About the concept of labour law, Study notes of Law

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Bonded Labour System

(Abolition) Act, 1976

By

Dr. Sridevi Krishna

Asst. Professor

VVLC

Defining Bonded Labour

• (^) The ‘bonded labour system’ refers to “the relationship between a creditor and a debtor who obtains loan owing to economic compulsions confronting his day-to-day life, and agrees to abide by the terms dictated by the creditor”.
• (^) a practice in which employers give high-interest loans to workers whose entire families then labour at low wages to pay off the debt.
• (^) ‘bonded labour’ has been defined by the National Commission on Labour as “labour which remains in bondage for a specific period for the debt incurred”.
• (^) The Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes explained the term bonded labour in its 24th report as “persons who are forced to work for the creditors for the loan incurred either without wage or on nominal wage”.

Causes

• (^) Economic Causes
• (^) Social Causes
• (^) The economic causes include : extreme poverty of people, inability to find work for livelihood, inadequate size of the landholdings to support family, lack of alternative small-scale loans for the rural and urban poor, natural calamities like drought, floods etc., destruction of men ‘ animals, absence of rains, drying away of wells, meagre income from forest produce, and inflation and constant rising prices.
• (^) The Social Causes- High expenses on occasions like marriage,

death, feast, birth of a child, etc., leading to heavy debts,

caste-based discrimination, lack of concrete social welfare

schemes to safeguard against hunger and illness, non-

compulsory and unequal educational system, and indifference

and corruption among government officials.

Historical Background

• (^) The system of slavery has been found to exist in India since time immemorial.
• (^) According to our Dharamshastras/ the slaves belonged to lowest strata of the society and possessed no independent identity except that of the masters.
• (^) the emergence of debt bondage created a new category of slave whose labour was available for the masters besides some measures of control over his body. This way/ debt bondage added new dimensions in enhancing enslavement of the poor and made them dependent on their masters for their survival. Even Mahabharata makes a mention of this institution.
• (^) "Human beings enslaved by human beings are exploited by them." This perspective of exploitation has continued endlessly and has become a shameful part of the existing socio-economic structure of our society

Types of Bondage/ Labour

• (^) (a) Inherited Bondage ಆನುವಂಶಿಕ -In this category fall those persons who go into bondage because of some loan taken by their fathers or grand fathers for satisfying their minimum needs like, food, clothing, shelter, marriages and other essential ceremonial functions. This loan is usually advanced by the rich moneylenders and is to be repaid over a number of years with labour
• (^) (b) Loyalty Bondage ನಿ ಷ್ಠೆ - Because of long traditional bonds and the kindness shown by the masters to these bonded labourers as well as to their ancestor/ the labourers feel indebted to their landlords. In view of this sense of gratitude towards the masters, families and their descendants work in the houses and fields of masters and their descendants.

Continued..

• (^) (c) Share Cropping Cum Bondage ಬೆಳೆ ಹಂಚಿಕೆ - In this type of bondage, the labourer is allotted a small piece of land as a share-cropper and in lieu thereof, the bonded labourer agrees to work for his master.
• (^) (d) Modern Bondage ಆಧುನಿಕ - In this type of relation between the debtor and the creditor/ the landlord creditor is interested in increasing productivity by employment of more labour and less capital. The landlord extracts as much work as possible without bothering for the life and health of bonded labourer.

Continued..

• (^) Art 35(a) (ii) of the constitution confers powers on parliament to provide for punishment for the contravention of the provisions of 23(1).
• (^) Through Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Ordinance 1975 the bonded landed labour system was abolished and the bonded labourers were freed and discharged from any obligation to render any bonded labour and their bonded debts were extinguished. This ordinance was replaced by Bonded Labour System Abolition Act,

Definitions

• (^) 2(a) " advance" means an advance, whether in

cash or kind, or partly in cash or partly in kind,

made by one person (hereinafter referred to as

the creditor) to another person (hereinafter

referred to as the debtor);

• (^) 2b) " agreement " means an agreement (whether

written or oral, or partly written and partly oral)

between a debtor and creditor, and includes an

agreement providing for forced labor, the

existence of which is presumed under any social

custom prevailing in the concerned locality.

Continued..

