Matters India Reporter
Bangkok, December 4, 2019: Bonded labor has complex roots in Indian history and society, says an official of Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India’s Office for Labor.
In India, some 40 million children, women and men are trapped in bonded labor, a form of modern-day slavery. Recently, internal migrants have also become prey to bonded labor, Sister Kochurani Joseph told an international conference.
Sister Joseph, a member of the North Indian Province of the Sisters of the Holy Cross Menzingen, a congregation based in Switzerland, was speaking at the Dec 1-4 event organised by the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC), Bangkok, Thailand.
According to her, when residents of impoverished regions migrate to wealthier parts of India in search of employment, factors such as language barriers between states make them vulnerable to being trafficked into bonded labor.
The practice, which is illegal in India, exists in industries ranging from agriculture to clothes manufacturing and from domestic work to construction.
Bonded labor is legally defined as the payment of wages that are below the prevailing market wage or the legal minimum wage.
It usually occurs when a person is unable to repay their debts. Their creditors can force them to work for little or no salary until their debts have been paid off.
Sister Joseph works at the CBCI’s Office for Labor. The office raises awareness of the issue and rescues survivors.
“The rescue process is a herculean task,” says Sister Joseph.
According to the law, reporting cases of bonded labor to the authorities is mandatory. “But people are not aware of the laws,” she explains.
The Office for Labor trains local priests, religious sisters and laypeople to recognize and respond to cases of labor bondage across India.
More than 70 participants attended at the International Catholic Migration Commission – ICMC Meeting of ICMC/Oceania Working Group and High Level Regional Conference on “Future of Work”.