THE DISGUISED SLAVERY

They are tied in the bond which is not easily broken the bond of terrible relationship which is stronger than their belief of freedom. A long-term relationship between forced obligation, poverty and capitalism usually solidified through a loan, and is embedded intricately in India’s socio-economic culture—a culture that is a product of class relations, a colonial history, and persistent poverty among many citizens where they are tricked for negligible or no pay at all. Bonded labor contracts are not purely economic; in India, they are reinforced by custom or coercion in various sectors. It is probably the most obscure form of slavery today, and yet it is the most widely used tactic of enslaving people. It was my fourth semester in bachelors in law when I came across this issue in the subject “law and poverty” and the graveness of this topic compelled me to work on this.

This practice is most prevalent in rural areas where agriculture is based on contracts and these contracts deny any individual their right to all forms of  freedom. However urban areas also provide fertile ground for bondage where people are exploited not only economically but, mentally ,physically , and fall prey to sex trade. The glaring examples of bonded beggars are seen in every sate where the practice is illegal but an accepted tradition where the poor debtors are never freed.

According to new International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates, three out of every 1,000 people throughout the world are trapped in jobs into which they were coerced or deceived and which they cannot quit. The problem with most of them is they are too powerless to come out of this vicious circle and when they were asked by an NGO working for justice and inequality that “Did you tell anyone in the authority about your condition?” The reply sets out the excruciating inequality of power they faced:”Who would we tell?”I remember the line from the African-American former slave and anti-slavery activism, Harriet Tubman, who said, “I freed a thousand slaves I could have freed a thousand more only if they knew they were slaves.”

We should not be amazed to know this that bonded labor is prohibited by law vide Articles 21 and 23 of the Constitution and various other legislation which are supposed to prohibit this perfidious act specifically and still it is widely practiced in the different parts of India.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 labor legislation, and the right to speedy justice.The practice of bonded labor violates all of these constitutionally-mandated rights. Sadly the lengthiest constitution of this world has failed to protect its citizen from this trap.

Eradication of bonded labor is not a one time event it can reoccur at anytime anywhere. The need of the hour is to focus on their identification, freedom, rehabilitation and most importantly there should not be any gap in carrying any of these process. The strategies to eliminate bonded labour need to go beyond the symptoms to address the root causes. The multifaceted and deeply rooted nature of those causes requires an integrated and long term strategy But, by and large, the efforts of government is very poor and is frequently delayed but it is not only the government who is to be blamed we also need to keep our eyes and ears wide open and need to have moral courage to speak out against injustice when no one else will. . The strategies to eliminate bonded labour need to go beyond the symptoms to address the root causes but failure to preserve the basic human rights which was promised at the eve of independence to every individual is a blot of shame on world’s largest democracy.