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On any ordinary day, there is little to distinguish Kantabanji railway station in western Odisha from the hundreds of other stations in Tier III towns across the country. But for a few weeks or months post Dussehra every year, Kantabanji assumes a sinister kind of importance in transporting human cargo from the villages of Odisha to southern states such as Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, where they work mostly in the brick kilns for a period of six months before returning home to till their meagre lands. ‘During the migration season, the station is so crowded, there is no space for one to walk on the platform. The trains to Karnataka, Andhra and Tamil Nadu are mostly at night. Often trains are forcefully stopped for hours here by the labour contractors to facilitate the transfer of workers. Everyone has their share. The cops are paid Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 per group for their support,’ says a local labour contractor. Poaching is common and he informs that fights often break out and people get killed by agents in a bid to get the maximum number of labourers. ‘A smart contractor can make up to Rs 1,000 on one person,’ he adds. Another labour contractor says he earns about a lakh during the six months of migration. Official estimates peg the number of labourers who migrated to neighbouring states from Bolangir, a migration-prone district in western Odisha to 22,000 in 2013-14. ‘But this is the number of those who went through registered labour contractors,’ Bolangir district collector Dr M Muthukumar had told Hindustan Times in September last year. Many are taken illegally by unlicensed contractors. At the same time, Bolangir MP, Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo had said the real figure would be closer to three lakhs annually. Officials at Actionaid, an NGO that directly, or through local partners, works for the rights of these labourers, say about 60 per cent of these labourers get trapped into working as bonded labourers - a system that was abolished in the country through the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976. In May 1978, the Ministry of Labour launched a centrally sponsored scheme on 50:50 basis to assist state governments in their task of rehabilitation of rescued bonded labourers and provides Rs 20,000 as assistance to each rescued bonded labourer. In the case of the seven North Eastern States, 100% central assistance is given if states express their inability to provide their share. State governments have also been advised to integrate the rehabilitation scheme with other ongoing poverty alleviation schemes. The centre also has the provision to provide states with funds to conduct survey for identification of bonded labourers every three years and for awareness-building exercises. In 2014, three non-governmental organizations, Actionaid and Jan Jagran Dadan Sangha (JJDS) and Solidarity Group on Abolishing Bondage and Migration of Bolangir, Odisha, wrote to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) complaining that 239 labourers rescued by them were still awaiting even primary state assistance. In February this year, the labourers each received Rs 20,000 after NHRC intervention. But most of them are yet to be integrated into any social security schemes, says Murali, a local activist. 'Most of the states understand that rehabilitation ends the moment an amount of Rs 20,000 is paid to the rescued labourers. Therefore, most of them avoid these measures. Since there is no effective rehabilitation policy in place, the rescued labourers are rendered jobless, leaving them vulnerable to go back to the same contractor or owner. Unless rehabilitation in terms of daily income is ensured, this system cannot be abolished completely,' says Justice D Murugesan, member, NHRC. Justice Murugesan looks after the subject of 'Bonded Labour', among other sectoral issues concerning human rights. Speaking to the Hindustan Times in September 2014, Pabitra Mandal, project director, DRDA, Bolangir had said, 'There is enough opportunity under the MGNREGA scheme for these people. They are aware of it, but still not availing it. The reason being that they receive advance from the labour contractors and under the MGNREGA you have to wait for the completion of the job to get the money.' That the advance lures people can't be denied. Dura Mahananda, a resident of Bhalupita village, roughly 30 kilometers from Bolangir town, says, 'We have no land, not even a house. My husband and I worked as daily wage labourers. But we wouldn't get work every day. Only for two-three months during the farming season in the monsoons. My husband would earn Rs 100 per day, I would earn Rs 60 per day. We had also taken a loan of Rs 20,000 for my daughter's wedding.' So when the sardar, as the labour contractors are called there, offered them Rs 15,000 per head for six months to make bricks at a kiln in Andhra Pradesh, the offer seemed too good to refuse. The problem is not isolated to Odisha. 'Activists and academics estimate that some 10 million bonded labourers are working in India's key industries. Odisha, Bihar, UP, Jharkhand and West Bengal are the main source areas,' says Chandan Kumar of Actionaid. He adds, 'While inter-generational bonded labor has decreased with time, the number of chronically poor and landless workers that enter debt bondage is increasing. There are certain sectors where bonded labour system is more widely prevalent, like in agriculture, brick-kilns, weaving etc.' Lack of action taken against those employing bonded labourers adds to the difficulty in checking the problem. 'The District Magistrates or the authorities having powers to enquire into complaints do not prosecute the owner. The NHRC's experience is that after the rescue of bonded labourers, in 99 per cent cases, prosecution is not launched. Even if it is launched, there is hardly any conviction or sentence under the Act,' says Justice Murugesan. Meanwhile the trains with their human cargo continue to roll out of stations like Kantabanji. The relief of Rs 20,000 may keep the rescued labourers at home for a few months, but with no long-term assurance of livelihood, gambling with destiny seems better than immediate starvation to most.
Keywords
Bonded labour, Odisha, brick-kiln, human trafficking, contractors, migration, Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976
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