[Assam] From Tehelka: Bonded for Life Laborers

[Ram Sarangapani]

C'da,

This is a really sad story, and the culprits who are party to this must be
brought to book. This is not what any society wants.

But it still does not help your case.
Where in this or other such stories does it say (or one can discern
from) that "Indians" or "Indian middle class" are happy about children being
exploited?

>But a nexus among Haryana politicians, mine owners and contractors has
>meant that no one is punished for this. No one is, because the
>administration too is a part of the unholy nexus
Of course, there are corrupt politicians and corrupt people in the Harayana
administration, and that is why this story has come out to raise an
awareness among the people. Do any of like this? There is no broadbased
'unholy' nexus amongst the middle class.

But, I can say with degree that any one with a good head on his shoulders
will not be making excuses for this practice.

In the case of terrorists, it was a group effort to use children. In this
case, the society is not for such attrocities in Harayana or elsewhere. But
have we seen the ulfa or its sympathizers even remotely concerned about this
latest strategy by the ulfa? For them, it seems, its all fair game, because
they seek some higher calling for 'freedom', where children are obviously
expendable.

--Ram





On 10/20/06, Chan Mahanta <cmahanta at charter.net> wrote:
>
>  I posted this in Assamnet before. But thought it might be a good one to
> conside along with my responses to Ram regarding Indians' soft corner for
> children.
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> cm
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> THE MINING MAFIA HAS LABOUR BONDED FOR LIFE
>
> *Stone age on Delhi's border*
>
> The recent rescue of 114 bonded labourers, including children, from
> Haryana reveals that the authorities and mine owners are still conniving to
> hire and exploit bonded labour, abolished in 1976. Etmad Ahmad Khan
> investigates
>
>  Pitiless In The Pits: Most of the mines in Haryana function illegally and
> exploit workers
> Photo Dharmender Ruhil
>
> Women in Pichupa Kalan mines were forced back to work barely eight days
> after delivering babies
> * Twenty-one-year old Bijendar Singh was blown to pieces as he was
> dangerously close to the explosion site.
>
> * Satpal Singh, 23, succumbed to his injuries after a heavy stone fell on
> his chest.
>
> * Mahipal Singh, 38, was crushed to death under a trolley carrying stones.
>
> * Dalbir Singh, 35, joined the list after the rope holding him at a height
> of 150 feet gave way.
>
> The list goes on, endless in its brutality and its sheer deathliness. Poor
> labourers continue to add statistics to a list that should not even exist as
> mining is mostly banned in Haryana. But even today, poor migrants in search
> of money end up as bonded labour in the inhuman and unsafe environs of
> Haryana's mines. No compensation has been paid to the dead. No one has even
> complained, simply because they don't even know that they can. Only three
> weeks ago, Bachpan Bachao Andolan, an ngo, stepped in to rescue 114 bonded
> slaves, of which 56 were children, mostly girls.
>
>  Ever since the now dethroned Om Prakash Chautala government monopolised
> the mining business in the state by auctioning quarries to private
> companies, violation of rules, regulations and safety norms has become the
> order of the day. Apart from cases of death, there are hundreds who have
> lost their limbs and eyes due to unsafe explosions and avoidable accidents
> in the mines. Thirty-eight-year-old Dalbir Singh lost his eyes in an
> accident while working in a mine in Khanak, a village in Tosham area of
> Bhiwani district of Haryana. "After I lost my eyes, I was kicked out of my
> job. I have six children. I am very worried about our future. Now, I do odd
> jobs here and there to survive," says Dalbir. Another labourer Bahadur Singh
> is unemployed at 22 after he lost one eye when a stone burst through his
> eyeball.
>
>  Exploitation of labour is a norm in the mines of Haryana and hundreds of
> children can be spotted working day and night in these mines. But a nexus
> among Haryana politicians, mine owners and contractors has meant that no one
> is punished for this. No one is, because the administration too is a part of
> the unholy nexus. The district administration for instance, refused to give
> release certificates for the 114 who were rescued. The certificate would
> have been proof of the fact that the archaic practice of bonded labour is
> still thriving. It would also have forced the state government to give Rs
> 20,000 each as rehabilitation expenses. Of this amount, half is given by the
> Central government but since 1993, Haryana has not issued a single release
> certificate. In the last five years alone, Bachpan Bachao Andolan has
> rescued 1,000 bonded workers but, says its general secretary RS Chaurasia,
> "The state government seems to think that bonded means someone who is
> literally chained at their feet." Release certificates would go a long way
> in offering respite. The certificate entitles workers to allotment of a
> house on priority through the Indira Awas Yojna, admission in schools for
> children and a monthly pension of Rs 100.
>
>  Labour and safety laws are, in fact, being violated in connivance with
> the government. All mine owners are supposed to keep basic records like wage
> registers, attendance registers, leave registers, accident and medical
> records. No mine in Haryana's Bhiwani district, however, has maintained any
> record. Nor have the mandatory identity cards been issued to the wage
> earners. On the contrary, the owners keep a strict eye on their slaves,
