"Incredible India" Home to Modern Slavery
I went straight to the stone quarries very close to Delhi that is in Faridabad area, and also to some of the brick kilns, where the laborers were bought and sold like chattel slavery. Then it was a great shock for me that right under the nose of our federal parliament and federal judiciary, Supreme Court of India, this practice was rampant.
When I got released, some of these bonded laborers from the stone quarries of this Faridabad area, I wanted to get them back in their villages. So, unsuspecting, I requested for some help INR 10,000 worth of help from the then chief minister, under whom I had already worked as education minister.
But when I made that request, he was so furious. He threatened me with dire consequences. He told me point blank that next time I step into any of the stone quarries or brick kilns and come up with this bogie of bonded labor, I would not come alive--he would make sure that I was killed.
So I couldn't understand what was the matter and why was he was so furious. Then I realized that the whole industry, the substratum, agriculture industry, is surviving on the exploitation of the cheapest source of slave labor, that is, bonded labor. So we started that movement.
Government officials in the Ministry of Labour estimate over 300,000 bonded laborers have been rehabilitated in the 37 years since the act against forced labor was passed. These data are based on the numbers of bonded laborers who have been able to avail of government benefits after procuring release certificates. The data does not include the actual numbers of people rescued from bondage, since many are unable to produce the necessary documents. So this may be an underestimate.
The fact is it is really hard to establish the accurate data. That's why the current government's claims to having abolished it are decidedly weak on this score. But why has the government failed to abolish bonded labor?
For millions of those struggling hard to survive as slave laborers in India, independence is yet to arrive. Experts believe the day India starts implementing its laws for the benefit of its weaker section, which is more than 70 percent of country's population, in that day India will actually achieve independence.
I went straight to the stone quarries very close to Delhi that is in Faridabad area, and also to some of the brick kilns, where the laborers were bought and sold like chattel slavery. Then it was a great shock for me that right under the nose of our federal parliament and federal judiciary, Supreme Court of India, this practice was rampant.
When I got released, some of these bonded laborers from the stone quarries of this Faridabad area, I wanted to get them back in their villages. So, unsuspecting, I requested for some help INR 10,000 worth of help from the then chief minister, under whom I had already worked as education minister.
But when I made that request, he was so furious. He threatened me with dire consequences. He told me point blank that next time I step into any of the stone quarries or brick kilns and come up with this bogie of bonded labor, I would not come alive--he would make sure that I was killed.
So I couldn't understand what was the matter and why was he was so furious. Then I realized that the whole industry, the substratum, agriculture industry, is surviving on the exploitation of the cheapest source of slave labor, that is, bonded labor. So we started that movement.
Government officials in the Ministry of Labour estimate over 300,000 bonded laborers have been rehabilitated in the 37 years since the act against forced labor was passed. These data are based on the numbers of bonded laborers who have been able to avail of government benefits after procuring release certificates. The data does not include the actual numbers of people rescued from bondage, since many are unable to produce the necessary documents. So this may be an underestimate.
The fact is it is really hard to establish the accurate data. That's why the current government's claims to having abolished it are decidedly weak on this score. But why has the government failed to abolish bonded labor?
For millions of those struggling hard to survive as slave laborers in India, independence is yet to arrive. Experts believe the day India starts implementing its laws for the benefit of its weaker section, which is more than 70 percent of country's population, in that day India will actually achieve independence.
brown devils...
