Hyderabad: The story of the struggle and resilience of two children of bonded labourers — Nandini and Anusha from Mahbubnagar — who recently cleared the SSC exam is exceptional. The sisters broke the chains of illiteracy in their family, becoming the first generation to complete matriculation.
Their parents Manjula and Srinivasulu worked as bonded labourers in a stone quarry in Karnataka. Moving from place to place and not knowing their place of birth, the couple were among 27 families that were rescued by the National Adivasi Solidarity Council (NASC) in 2019.
“Our parents don’t even know their exact place of origin. Born, married, and giving birth at the quarry, they moved from one quarry to another because that was the only life they knew,” Nandini explained.
In 2017, the family took a Rs 10,000 advance from a quarry owner, which plunged them into debt bondage. Each day, they worked 19 hours in extreme heat, with no protective gear and minimal pay. This dire situation continued until their rescue in 2019.
Following their release and with a ‘bonded labour release certificate’ in 2020, the family moved to Mahbubnagar. Here, Nandini and Anusha had the chance to attend school. Adjusting was challenging due to their disrupted education and financial struggles, but support from social workers helped.
"We helped about 30 such families to relocate to Mahbubnagar where they continue to work as stone breakers but get fair pay and convenient working hours," said Vasudeva Rao, a social worker from NASC. "These girls have three other siblings. Their mother is a strong woman who is determined to give her daughters a different fate than hers. Despite the relentless poverty that bound the family to gruelling labour, the parents refused to let Nandini and Anusha become child labourers,” Vasudeva Rao said
Nandini recalled how her family was not aware of documents like Aadhar cards and only got them much later. “My parents have never exercised their voting rights ever because they are not aware. All their life they spent in the quarry. I am proud of them because, unlike many poor parents who are weighed down by circumstances and pull their children to labour for additional income, our parents chose to break the chains and directed us towards education,” she said.
Nandini and Anusha's school journey was not without hardships. Nandini recalls the guilt of not being able to help her parents while they laboured to support her education. The sisters’ struggles intensified during the Covid-19 lockdown when securing basic educational materials became difficult. Anusha now dreams of becoming a nurse (and perhaps, even a writer someday), while Nandini wants to be a teacher.
“Our parents supported our education against all odds, and now we want to support them,” said Nandini. The sisters hope to uplift their family and community from the shackles of bonded labour. Their dream is to build a home where they can live happily with their parents, free from the hardships that once bound them.
