Bonded labour
Topic: Fundamental Rights and Constitutional Remedies · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 2 "Rights in the Indian Constitution"
Meaning
Bonded labour is work that a person in debt, or their family, is forced to do for the person they owe. They get little or no wage and must keep working until the debt is repaid. Often the debt never ends, so the worker is trapped. It is a form of forced labour, which Article 23 bans. The Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976 abolished it and made it a crime.
Example
In Bandhua Mukti Morcha (1984), the Supreme Court dealt with bonded labourers who were still found in brick kilns. This showed that the practice continued even after the 1976 Act.
Don't confuse with
- Begar: forced labour with no pay at all, which landlords and the rich imposed in the past. In bonded labour, the trap is a debt that the worker must work off.
- Child labour: this is about the worker's age (under 14). It is covered by Article 24, not by the debt link.
Related concepts
- Right against exploitation
- Prohibition of traffic in human beings and forced labour
- Begar
- Asiad workers case
- 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