Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act 1976
Topic: Fundamental Rights and Constitutional Remedies · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
This is a central law that puts Article 23's ban on forced labour into practice. It abolishes bonded labour, which is work a debtor is forced to give a creditor until a debt is repaid. It frees bonded labourers and cancels their bonded debts, so the creditor can no longer claim them. It also punishes anyone who forces a person into such labour.
Example
In Bandhua Mukti Morcha (1984), workers were found bonded in brick kilns. Under this Act they can be freed, their debts are wiped out, and the kiln owner can be punished.
Don't confuse with
- Child and Adolescent Labour Act (1986, amended 2016): this law is about the worker's age, not about debt. It puts Article 24 into practice.
Related concepts
- Right against exploitation
- Prohibition of traffic in human beings and forced labour
- Begar
- Asiad workers case
- Bonded labour
- 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