A recent report on bonded labour in the country has highlighted the continued prevalence of illegal practice in the absence of effective enforcement mechanisms.
The report, released here on Thursday, is based on a survey of 950 rescued bonded labourers from 19 states and has been published by NGOs National Campaign Committee for the Eradication of Bonded Labour and Mehnatkash Association, and the IDEAS office of interdisciplinary studies at O.P. Jindal Global University in Sonipat, Haryana.
“In violation of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act 1976 (BLSAA), workers are rarely rescued as mandated by the law. Their statements are rarely recorded in safe or neutral conditions, civil society organisations are seldom involved in rescue operations, and summary trials are not conducted within the stipulated time frame. In many cases, Release Certificates are not issued, and FIRs are not filed, even though the law requires these steps to be completed within 24 hours of receiving a complaint,” the report said.
The findings show that the Centre has barely made headway towards its stated goal of rescuing an estimated 1.84 crore bonded workers in India by 2030, and in implementing the rehabilitation announced in 2016.
“Over 80 per cent of rescued workers had no First Information Report (FIR) filed regarding their bondage or rescue. Not a single case involving rescued labourers resulted in conviction before 2016, and after 2016, only 3.6 per cent of cases led to conviction. Although debt is often portrayed as the defining feature of bonded labour, our survey shows that the average debt per rescued worker (₹5,283.14) was six times lower than the average unpaid wage (₹32,514) owed to them. None of the workers had their wages recovered from the employers,” the report said.
It said 63 per cent of workers rescued after 2016 did not receive even the interim travel assistance mandated immediately upon rescue.
Despite being eligible for a compensation of ₹2 lakh, more than half of rescued children (53.8 per cent) and one-third of rescued women (33 per cent) received no compensation at all, the report stated. Only one woman received between ₹1 lakh and ₹2 lakh. Not a single man among the survey respondents received the ₹1 lakh compensation for which they were eligible, the report added.
Those rescued have a poor track record.
“A staggering 67 per cent of surveyed rescued workers had no access to formal education, underscoring how educational deprivation is both a cause and consequence of bonded labour. Among 55 rescued children, only 14 (25 per cent) were admitted to school following rescue, while 20 children (36.4 per cent) were pushed back into exploitative labour, indicating an alarming failure in the child rehabilitation and protection system,” the report said.
It recommends conducting surveys at the district level and taking action on their findings.
The other suggestions include:
- Holding district magistrates directly accountable for the implementation of survey findings.
- Monitoring of the implementation of survey findings across states by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
- Payment of wages to workers’ bank accounts.
- Action against administrative officials under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for dereliction of duty for refusal to receive rescued labourers.
- Interim relief payment of ₹30,000 directly to rescued workers within 24 hours of the issue of the release certificate.
- Prompt distribution of ration cards to all rescued migrant workers in line with the Right to Food and the One Nation One Ration Card scheme.
In the foreword for the report, Justice D.H. Waghela, former chief justice of Karnataka, Odisha and Bombay high courts, said: “Denying the release orders and release certificates to identified bonded labourers amounts to denying them their right to rehabilitation... The data and findings presented in this report are both distressing and revealing. They highlight the urgent need for collective action.”