Problems of Rural Labour, Bondage

Bondage can be conceptualized as a social condition when a person sells himself away’ to his employer on condition of specific economic privilege. It is a system of institutionalized slavery where the labour does not have independence and freedom of right to work. The service is rendered for debt or in lieu of the interest accruing to the debt.

Bonded Labour

Labour which remains in bondage for a specific period for the debt incurred are called bonded labour. The debtor agrees to mortgage his service or services of any or all members of his familyfor a specified or unspecified period.

Two basic features

1. Indebtedness
2. Forced labour

Types of Bondage: National Commission on Rural Labour spelled out those four kinds of bonded labour
practice present in India:

1. Inter-generational bondage
2. Loyalty bondage
3. Bondage through land allotment (attached)
4. Bondage of the distressed widows.

Causes of bondage: The main causes of origin, growth and perpetuation indebtedness and bonded labour system are economic. Though the social and religious factors too support the custom.

Economic factors

1. Extreme poverty of people
2. Inability of people to find work for livelihood
3. Inadequate rise of land- holdings to rapport family
4. Lack of alternative small scale loan for the rural and urban poor
5. Natural calamities like drought flood etc
6. Meagre income from forest produce (tribes)
7. Inflation and constant rising price.

Social factors

Expenses on occasions like marriage, death, feast, birth of a child etc., leading to heavy debt (R.S.Sharma) Caste based discrimination

1. Lack of concrete social welfare schemes to safeguard against hunger and illness
2. Non-compulsory and unequal educational system
3. Migration.

Religious factors:

References from religious texts are given and religious arguments are used to convince the people of low castes that religion enjoins upon them to serve people of high castes. Illiteracy ignorance, immaturity and lack of stability and professional training sustain such attitude.

Broadly speaking it may be concluded that bondage originates mainly from economic and social pressures.

1. Utsa Patnaik: Persistence of Feudalism in Indian agriculture is greatly responsible for the continuity of bondage in the countryside. In rural sector feudalism is persistent because traditional landlords do come from upper caste and hence relationship between caste and agriculture is absolutely profound. Low castes either work as tenants or share-croppers going for traditional method of contract and low caste of untouchables who are landless in order to avoid distance migration opt for bonded labour.
2. Ashok Rudra, Pranav Vardhan and Arvind S. Das: Bonded labour persists under the disguise of attached labour in capitalist agriculturalist market More intensive is the capitalist development highest is exploitation that results in consolidation of bonded labour.
3. Shashi Kumar: When man migrates from village the women and children are reduced into bonded
   labour by the local landlords.
4. Lahiri: In West Bengal Baramasic contract system is a form of disguised bonded labour. In this system the labourer is given some advance, free food, shelter to work for the master throughout the year. Due to poverty borrowing continues so is attachment with the family.
5. Hanumanth Rao: Bonded labour is a product of regular natural disaster, uneven distribution of land in countryside, fragile ecology, intensive caste based exploitation, perpetual poverty, lack of alternate source of livelihood.
6. Jodhka: Bonded labour practice in the country is the product of the survivalist necessity of the rural poor corresponding with the innovative saving techniques identified by rural rich.
7. Due to Green Revolution the states like Punjab and Haryana received high rate of migrant labour from poor states who got trapped in bondage.

Today’s Scenario – Magnitude of Bondage in India: Bonded labour system has been enlisting in Indian Society among agricultural labourers in the name of beggar and ryots. Today it has extended to workers working in brick kilns, bidi factories, stone quarries, glass factories and in detergent, carpet, gem stones and many other factories.

1. The cultural environment of exploitation under which the practice of bonded labour flourished witnessed all forms of exploitation and oppression ranging from child labour to the sexual exploitation of bonded women.
2. Nadeem Hasnain in his study of Kolta bonded labour found that untouchables were barred by custom from owning land It was further compounded by the social ban on keeping or touching gold thus making him totally vulnerable to any economic exigencies when a Kolta would be having nothing except his body which becomes a ready object of mortgage.
3. Foundation and National Labour Institute in combined study of bonded labour in 1978 found out that around 2.6 Lakh of workers in India are either bonded worker or are attached workers. It is based on survey of thousand villages spreading in ten states.
4. National Commission on Rural Labour in a study found out that bonded labour is largely used in agriculture sector, plantation sector. Child labours in bonded from is greatly used in hazardous sectors.
5. Among many socio-economic disabilities the untouchables have been suffering form their customary landlessness, the scheduled castes of today are the worst victims of dept bondage.
6. Deccan Development Society found out in its study that 533 children and 786 adults are pushed into the state of bonded labour.
7. NHRC in a case brought before it found out in Jharkhand how a person was forced to work for 20 years because of non-payment of Rs.2000.

Steps taken and Suggestions:

1. Constitution prohibits begar (forced labour) under Acticle 23.
2. Through Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act 1976 the Government tried to tackle debt bondage head on.
3. NHRC has developed a core groups for the identification and rehabilitation of bonded labour.
4. Centrally-sponsored scheme is launched for the abolition of bonded labour for the provision of offering Rs.20000 to every bonded labourer rehabilitated.

This scheme has been revised in 2016.The quantum of financial assistance has been increased from 20 thousand to1 Lakh rupees. While the most deprived and marginalized like disabled female and children rescued from trafficking, sexual exploitation and transgender will get Rs. 3 Lakhs. The special category comprising of Females and minors who will now get Rs. 2 Lakhs.

One of the special features of the new scheme is that it aims ot address new forms of bondage such as organized begging rings, forced prostitution and child labour for which females, disabled and trans genders are mercilessly used by the powerful elements.

5. Different NGOs like Sahyog, Mahila Samakhya, Sankalp and Bachpan Bachao Andolan are working in the area of the abolition of bonded labour.
6. The problem of bonded labour should be understood from the perspective of larger social situation.
7. Various policies to eradicate it need to emphasise on poverty alleviation measures.
8. Elimination of feudalistic ideology.
9. Intensive caste based inequality need to be checked.

Feminisation of Agriculture

Indian agriculture is facing contradictory situation. On one hand rural rich is doing contract forming, employing new technology. While rural poor are migrating to cities in search of letter job opportunities.

A regular migration of the small formers and agriculture labour to the urban areas or to other activities
have led to tremendous pressure on rural women. They are forced to do agriculture on their own with what ever possible means.Also the percentage of women is agricultural labour has been on rise. This points to feministaion of agriculture in India.

It has positive as well as negative consequences for women. Lets see positive one first

1. Feminisation has helped women to be come independent and to take independent decision
2. They have become responsible enough to go to the block officers or to the panchayat executives for their grievance redressaL
3. They have also learnt skills of alternative employment.
4. Urvashi Jain in her study of kasaba area of Bihar found that they are engaged in money types of activities.

They are rearing goats, chicken and sometimes also selling vegetables in the market Nevertheless, It also affected them in negative ways.

1. Social cleavages and gender discrimination come into way of entrepreneurial forming
2. Low level of skilling, know-low and absence of social capital / networks has led to low level of production for them.
3. Women are paid less as agriculture labouress then men. So it has led to exploitation
4. Agriculture as informal orientation so women suffer from lacunas of informal sector.Such as absence of social security, seasonality of work, low pay and absence of gendered need such as crash facilities, much maternity benefits and toilet facilities.

Thus feminization of agriculture do contributing to upliftment of women but still it has not crossed the mark of good business for women. Indian agriculture needs modernization along with feminization to cater to women’s need of employment and business opportunities.

The End of the Blog: Problems of Rural Labour, Bondage