Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1992, published 79th ILC session (1992)

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - India (Ratification: 1954)

The Committee notes that no report has been received from the Government. The Committee has however taken note of the discussion which took place in the Conference Committee in 1991.

The Committee has also noted the report of a fact-finding committee appointed by Order of the Supreme Court dated 1 August 1991, in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 12125 of 1984.

The Committee has also taken note of the discussions in the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery of the United Nations Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities at its 16th Session, July-August 1991.

Abolition of bonded labour

In its observation of 1991, the Committee examined in detail the situation in law and in practice concerning abolition of bonded labour.

1. Scope of legislation. The Committee recalled that under article 23(1) of the Constitution of India, traffic in human beings and "begar" and other similar forms of forced labour are prohibited and that by virtue of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, No. 19 of 1976, the bonded labour system was abolished. The scope of this Act was clarified by a judgement of 16 December 1983 of the Supreme Court of India and by amendments adopted in 1985.

The Committee notes the Government's statement to the Conference Committee that, pursuant to the Supreme Court's judgement of 16 December 1983, a committee to investigate the issue of identifying bonded labourers had been instituted in the State of Haryana; it was in the process of finalising its report for submission to the Supreme Court.

The Committee hopes that the Government will provide full information on the findings and recommendations of the above-mentioned committee as well as a copy of its report.

2. Identification, freeing and rehabilitation of bonded labourers. Concerning the number of bonded labourers, the Committee previously referred to estimates according to which there were around 2 to 2.6 million bonded labourers in agriculture or the rural sector (1981, Gandhi Peace Foundation in cooperation with the National Labour Institute - estimates for 11 out of 21 states; 1979, Subcommission of Bonded Labour set up by the Central Standing Committee on Rural Unorganised Labour) and the Commissioner for Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes considered that bonded labour existed also in other areas such as quarrying, weaving, domestic service; the existence of bonded labour in quarrying and weaving was confirmed by the Supreme Court judgement of 1983 and by the Commissioner appointed by the court on working conditions of child labour in the carpets industry of Mirzapur.

The Committee notes that in the information submitted to the Conference Committee in 1991, the Government repeats its previous statements that it did not accept these estimates as it considers that the methodology applied is based on extrapolation of samples not adequately representative. The Government recalled its various statements that state governments were primarily responsible for identification and rehabilitation; that they had been advised to conduct surveys so as to identify all bonded labourers as early as possible; that on 31 March 1989, 242,532 bonded labourers had been identified and on 31 March 1990, 245,636 of which 218,028 had been rehabilitated.

The Committee notes that the Report of the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery refers to information submitted by Anti-Slavery International that debt bondage affected almost 5 million adults and 10 million children.

The Committee observes that a large and developed infrastructure for collection of statistics appears to exist in the country, as mentioned by the Government during the general debate in the Conference Committee in 1991. The Committee hopes that the central and state Governments will avail themselves of the existing means to accelerate the identification of bonded labourers.

Referring to the assurances given by the Government to the Conference Committee that updated information would be submitted on all issues and recalling also the Government's previous statement that active involvement of trade unions and social organisations is crucially important, the Committee hopes that the Government will report on measures taken and results achieved in the identification of bonded labour.

The Committee previously took note of a certain number of plans and schemes adopted for the identification, release and rehabilitation of bonded labourers, either directed specifically towards bonded labour or integrating bonded labour as one of their components. In regard to the implementation of the 1976 Act, in particular in relation to these different programmes and initiatives, the Committee, taking into account extracts from the report by the Subcommittee of the Parliamentary Committee attached to the Ministry of Labour, noted a certain number of points on which it requested the Government to provide information.

(a) Identification and the role of vigilance committees. Referring to the reported slowness of the process of identification and to section 14 of the 1976 Act calling for the institution of vigilance committees, the Committee requested the Government to provide detailed information on the institution, the activities carried out and the results achieved by vigilance committees and the funds made available to the vigilance committees for this purpose as well as on steps taken by the central and the state Governments to support and promote their activities, and on any studies conducted to ascertain the real number of bonded labourers which remain to be identified and rehabilitated.

The Committee notes the Government's statement to the Conference Committee that vigilance committees played indeed an important role, and had been constituted in almost every state at the district and subdivisional level; those already set up were advising the district or subdivisional magistrates and were making efforts to identify, release and rehabilitate bonded labourers. The Government had not received any information from these committees or the state governments regarding problems encountered in the identification and rehabilitation process. The Government had also not taken any specific steps for providing incentives to the vigilance committees, nor had it received any proposals from the state governments in this regard. No further studies or surveys in this regard had been carried out. However, as and when complaints were received regarding the existence of bonded labourers, inquiries were made to ascertain the nature or existence of such a system and steps were taken to release and rehabilitate the labourers involved.

