Article Title
Bonded Labor in India
Abstract
Bonded labor, which is characterized by a long-term relationship between employer and employee, is usually solidified through a loan, and is embedded intricately in India’s socio-economic culture—a culture that is a product of class relations, a colonial history, and persistent poverty among many citizens. Also known as debt bondage, bonded labor is a specific form of forced labor in which compulsion into servitude is derived from debt. Categorized and examined in the scholarly literature as a type of forced labor, bonded labor entails constraints on the conditions and duration of work by an individual. Not all bonded labor is forced, but most forced labor practices, whether they involve children or adults, are of a bonded nature. Bonded labor is most prevalent in rural areas where the agricultural industry relies on contracted, often migrant laborers. However, urban areas also provide fertile ground for long-term bondage.
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Recommended Citation
Finn, Devin
(2008)
"Bonded Labor in India,"
Human Rights & Human Welfare: Vol. 8:
Iss.
1, Article 28.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.du.edu/hrhw/vol8/iss1/28
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