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A DYNAMIC GLOBAL PICTUREBox 2.2.Employers’ perspectives on bonded labour: The case of Ranga Reddy district in Andhra PradeshAccording to a recent survey of landowner-employers, traditional forms of bondage no longer exist in thisarea, because of the growth in demand for male labour in non-farm activities and the legal prohibitionon debt bondage. The incidence of the employment of bonded “annual farm servants” to supervisedaily labourers and tend livestock also appears to have reduced signifi cantly. The problem these daysfor landowners is to fi nd workers willing to take up such jobs – they depend on the few families in desperateneed of money, as others are simply not willing to enter into this kind of contract. Landlords donot consider improving contractual terms, so as to increase the attractiveness of the job, as a possiblesolution. The net result is that their land remains underutilized. Employers remark that the differencebetween bonded labourers eligible for release and rehabilitation and other annual farm servants is notalways clear to them. They argue that the only way to attract such workers is to offer interlinked labourand credit contracts. And while they realize that pressure for change is growing, improving agriculturallabour conditions is regarded as further compromising their social and economic status, something theyare trying strongly to resist.Case studies carried out in the same area nonetheless attest to the continued, albeit reduced, prevalenceof bonded labour jeetham contracts and the gruelling working conditions often associated with these.Sources: S. Subrahmanyam et al.: Labour and fi nancial markets from employers’ perspective: The case of RangaReddy District in Andhra Pradesh (Hyderabad, India, Centre for Economic and Social Studies, unpublished document,December 2003) (the survey covered 150 employers in 21 villages, as well as case studies and focus groupdiscussions in the sample villages); R.S. Arunachalam, J. Viswanathan (eds.): Thirty bonded labour case studies(unpublished document).migrants, and that the system of advances is widespread.Women’s wages were around half those ofmen. A total of 97 per cent of the workers were indebted,most of them being in bondage. 53 Debts arepassed from one family member to another, or fromone generation to the next, and can cause the labourerto be “sold” to another contractor.146. India’s carpet-weaving industry reportedly hasa high proportion of children working in conditionsof severe bondage. The structure of the industry haschanged significantly over the past decade, with a shifttowards home-based production, making it more difficultto monitor labour conditions. Recent studiesthus contain widely varying estimates of bonded labour.There are still frequent reports of identificationand release of child bonded labourers from the corecarpet-producing areas.147. The case of Tamil Nadu illustrates how theknowledge base can be increased progressively, withcommitment from the central and state governments,concerned employers’ and workers’ organizations,and other civil society groups. In 1995, theSupreme Court appointed a commission to verify thecontents of an earlier state government declarationthat there were only stray cases of bonded labour inTamil Nadu. 54 In an exhaustive report based on alarge-scale survey, the Commissioners concluded thatthere were over 1 million bonded labourers spreadover 23 districts and 20 occupations, of whom 10 percent were bonded child labourers. Bonded labourersfrom the Scheduled Castes and Tribes and the MostBackward Castes comprised 76 per cent of the total.The bondage was almost invariably found to bebased on debt. Attention has recently been focusedon problems in rice mills in the state. In one area,over 1,000 immigrant families from other TamilNadu districts were in bonded labour, confined inthe mill premises.148. In Nepal, although attention so far has beenfocused almost exclusively on the kamaiya system inthe west of the country, there is growing evidencethat similar problems exist nationwide. The numberof persons affected by bonded labour in agriculturealone has been estimated by independent analysts atsome 200,000, 55 many times the number of kamaiyasso far identified.149. Pakistan has indicated a firm commitment totackling bonded labour. In 2001, the Federal Cabinetapproved a National Policy and Plan of Action forthe Abolition of Bonded Labour and Rehabilitationof Freed Bonded Labourers (NPPA), which states theGovernment’s commitment to the abolition of forcedand bonded labour, lays out the components of a nationaltime-bound strategy to achieve this end, and53. Mine Labour Protection Campaign (MLPC): Bonded labour in small-scale mining, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India (unpublished document).54. Affidavit of the Government of Tamil Nadu in Writ Petition No. 3922 of 1985. See Supreme Court of India: Report of the Commission onBonded Labour in Tamilnadu (Madras, 31 Oct. 1995).55. S. Sharma; R. Sharma: Findings on debt bondage: Long-term farm labour systems in Kavre Palanchok and Sarlahi Districts, Nepal, South AsianProgramme against Debt Bondage, Social Finance Programme (Geneva, ILO, 2002).33
