3071-The political economy of new slavery

122 Bonded Labour in South Asia
Although the traditional system disappeared in many places, due to the
unequal development of different states and their economies, it still
exists in a large part of the agrarian society of India. A specific example
of this is haliya (halvaha) life in a village in Uttar Pradesh where haliya
receive a small piece of land for their own use, while continuing to
work for masters in respect of outstanding debts which, all too often,
are transferred from generation to generation, with sons taking on the
debts, and work, of their fathers (Bales, 1999).
For bonded labourers in agriculture, the chief characteristics are lack
of freedom of movement, abuse and threat of violence, living in a level
of poverty where nothing more than subsistence is available and
dependence on a master for shelter. Bonded labourers may be agricultural
labourers, or share-croppers, who are indebted to landowners and
are forced to work. Or they may be agricultural labourers, indebted to
landlords/landowners, who are allowed to go elsewhere for work during
their master’s off-seasons. However, they will be forced to return and
work during certain periods of the year. Also, there is begar. This is
unpaid labour mostly in return for ‘shelter’ and in line with the terms
of the contract. Those are the main features, but there are variations
in rural India, in relation to the loan, type of labour, methods of force
and the mobility of labour. In addition, there are some visible changes,
such as in Karnataka. Generally, in Karnataka it is only adult males and
boys (and not the whole family) who work as jeeta, the Kannada word
for bonded labourers (ASI, 2002c). As elsewhere, loans were the main
reason for the bondage.
Apart from in indigenous areas, bonded labourers are chiefly dalits.
This means that their relationships with their masters are long term,
and few succeed in securing release by paying off their loans. Even if
dalits are set free from bonded labour, their caste position implies they
will do the lowest-paid or even unpaid jobs. A good example is the
situation in Chakka Shandra village in Bangalore (ASI, 2002c). While
the men were working as bonded labourers, the women worked as wage
labourers, and earned R5 per day. Now, while the men are free, the
women work as wage labourers, earning R25 per day. The men receive
R50 per day without food, or R40 with food. This shows the vulnerability
of women, and how, as the wives of men doing jeeta, they lose
their bargaining power.
Coming from the dalit community, both men and women are involved
in cleaning the village. This is unpaid work, and they receive only leftover
food. The term ‘cleaning’ also includes the clearing of carcasses from the
villages. This is usually undertaken by the male dalits.