> ensuring that they don't run away. They are allowed to go on leave only when
> they leave some family members behind.
>
>  Most of the labourers in these mines are migrants from Bihar, UP,
> Uttaranchal and Rajasthan. Agents of the contractors in these states lure
> them to the mines by promising them a better future. Once they reach here,
> the contractors give them advance payments on which they charge interest.
> Perennial penury would have it that most of them get into the debt trap of
> the contractors and end up as bonded slaves working for extremely low wages.
> In Khanak alone, more than 350 labourers reportedly died during mining
> activities in the past nine years in separate accidents. "In 2001, following
> several incidents of deaths in the mines, the labourers launched a movement
> demanding safe working conditions and an end to exploitation, but the police
> crushed their voices," says Vijay Pal, a labour leader.
>
>  While there are a number of laws protecting the rights of labourers and
> providing them safe working conditions, none is followed. Rarely can any
> labourer be seen using essentials such as safety belts, hard-toe shoes and
> masks. There is such disdain for safety norms by the contractors that
> unskilled labour can be seen using explosives bare-handed and detonations
> are usually done by labourers without the presence of a safety officer. A
> former employee of the safety department of Baba Mungipa Mines and Minerals,
> confirmed irregularities saying, "Though we were recruited to put safety
> measures in place, we were instructed by the employer to collect 'royalty'
> (an unofficial passage tax) at the mine barricade."
>  Safe Hands? Workers mixing gunpowder bare-handed
>  Photo Dharmender Ruhil
>
> Sheer hunger drives bonded labourers back to the gates of the same mines
> from where they were rescued
>
> In August, 2005 a group of 113 bonded labourers held a dharna outside
> Haryana Bhavan in New Delhi. The labourers who claimed to be working in
> Pichupa Kalan village mines in Bhiwani - released from there with the help
> of an ngo - were demanding release certificates. Following that, when this
> correspondent visited the mines, the labourers there claimed that they were
> fine and that their contractors paid them regularly. However, it soon became
> clear that they spoke out of fear of the contractors. When an eight-year-old
> girl said that she couldn't go home, as the contractor didn't allow anyone
> to go on leave, she was immediately taken to task by a man who slapped her
> for speaking to the reporter. Twenty-six-year-old Suman Devi, another
> labourer in a Pichupa Kalan mine, hadn't gone home for the past seven years.
> "If anyone wants to go home, he must leave a family member behind as a
> security for his return," she confirmed. The worst kind of injustice comes
> from the fact that often, sheer hunger leads those rescued back to the gates
> from where they were once liberated.
>
>  This despite the knowledge that they are returning to hell. In a recent
> press meet in Delhi, a pregnant labourer Gulab Bai told the audience that
> she and her husband were forced to work in stone quarries at Ramsai Pahadi
> mines in Pichupa Kalan from early morning till late into the night. She also
> revealed that women delivering babies were granted just eight days of rest,
> after which they were forced back to work. All this because they are in
> desperate need of the Rs 50-60 they are paid per day.
>
>  The lease owners also tamper with the exact number of labourers working
> in their mines so as to save money on their allowances and avoid putting
> safety measures in place. A former mining manger of Baba Mungipa Mines and
> Minerals Co., on condition of anonymity, said that the company in its
> production report for form 4 (B), which is submitted every month in the
> Mining Department showed it had 135-150 labourers, on an average, working in
> its mines since January 2003 to March 17, 2005. However, the production that
> the company shows to the Department of Mines and Geology, Chandigarh is
> possible only with manpower close to 5,000 or 6,000. The Central Labour
> Department has lodged 13 separate cases under labour and safety laws for
> mining against Baba Mungipa. The cases are still pending in the sessions
> court in Bhiwani.
>
>  Contractors and mine owners, meanwhile, seem to have no fear of the law.
> Bijender Singh, co-owner of the Babadhola Mines, which has 99 stone quarries
> under it, says, "When there will be business, there will be violation of
> laws. It's nothing new. In mining, maintaining law is very difficult." Singh
> is known to be a close associate of Ajay Chautala, son of former Haryana CM
> Om Prakash Chautala.
>
>  There have been many voices raised against the exploitation of labour and
> corrupt practices of mine owners. But, most of the times they either go
> unheard or are crushed. A contractor Dharampal alleges that he was targeted
> by the mine owners because he stood up against the corrupt practices of
> Babadhola Mines. A case of stone theft and employing bonded labour was
> lodged against him.
>
>  As far as the issue of bonded labour is concerned there seems to be an
> utter lack of understanding and awareness in the official circles. Charkhi
> Dadri Sub-Divisional Magistrate Vijendra Singh when asked what he understood
> by bonded labour, said, "It is a matter of interpretation. Let the Supreme
> Court decide the issue." When asked about release certificates for bonded
> labourers, which he is authorised by law to provide, he dismissed it saying,
> "I am not concerned with it. It's the job of the labour department."
>
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