Source: The post Bonded labour persists in India despite laws against exploitation has been created, based on the article “India’s shame — the trap of bonded labour” published in “The Hindu” on 1 May 2025. Bonded labour persists in India despite laws against exploitation.
UPSC Syllabus Topic: GS Paper2-Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes; mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections.
Context: On International Labour Day, India confronts a disturbing reality: bonded and forced labour continue to thrive despite decades-old abolition laws. The article highlights how systemic failures, weak enforcement, and social inequality allow exploitation of millions of workers.
Underlying Causes of Labour Exploitation
- Economic Triggers: Sudden hardships such as illness, job loss, or marriage expenses push poor families to seek quick loans. These advances often trap them in exploitative labour arrangements.
- Social Disadvantage and Exclusion: Caste-based discrimination, illiteracy, and lack of access to information increase vulnerability. Many workers do not understand their rights or legal protections.
- Power Structures and Dependency: In many areas, employers control both credit and job access. This monopoly converts basic financial help into long-term dependence and coercion.
Scale and Nature of the Problem
- Ongoing Prevalence: Despite legal abolition in 1975, bonded labour remains widespread. Government data estimates 1.84 crore people are still affected by it across the country.
- Forms of Abuse: These workers often face long working hours, withheld wages, physical violence, and confinement. Many lack contracts and freedom of movement.
- Overlap with Forced Labour: Even outside traditional bondage, crores of informal workers, especially migrants, endure similar exploitation, blurring the lines between informal work and forced labour.
Policy Commitments and Actual Progress
- Official Vision and Targets: In 2016, the Union Labour Ministry announced a plan to rescue and rehabilitate 1.84 crore bonded labourers by 2030, as part of a long-term national agenda.
- Actual Rescues: Between 2016 and 2021, only 12,760 bonded labourers were officially rescued and rehabilitated. This pace falls drastically short of the goal.
- Unrealistic Expectations: To meet the 2030 target, over 11 lakh rescues per year would now be required — a target that current systems are far from achieving.
The Larger Labour Crisis in India
- Dominance of Informal Sector: According to NSSO data, out of 47 crore workers, 39 crore are in the unorganised sector. These jobs often lack safety, fair wages, or legal protections.
- ILO’s Assessment: The ILO India Employment Report 2024 confirms that low-quality informal work dominates the labour market, leaving workers insecure and underpaid.
Legal and Structural Gaps
- Weak Unionisation: Unorganised workers lack unions and collective bargaining power. This isolates them and reduces their ability to fight back against abuse.
- Dilution of Rights: The 2019–20 Labour Codes weakened earlier protections, particularly the right to organise and strike, eroding decades of progress in labour rights.
Question for practice:
Discuss the reasons why bonded and forced labour continue to persist in India despite legal abolition.