Noting also the Government's previous indications that state governments had been asked to ensure that vigilance committees are constituted, hold regular meetings and maintain and keep registers, the Committee hopes that the Government will provide the detailed information requested by the Committee in its 1991 comments, including reports and studies made.

(b) Scheme for the involvement of voluntary agencies. The Committee referred in its previous comments to the scheme for the involvement of voluntary agencies in the identification and rehabilitation of bonded labourers, launched in October 1987, under which voluntary agencies may be given subsidies (a lump sum as a managerial subsidy plus a certain sum for each release order in excess of 20 up to a specified maximum).

The Committee notes the Government's statement to the Conference Committee that so far there had been two cases of voluntary agencies who had come forward to claim the managerial subsidy for the year 1989-90. However, when such voluntary agencies brought to the notice of the Government the existence of bonded labourers in an area they covered, efforts were made to obtain the release of the persons involved and to rehabilitate them suitably.

The Committee requests the Government to indicate how many agencies it has contacted and what was their response, and in what way the Government takes steps to include the voluntary agencies operating in this field and seeks their assistance.

The Committee hopes that the Government will provide details on further cases and, as previously requested, information on the operation of the scheme and on the results achieved, indicating in particular to what extent this scheme has accelerated the process of identification and rehabilitation, its efficiency, improvements envisaged and any comments and suggestions made by the voluntary agencies concerned, such as the Bonded Labour Liberation Front, including reports by such agencies or from official sources.

(c) Scheme for rehabilitation. In its 1991 observation the Committee referred in detail to the centrally sponsored scheme for the rehabilitation of bonded labour and the amount and timing of the rehabilitation grant given to each bonded labourer. Since the timely rehabilitation of identified and freed bonded labourers is of the utmost importance, the Committee again requests the Government to provide information on measures taken or envisaged to accelerate the process of rehabilitation of the identified bonded labourers, in order in particular to reduce the danger that newly freed bonded labourers may fall back into bondage through lack of means of subsistence. The Committee hopes that the Government will indicate the categories of activities in which released bonded labourers are rehabilitated and the mechanism which exists for the follow-up of the rehabilitation measures.

(d) Integration of the scheme for rehabilitation with other anti-poverty schemes. The Committee referred previously to the problems encountered and shortcomings noted in relation to the application of the central Government's instructions for the integration of the scheme for rehabilitation of bonded labour with other anti-poverty programmes (such as the National Rural Employment Programme, the Rural Landless Employment Generation Programme, the Integrated Rural Development Programme).

Since the nature and the adequacy of rehabilitation is extremely important, the Committee again expresses the hope that the Government will provide detailed information on any action plans adopted to promote the integration of the bonded labour scheme with other anti-poverty schemes, on measures effectively carried out and on results achieved.

(e) Proposal for the institution of a national commission on bonded labour. The Committee hopes that the Government will provide information on any steps taken to institute a commission entrusted with the monitoring of the implementation of the Bonded Labour (Abolition) Act, 1976.

3. Enforcement of sanctions. Under Article 25 of the Convention, the illegal exaction of forced or compulsory labour shall be punishable as a penal offence, and the Government must ensure that penalties imposed by law are really adequate and strictly enforced. Under the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976, compulsion to render bonded labour, advancement of bonded debt, enforcement of any custom, tradition, contract, agreement or other instrument requiring any service to be rendered under the bonded labour system, are punishable with imprisonment for up to three years and a fine of up to Rs.2,000 (sections 16, 17 and 18 of the Act); the Act provides for various measures to be taken by state authorities to ensure punishment of offenders. The Committee had previously noted that few cases of imprisonment had been reported and it requested the Government, in view of the gravity of the problem, to take effective measures to secure the rigourous application of the laws prohibiting and punishing bonded labour.

The Committee noted the Government's indication in its report for the period ending June 1989 that the Union Labour Minister had stressed to the state governments the need to launch prosecutions against bonded labour keepers immediately after identification and release of bonded labourers and that in order to avoid any misuse of the allocation of the pecuniary grants, the central Government had made it clear that if a fresh identification of bonded labour was not accompanied by the launching of prosecution against the bonded labour keeper, the Government might refuse to pay its share of money for rehabilitation. The Committee again requests the Government to provide information on the results achieved by these measures which are intended to avoid corruption and misappropriation of funds but which at the same time must not adversely affect the process of identification, freeing and rehabilitation of bonded labour.

