Indian Government Revises the Law for Bonded Labor System

BENGALURU: Indian government is going through the rehabilitation scheme to enforce the consideration of transgender and other marginalized people. Alongside, the Indian government also emphasizes on pacing up the court proceedings and raising the reward amount to rescued laborers. According to the latest policy, government plans to focus on bondage issues like streamlined peddling, forced prostitution and child labor, and also enhance the scheme’s annual budget.

The Global Slavery Index produced by the Australia-based Walk Free Foundation surveys the victims of human trafficking in India and it turns out that the country is abode to almost half of the world's slaves, about 36 Million of them. Bonded labor is forbidden in India by a specific law that was legislated in 1976 known as the Bonded Labor System (Abolition) Act.

Thomson Reuters states in one of its blog that most of the underprivileged people are betrayed, by making them work hard without paying them. They are enticed with assurance of excellent job, but end up using them mercilessly for domestic work, prostitution, or to brick kilns, textile units and farms.

In accordance with the new scheme, rescued male labors will be offered with 100,000 rupees that is way better than 20,000 rupees provided under the 1999 scheme. Women who have been rescued and the child workers will be offered 200,000 rupees and those women, children, transgender and disabled people who have been victim of brothels are offered 300,000 rupees.

The new scheme enforces government to make sure that the cases of bonded labor are tried and the judgments are given on the same day. The survey says the earlier scheme was put in place in 1978, according to government data. Since then, more than a quarter of a million bonded laborers have been remunerated. The rehabilitation assistance costs nearly 2 Billion rupees for the union and state governments.

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