Quest to end bonded labour
Delegates speak on the ills of bonded labour at a seminar at Bharathiar University. (Photo: DC/File)
Coimbatore: Students should be pro-active and come forward to prefer complaints on specific cases of human rights violation, said Anil Kumar Parashar, Joint Registrar of Law and Human Rights Defenders Focal Point, National Human Rights Commission.
Addressing SHGs and advocates as part of a statewide campaign on abolition of bonded labour, organised by SOCO Trust at Bharathiar University, on Wednesday, he said that the practice of bonded labour was not merely an inter-state issue.
It is an inter-country issue, he said. While poor from North Indian states work in the South as bonded labourers, migrant labourers from neighbouring countries like Bangladesh and Nepal also toil in India as bonded labourers.
The problem of forced labour continues to prevail despite the country having a number of laws including Bonded Labour (Abolition) System Act, 1976, Minimum Wages Act and Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act among others.
Appealing to the students and the members of the public to prefer complaints with NHRC he said they could also bring to notice incidences of corruption as "it also amounts to gross violation of human rights."
While the nature of bonded labour is taking new forms and widening, many district magistrates are not aware of the provisions of various laws related to it, he said. He wanted the rehabilitation amount to be increased from Rs 20,000 to Rs 1 lakh and the state governments to ensure other benefits are extended to bonded labourers.
The rescued child labours should be enrolled in schools so that the practice is eradicated," he added.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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