Bonded labour in South Asia IMAGES CASE STUDIES

BONDED LABOUR IN BRICK KILNS - INDIA

Child bonded labour in India’s brick kilns

Case study of Leelu Bai - Former bonded labourer India "I became bonded after I got married to my husband 20 years ago - his family had been bonded for three generations to the same landlord - they took loans for marriage, for illness, for education and so it went on… I used to work from 6.00am in the landlord's house - cleaning, fetching water… Then I would go to work on the farm… cutting, threshing and so on until 7.00pm or later. Sometimes I would have to go back to the landlord's house to clean and wash everything. Only after I had finished could I go home to feed my family. My landlord never let me work with another landlord, he would abuse us and threaten to beat us if we ever went to work for someone else. If we were ill, the landlord would come to our houses and tell us that we were very lazy and so on… As women, we had to work more than men because women had to work in the landlord's house as well as the farm. Even after working on the farm, we had sometimes to go back to the landlord's house to work…"

Case study of Ningaiah, former bonded labourer in India My is Ningaiah. My father’s name is Nanjayya. I’m from Dadadalli village in HD Kote Taluk. I’m 38 years old. Before joining Jeevika, my father was working as a bounded labourer. My father could not work properly because he had gastric trouble and used to get sever stomach aches. When my father was not able to go for work, the owner used to come to my house and scold my father and he used to take my father to work even though he was not feeling well. When I was studying in the 5th standard, and when my father was not able to work properly, I went to work as a bounded labourer in his place and I worked for 18 years as a bounded labourer. Early in the morning at 5 or 6 O’clock, I had to go for work and first had to sweep and clean the cowshed. After cleaning myself, I was given a cup of tea. After drinking tea, I had to go to the field for various jobs of cultivation. From the field I came back to the owner’s house at 4 O’clock, and collect firewood and then smoke tobacco till late in the evening and at night. My father took 8 to 9 thousand rupees from the owner as loan but when I went to work as a bounded labourer, it became 12 thousand. They used to add 2 thousand rupees every year as an interest for that money. And if we did not go for work then they used to charge us 50 rupees per day.