government's commitment to two imperatives: enforcement of the
Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, and the creation of meaningful
alternatives for already-bonded laborers and those at risk of joining their
ranks. In addition to genuine government action, it is essential that non-
governmental organizations be encouraged by the government to
collaborate in this effort. The government has the resources and authority
to implement the law, while community-based organizations have the
grass-roots contacts and trust necessary to facilitate this implementation.
Furthermore, non-governmental groups can act as a watchdog on
government programs, keeping vigil for corruption, waste, and apathy.
The elimination of current debt bondage and the prevention of new or
renewed bondage therefore requires a combination of concerted
government action and extensive community involvement. Neither
standing alone is sufficient. Bonded labor is a vast, pernicious, and long-
standing social ill, and the tenacity of the bonded labor system must be
attacked with similar tenacity; anything less than total commitment is
certain to fail.
References

1. Menon, Meena, “Escape from Bondage”, The Hindu, September 7,

2003, New Delhi Ed.
2. Seervai, H.M., “Constitutional Law of India,” Vol 1, p. 894, 1983 Ed.
3. Jain, M.P., “Indian Constiutional Law”, p.42, 1978 Ed.