• (^) 2(g) " bonded labor system " means the system of forced, or partly forced, labor under which a debtor enters, or has, or is presumed to have, entered, into an agreement with the creditor to the effect that –
• (^) (i) in consideration of an advance obtained by him or by any of his lineal ascendants or descendants (whether or not such advance is evidenced by the document) and in consideration of the interest, if any, due on such advance, or
• (^) (ii) in pursuance of any customary or social obligation, or
• (^) (iii) in pursuance of any obligation devolving on him by succession, or
• (^) (iv) for any economic consideration received by him or by any of his lineal ascendants or descendants, or

Continued..

• (^) (v) by reason of his birth in any particular caste or community, he would-
• (^) (1) render, by himself or through any member of his family, or any person dependent on him, labor or service, to the creditor, or for the benefit of the creditor, for a specific period or for an unspecified period, either without wages or for nominal wages, or
• (^) (2) forfeit the freedom of employment or other means of livelihood for an specified period or for an unspecified period, or
• (^) (3) forfeit the right to move freely throughout the territory of India, or
• (^) (4) forfeit the right to appropriate or sell at market-value any of his property or product of his labor or the labor of a member of his family or any person dependent on him. and
• (^) includes the system of forced, or partly forced, labor under which a surety for a debtor enters, or has, or is presumed to have, entered into an agreement with the creditor to the effect that in the event of the failure of the debtor to repay the debt, he would render the bonded labor on behalf of the debtor;

Continued..

• (^) (i) " nominal wages ", in relation to any labour, means a wage which is less than,-
• (^) (a) the minimum wages fixed by the Government, in relation to the same or similar labor, under any law for the time being in force ; and
• (^) (b) where no such minimum wage has been fixed in relation to any form of labor, the wages that are normally paid, for the same or similar labor, to the laborers working in the same locality;

Abolition of bonded labour system

• (^) S 4- (1) On the commencement of this Act, the bonded labour system shall stand abolished and every bonded labourer shall, on such commencement, stand freed and discharged from any obligation to render, any bonded labour.
• (^) (2) After the commencement of this Act, no person shall-
• (^) (a) make any advance under, or in pursuance of, the bonded labour system, or
• (^) (b) compel any person to render any bonded labour or other form of forced labour.

6. LIABILITY TO REPAY BONDED DEBT TO STAND EXTINGUISHED. – - (^) 1) On the commencement of this Act, every obligation of a bonded labourer to repay any bonded debt, or such part of any bonded debt unsatisfied immediately before such commencement, shall be deemed to have been extinguished. - (^) (2) After the commencement of this Act, no suit or other proceedings shall lie in any civil or before any other authority for the recovery of any bonded debt or any part thereof. - (^) (3) Every decree or order for the recovery of bonded debt, passed before the commencement of this Act and not fully satisfied before such commencement, shall be deemed, on such commencement, to have been fully satisfied. - (^) (4) Every attachment made before the commencement of this Act, for the recovery of any bonded debt, shall, on such commencement, stand vacated; and, where, in pursuance of such attachment, any movable property of the bonded labourer was seized and removed from his custody and kept in the custody of any court or other authority pending sale thereof, such movable property shall be restored, as soon as may be practicable after such commencement, to the possession of the bonded labourer.

Continued..

• (^) 5) Where, before the commencement of this Act, possession of any property belonging to a bonded labourer or a member of his family or other dependent was forcibly taken over by any creditor for the recovery of any bonded debt, such property shall be restored, as soon as may be practicable after such commencement, to the possession of the person from whom it was seized.
• (^) (6) If restoration of the possession of any property referred to in sub-section (4) or sub-section (5) is not made within thirty days from the commencement of this Act, the aggrieved person may, within such time as may be prescribed, apply to the prescribed authority for the restoration of the possession of such property and the prescribed authority may, after giving the creditor a reasonable opportunity of being heard, direct the creditor to restore to the applicant the possession of the concerned property within such time as may be specified in the order.
• (^) (7) An order made by any prescribed authority, under sub-section (6), shall be deemed to be an order made by a civil court and may be executed by the court of the lowest pecuniary jurisdiction within the local of whose jurisdiction the creditor voluntarily resides or carries on business or personally works for gain.