A new report shows that bonded labour continues to prevail in India after nearly five decades of legal prohibition. Based on testimonies from 950 rescued workers across 19 states and published by the National Campaign Committee for the Eradication of Bonded Labour, Mehnatkash Association, and the IDEAS office of interdisciplinary studies at O.P. Jindal Global University, the study revealed that bonded labour is widespread, largely invisible, and is sustained by a striking absence of enforcement of laws. The scale of the problem is borne out by international data. According to the International Labour Organization, there are about 110 lakh people living in ‘modern slavery’ in India — the highest globally. This includes forced labour, debt bondage, trafficking, and forced marriages. Worryingly, India managed to rehabilitate only 468 bonded labourers in 2023-24 against an annual target of 13 lakh.
The ILO also underlined that bonded labour endures because of social and economic vulnerabilities. For instance, the NCCEBL survey found that 100% of its respondents were from scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, or other backward classes. Other factors include limited access to education, insecure livelihoods, and restricted mobility, which reinforce dependence on employers who control credit, wages, and work. Recent reports have also shown that bonded labourers often have key documents, such as Aadhaar and electors photo identity card, seized by their employers, leaving them disenfranchised in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of the electoral rolls. Further, bonded labour survives in insidious forms that blur the lines between exploitation and customs. Forced marriages, for instance, remain one of the most under-examined and socially sanctioned channels through which bonded labour persists. Bonded labour has evidently adapted to contemporary economic structures and exploited regulatory weaknesses. Meaningful progress will depend on whether laws and enforcement mechanisms move from paper to practice.