Begar
Topic: Fundamental Rights and Constitutional Remedies · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 2 "Rights in the Indian Constitution"; Class 11, Ch 6 "Judiciary"; Class 11, Ch 10 "The Philosophy of the Constitution"
Meaning
Begar means forced labour without payment. In the past, landlords, moneylenders and other rich people made poor people work for them for nothing. Article 23 bans begar, together with trafficking in human beings and other forms of forced labour. Article 23 binds private persons, not only the State. The Supreme Court later read the article widely: in the Asiad workers case (1982) it held that paying less than the minimum wage also counts as forced labour.
Example
A village landlord who makes a landless labourer plough his fields without wages is practising begar. Today this is a violation of a fundamental right.
Don't confuse with
- Bonded labour: here the work is tied to a debt. The worker or their family must keep working for a creditor until the debt is paid off. The Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976 abolished it. Begar is unpaid work forced by power alone, with no debt involved.
Related concepts
- Right against exploitation
- Prohibition of traffic in human beings and forced labour
- Asiad workers case
- Bonded labour
- Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act 1976
- Prohibition of child labour
- Right to education
- 86th Constitutional Amendment Act 2002
- Unni Krishnan case
- Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009