India s shame  the trap of bonded labour, Pg8

Key Highlights:

• Despite being abolished in 1975, bonded labour persists in India, with recent cases in Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh revealing forced labour, trafficking, and abuse.
• Mukesh Adivasi and K. Thenmozhi s stories reflect deep structural injustice, where debt, poverty, and caste-based discrimination force entire families into servitude.

Detailed Insights:

• Root causes: include poverty, caste discrimination, lack of access to credit or education, absence of legal protections, and dominance of social elites in rural labour markets.
• Unorganised sector: Around 90% of India's workforce is informal, making them highly vulnerable to exploitation, wage theft, and unsafe conditions.
• Policy implementation gaps: Though 1.84 crore bonded labourers were targeted for rehabilitation till 2030, only about 12,000 were rescued annually between 2016 21.
• Investigations show that modern slavery continues through informal contracts, low wages, lack of legal rights, and absence of unionisation.

Significance:

• Reveals that India s economic growth relies disproportionately on exploited informal labour, contradicting its constitutional values of justice and equality.
• Highlights urgent need for stronger implementation of labour laws, particularly to protect interstate migrants, children, and women in bonded labour.
• Calls for policy focus on education, land reform, universal social security, and empowered labour inspection systems.

Mains Mock Question:

Despite legal abolition, bonded labour continues to thrive in India s informal sector. Examine the structural causes behind this persistence and suggest reforms to ensure justice and rehabilitation.