3071-The political economy of new slavery

128 Bonded Labour in South Asia
workers in a house. Their hands and legs were bound with iron chains.
Their respective parents had taken loans of R2,000 (£20) and R4,000
(£40). Although the children had worked for more than eight months,
the businessman claimed that the work had not even met the cost of
the interest on the loans. The children had tried to escape several times,
but were recaptured and iron chains and rods were used to restrict their
movements. As a result, the children’s legs and hands were wounded. It
was claimed that the businessman was a government employee in the
Collectorate. The Vartha Daily reported on the children’s involvement in
bidi work on 5 May 2000. It claimed that bribery is a major factor in the
non-implementation of labour standards in the workplace.
Under labour law, it is the responsibility of management to ensure
that workers receive minimum wages, identity cards, gratuity, insurance
protection, medical facilities, housing, ration cards, and so on. The report
claimed that there are more than 50,000 bidi workers, of whom only
5,000 are recorded and eligible for that protection. There are about
60 bidi factories in Kurnool. Although the workers are entitled to R40
for 1,000 bidis, only those 5,000 who are recognized receive R42, with
the remainder receiving R32 for making 1,000 bidis. Most of the workers
are dalits, and are Muslims. They suffer from tuberculosis, cancer, ulcers,
skin diseases, etc., but are not offered any help. The workers find themselves
forced to continue in this occupation, and they put their children
into the same work.
Migrant family members, mostly male bonded labourers, work in
rice mills in the states of Chattisgarh, Maharastra Punjab, Gujarat and
Rajasthan. Many of the single men working in sugar cane plantations in
Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharastra and Karnataka, also, are bonded.
Hybrid cotton seed production in Andhra uses children, mostly girls.
The M. Venkatarangaiya Foundation says that the girls’ health and
education suffer. As elsewhere, the use of child labour makes it more
difficult for adults to secure employment. The Foundation’s study of the
Telangana and Rayalaseema regions of the state shows that the girls
are employed under long-term contract, in return for loans advanced to
their parents. It says that approximately 400,000 girls between the ages
of seven and 14 are employed in hired cotton seed fields throughout
India, with some 250,000 of them in Andhra Pradesh.
This industry is both capital and labour intensive. Local seed producers
deal with large companies through middlemen. Pressure is exerted
to increase productivity by controlling labour costs. This leads to the
employment of children. Such children may be dalits, low castes, or
come from indigenous communities. The majority of their families are