The Committee had previously also taken note of the information provided to the United Nations Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery at its 14th Session concerning actions brought before the Supreme Court of India by social action groups which resulted for instance in the release of several thousand bonded labourers in April-May 1988 in the district of Raipur. The Committee again expresses the hope that the Government will provide detailed information on the actions brought before the Supreme Court of India and the High Courts of the different states concerning bonded labour, the decisions taken by the Courts and the implementation of these decisions by state authorities. It also again requests the Government to provide information including statistics on the number of prosecutions made and sanctions imposed and any other relevant information enabling the Committee to assess the efficiency of the enforcement mechanisms.

The Committee notes the information provided to the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery at its 16th Session by Anti-Slavery International that the committee to investigate the situation of bonded labour in Haryana had submitted its report to the Supreme Court in June 1991, and had identified more than 2,000 bonded labourers needing rehabilitation (whereas the Government of Haryana had denied the existence of bonded labour in the State). The Committee hopes that the Government will communicate a copy of this report.

Child bonded labour

4. In its previous comments the Committee took note of the discussions in the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery of the United Nations Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minoritories at its 14th and 15th Sessions, 1989 and 1990. The Committee noted that the reports of the Working Group (doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/1989/39 of 28 August 1989 and E/CN.4/Sub.2/1990/44 of 23 August 1990) referred to information provided by Anti-Slavery International concerning child labour in relation to debt bondage in the South Asian countries; this information is set out in the report of the South Asian Seminar on Child Servitude held in June-July 1989 and attended by representatives of non-governmental organisations from five countries. In relation to the situation in India, the report refers to children in bondage in numerous occupations, stating that debt bondage, force or compulsion are common to almost all categories of child labour. According to the estimates contained in the report several million children, between the ages of 5 and 14, are in chronic bondage in agriculture; around a million in the brick kiln, stone quarry and construction industries; hundreds of thousands in carpet-weaving, handlooms, match and fire works, glass bangles, diamond-cutting and polishing, as well as in lock-making. Child bondage and forced labour are connected with the trafficking and kidnapping of children, repression, absence of freedom of movement, beating, sex abuse, starvation, abnormal working hours, unhygienic and dangerous working conditions, and exposure of the children to grave health hazards.

According to the report, constitutional and legislative provisions adopted to protect the children exist, but are not applied and the situation in practice of bonded children is not improving: for instance in the Mirzapur Bhadohi belt, the carpet-weaving region in Uttar Pradesh, organised rackets of kidnapping or luring away of children and forcing them to weave are continuing.

It is alleged that despite sanctions provided in the legislation, exploiters have no fear of being punished or penalised, since the enforcement machinery is weak and the indolence of the authorities, and collusion and corruption hamper identification, release and rehabilitation of the bonded children.

The Committee notes the report of the fact-finding committee appointed on 1 August 1991 by Order of the Supreme Court of India in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 12125 of 1984.

The inquiry was conducted in villages of the carpet-weaving region in the south-east of the State of Uttar Pradesh and in Bihar, in particular in the so-called Mirzapur-Bhadohi belt. It gives extensive descriptions of the bonded child labourers and their conditions and contains lists and photos of released children and certificates of release.

The Committee notes that the fact-finding committee has referred, inter alia, to the following cases:

- a large number of children, some in the age groups 6 to 9, work as bonded labourers in carpet-weaving looms;

- many are brought from the outside, especially from Bihar; sometimes children are lured by "gangs";

- when parents get advance money the contractor, weaver and keeper reduce the already very small wage of the child for fines, punishments, mistakes; the interest on the advanced sum continues growing and the child is forced to stay on;

- in many instances children are kept under close watch, not allowed to go outside or have contacts or talk to persons when in the street;

- children work long hours; some, when failing to work or making mistakes, are kept in closed rooms, sometimes tortured;

- children who tried to escape were beaten or even tortured;

- children who are exposed to hazards in particular cutting their fingers, are put forcibly to work after a small rest.

The fact-finding committee has made several proposals to improve the situation: compulsory registration of the looms; raids to liberate children if the infrastructure for rehabilitation is readily available; strict enforcement of the Abolition of Bonded Labour Act; measures to ensure that the amounts granted on release are used for effective rehabilitation and are not misappropriated.

The Committee hopes that the Government will provide a copy of the Supreme Court's decision in this case as well as information on action taken following the decision of the Court. The Committee, referring to Article 25 of the Convention, requests the Government to provide full information on measures adopted or contemplated to eradicate forced labour of children.

The Committee hopes that the Government, taking into consideration also the Committee's detailed comments of 1991 under the Convention, will make every effort to take the necessary action in the very near future.

[The Government is requested to report in detail for the period ending 30 June 1992.]