Source: https://www.indiaspend.com/governance/india-will-miss-2030-target-to-end-bonded-labourby-98-877306
In July 2016, the Union government told Parliament that it would identify, release and rehabilitate around 18.4 million bonded labourers by 2030 as part of its 15-year vision to achieve “total abolition of bonded labour.” Data from Union government show that 315,302 people were released from bonded labour in over four decades between 1978 and January 2023, of which 94% have been rehabilitated.
Based on the data, since the statement in 2016, the government has been able to release only 32, 873 people from bonded labour, at a yearly average of 4,696. This would mean that at the same annual rate, by 2030, the government would have achieved only 2% of its 18.4 million target, leaving 18 million Indians in bonded labour.
Legal framework around bonded labour
Bonded labour is a form of modern slavery which has been illegal in India since 1976, when the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act was passed. It defines ‘bonded labour system’ as the system of forced labour under which a debtor enters into an agreement with the creditor that he would render service to him either by himself or through any member of his family or any person dependent on him, for a specified or unspecified period, either without wages or for nominal wages, in consideration of loan or any other economic consideration obtained by him or any of his ascendants, or in pursuance of any social obligation, or in pursuance of any obligation devolving on him by succession.
To enable the labourers to restart their lives and provide meaningful livelihood and job security to rescued bonded labourers, the Central Sector Scheme for Rehabilitation of Bonded Labourer is supposed to provide financial and non-financial support once they are issued bonded labour release certificates by district magistrates or sub-divisional magistrates (DM or SDM). But identifying bonded labour is not a priority for governments, and district authorities often do not issue release certificates, say activists and experts.
Though it was declared illegal in 1976, each year hundreds of fresh cases of bonded labour and trafficking for work are reported. In 2021, around 11 million people in India were in modern slavery, which includes forced labour, debt bondage, forced marriage, other slavery and slavery-like practices, and human trafficking, according to the Global Slavery Index estimates by Walk Free, an international human rights group focussed on the eradication of modern slavery. India is only one of the four countries - Iran, North and South Korea - in the Asia-Pacific that did not have a National Action Plan on modern slavery, showed the index.
In that regard, IndiaSpend has written to the senior officials of the Ministry of Labour and Employment to provide responses to the government’s target of releasing 18.4 million bonded labourers by 2030, the process of full rehabilitation, extent of centralised data collation of government’s bonded labour rehabilitation assistance, and scheme related survey to identify bonded labour.
Rehabilitation Scheme
Rehabilitation for rescued bonded labour has been provided since 1978 through a centrally-sponsored scheme. The ceiling of assistance was Rs. 4,000 for each worker, which was shared between the respective state and the Union governments. After revisions in the scheme over the years, in May 2000, the assistance to rescued labourers was fixed at Rs. 20,000 and district level survey component, awareness generation activities and evaluation studies were included.
The rehabilitation scheme was revised again in February 2022, to provide immediate financial support of Rs. 30,000 to the rescued labourer. It also includes Rs. 1 lakh for a male worker, Rs. 2 lakh for each woman and child, and Rs. 3 lakh for transgender persons or women and children involving extreme cases of deprivation, sexual exploitation and trafficking, based on the discretion of the district magistrates.
Position of Financial and Non-Financial Assistance
In addition to financial assistance, the beneficiaries are also entitled to non-cash assistance including land allotment for a house, allocation of agricultural land, provision of low cost dwelling units, enforcement of minimum wages etc.
The standard operating procedure to identify, rescue, and rehabilitate bonded labourers mandates that DMs or SDMs must rescue the affected worker within 24 hours of receiving an oral or written complaint of bondage. According to an advisory of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) dated December 8, 2021, once a bonded labourer is freed and issued a release certificate within 24 hours, they should be compensated and rehabilitated. However, the government’s support is accessible only if the bondage is recognised by the DMs/SDMs issuing the relevant certificate. In many cases this does not happen, according to experts.
Complete rehabilitation must include financial and non-financial assistance, said Nirmal Gorana, convener, National Campaign Committee for Eradication of Bonded Labour (NCCEBL), a national-level network for identification, rescue and rehabilitation of trafficked bonded labourers. “The cash assistance includes an interim relief of Rs. 30,000,” he said, “But even after being given a release certificate, the meagre interim relief is not given to rescued labourers.”
The state governments may get the workers rescued but they are reluctant to issue a release certificate recognising that the workers are bonded, said Sudhir Katiyar, Founder, Prayas Centre for Labour Research and Action, a rights-based NGO. “Due to this, workers are not able to access rehabilitation. We often get workers released from bondage but hardly anyone gets certificates.”
Data show reluctance to acknowledge bonded labour
A February 2023 government response in Parliament showed that between 2019 and January 2023, 2,650 people were rescued/rehabilitated, but no cases of bonded labour rescue or rehabilitation were reported in India in 2019-20.
However, the National Crime Records Bureau data reported 1,155 cases (96% crimes were against SC and ST) in 2019 under the Bonded Labour System Abolition Act, 1976 (BLSA). Similarly in 2020, 1,231 cases (94% against SC/ST) were registered and in 2021, 592 cases (96% against SC/ST) were registered under the Act, showing that rescues and rehabilitation data do not tend to match the number of cases registered.
State administrations are reluctant to acknowledge the presence of bonded labour in their jurisdiction, say experts.
Insufficient “political will” in many states has impacted efforts to address bonded labour, according to the US Department of State’s 2022 Trafficking in Persons Report on India. “NGOs previously estimated police did not file FIRs in at least half of bonded labour cases nationally, especially in Bihar and Rajasthan.”
Demand-driven scheme, according to the government
Contrary to the 2030 vision target of rescuing 18.4 million bonded labourers, the 2023 Lok Sabha standing committee report shows that the Ministry of Labour and Employment said the scheme is demand-driven due to which “target cannot be fixed to identify and rescue the bonded labourer.”
Corroborating the lack of priority for bonded labour rescue and rehabilitation, as alleged by activists, the Lok Sabha report shows that the Union government did not have full rehabilitation details of the central sector scheme. The Ministry of Labour and Employment said it did not have details on the non-cash assistance being provided by states as it came “under the purview of state government.”
What is the way forward to address the issue
The parliamentary committee has recommended that the government should maintain a central database of assistance provided, irrespective of the jurisdictional aspects.
Experts and policy documents show that surveys and evaluations on bonded labour at the district levels must be conducted on time, and a management information system along the likes of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, the rural jobs programme, and Swachh Bharat Mission for household sanitation, should be created to monitor progress.
The scheme is good overall, but there is a need for sensitisation, particularly because bonded labour may also be a case of human trafficking which attracts Indian Penal Code 370 on buying or disposing of any person as a slave, said Katiyar. “If this is properly done and monitored it will increase registration of cases, and data collation will also improve.”
The solution to eradicating bonded labour lies in changing the conditions of work, and not rehabilitation alone, he added.
Some recommendations to improve rehabilitation scheme and end bonded labour (sourced from various government and non-government reports) are mentioned below:
• Increase corpus funds for sensitive districts
• Improve central coordination and monitoring mechanism of rehabilitation
• Establish National Portal on Bonded Labour for welfare entitlements
• Enable collection of the information from states and maintain a central database of all types of assistance
• Ensure improved conditions of work and timely wages for labourers
• Timely issuance of release certificates to access rehabilitation assistance
• Regular surveys in sensitive districts to identify and eradicate bonded labour and awareness campaigns
• Convergence of bonded labour rehabilitation scheme with others schemes at the Union and state levels to monitor benefits to workers
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