A GLOBAL ALLIANCE AGAINST FORCED LABOURalso provides for a national survey. Given the difficultyof carrying out a reliable and large-scale nationalsurvey, the Ministry of Labour, Manpowerand Overseas Pakistanis decided first to undertake,with ILO support, a series of rapid assessments oflabour arrangements focusing on bonded labour inten different economic sectors, as well as a small-scalesample survey of sharecroppers (haris) and brick kilnworkers. 56 This could provide the basis for a nationalsurvey at a later date, and in the shorter term woulddeepen understanding of the nature and characteristicsof bonded labour in the sectors concerned.150. The survey of brick kiln workers in Punjaband sharecroppers in Sindh illustrates some patternsof deception and coercion in the bonded labour relationship.Some 40 per cent of brick kiln workers and45 per cent of sharecroppers had no understandingof their creditors’ calculations concerning debt, theterms of which were dictated unilaterally by the employeror landlord. Many confirmed that they werenot free to seek alternative employment while theirdebts remained unpaid. Between one-fi fth and onethirdalso reported verbal or physical coercion on thepart of the landlord or employer. Household illiteracywas a key indicator of both destitution and bondage.In the case of brick kiln workers, low caste status wasunambiguously associated with a higher incidence ofbondage. For sharecroppers this link was less clear, althougha previous survey found that the most vulnerablesharecroppers belonged to low-caste non-Muslimcommunities. 57151. Of the ten sectors studied, the problem of labourbonded by debt and also subject to coercive andabusive labour arrangements was found to be significantnot only in agriculture and brick making, butalso in mining and quarrying, carpet weaving anddomestic work. These are all labour-intensive sectors.Some problems have also been detected in both marinefisheries and construction, particularly in remoteareas.152. By identifying some different characteristicsby sector, the Pakistan studies have helped point tothe complexities of eradicating often deeply rootedpatterns of coercion. In agriculture, bonded labourwas most prevalent among sharecroppers in parts ofSindh and Punjab provinces, but in the latter casewas also found in a severe form among a categoryof permanent agricultural workers (seeris). In thesecases the bonded labourers usually belonged to thelowest castes or non-Muslims as the weakest socialgroups, a vulnerability reinforced by the fact thattheir homesteads were located on the landlord’sproperty (the threat of eviction proving a powerfulmeans of labour discipline). Women are at particularrisk from ruthless landlords or employers. Cases ofsexual abuse of women by landlords were reportedby over half of the more than 1,000 households interviewedin a survey of freed haris at their campsnear Hyderabad. Yet it appears that by no means allharis are harshly treated. Many landlords observethat they have no choice but to extend loans to theharis in order to obtain a labour supply, and wouldwelcome a solution to this problem. Interestingly, theassessments found little evidence of bonded labourin those parts of the country where the tribal systemserved to mitigate potential abuse. Casual labourersin agriculture often took small advances, but thesewere generally repaid from wages at the end of thecontract. 58153. In the brick-making industry virtually all unskilledand semi-skilled workers received advancesfrom kiln owners through contractors known as jamadars.For the large number of local labourers, andalso the increasing numbers of Afghan refugees, theadvances are generally kept within repayable limits.However, for the low-status migrant pathera 59 families,debts tend to be much higher. They cannotbe repaid because of the low prevailing piece-rates,well below the legislated rates of pay for the sectorand also the minimum wage. Furthermore, the labourof women, children and adolescents is rarelyacknowledged, and is not remunerated separately.Internal migrants who are far away from their localcommunities and social support systems and workerswho live on-site with their families within the kilnpremises are particularly vulnerable to exploitation. 60Most indebted workers are convinced that, if they attemptto flee, they will be tracked down and forcedto return. 61154. In mining and quarrying, contracted workersreceive substantial advances from a labour contractor. 62These are highest for the coal mines of Balochistan,56. Bonded Labour Research Forum in collaboration with the Ministry of Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis, Government of Pakistanand International Labour Organization: Rapid assessment studies of bonded labour in different sectors in Pakistan (2004). The studies were alsoissued as DECLARATION Working Papers Nos. 20-26 (Geneva, ILO, 2004). Federal Bureau of Statistics, Government of Pakistan; ILO:Survey of bonded labour in two sectors in Pakistan: Brick kiln workers (Punjab) and sharecroppers (Sindh), 2002 (unpublished document).57. Lieten and Breman, op. cit., p. 341, footnote 10.58. G.M. Arif: Bonded labour in agriculture: A rapid assessment in Punjab and North West Frontier Province, Pakistan, Special Action Programmeto Combat Forced Labour, DECLARATION Working Paper No. 25 (Geneva, ILO, 2004), p. 14.59. The men, women and children who prepare unbaked bricks, including preparation of clay.60. It is interesting to note that migrants from Afghanistan appear to have been less subject to highly exploitative bonded labour situations. Thismay be in part because they avoid high degrees of indebtedness, and also because support networks function effectively in the villages wherethey are located.61. Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER): Unfree labour in Pakistan: Work, debt and bondage in brick kilns, SpecialAction Programme to Combat Forced Labour, DECLARATION Working Paper No. 24 (Geneva, ILO, 2004).62. The advances are estimated to range from PRs.5,000 to 50,000.34
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