A nine-year-old bonded labourer

Two years in the past, Mannepalli Ankamma, a lady from a tribal group in Andhra Pradesh, who doesn’t know her age, determined to work for N. Muthu, a 60-year-old duck farmer. He promised her a wage of ₹24,000 a month for herding cows and serving to him run a candy store in Satyavedu, a city within the Tirupati district of Andhra Pradesh. Ankamma took an advance of ₹15,000 from him. When she was unable to repay the quantity, Muthu took away her youngest son, M. Venkatesh, as ‘collateral’. He additionally allegedly inflated the quantity she owed him to ₹42,000.

On April 9, Ankamma spoke to Venkatesh over the telephone. The nine-year-old boy advised her that he was busy tending to Muthu’s geese in Kancheepuram district in Tamil Nadu. Ankamma lives in Thurakapalle village in Duttaluru mandal of Nellore district in Andhra Pradesh, the place she works in her present employer Siva Reddy’s lemon orchard. She assured her youngster that she can be there in two days with ₹42,000 of money in hand. She promised that he can be house quickly.

Earlier than ending the decision, Ankamma requested Venkatesh what he had eaten for lunch. Curd rice, he stated, an enchancment over the day past’s meal of rice blended with water.

That was the final time Ankamma spoke to him.

Buried by the river

Per week later, clutching wads of money, Ankamma travelled to Satyavedu, about 270 kilometres from her village. However Muthu refused the cash.

“He used casteist slurs towards me,” she recollects. “He additionally advised me that my son had run away along with his telephone and a few money.” Dejected, Ankamma returned house.

When a month handed and there was nonetheless no phrase from Venkatesh, Reddy helped her file a First Data Report (FIR) on the Satyavedu police station on Might 19.

The police started their investigation. On being questioned, Muthu advised them that Venkatesh had died of jaundice on April 12 at a personal hospital at Pudupalayam in Tiruvannamalai district of Tamil Nadu. He confessed that he had buried the boy close to the Palar river.

The police discovered Venkatesh’s decomposed physique and knowledgeable Ankamma. “I knew it was him. He was carrying a vest and shorts. I knew it was my boy although he had turn into unrecognisable,” says Ankamma, her cheeks moist with tears.

Whereas the medical officer from the Chengalpattu Authorities Medical Faculty declined to share the autopsy report,the Puttur police quoted the report and stated that the acknowledged reason for dying was “blunt pressure harm to the top by (a) heavy weapon”. The accidents have been “adequate to trigger dying in abnormal course of nature”.

At first, Muthu, his spouse, and son have been arrested below the provisions of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976; the Baby Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986; the Juvenile Justice (Care and Safety of Youngsters) Act, 2016; and the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. On Might 24, Deputy Superintendent of Police G. Ravi Kumar, who probed the case, stated Part 103 (1) (homicide) below the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, was additionally added to the FIR.

Additionally learn: How the Code on Wages ‘legalises’ bonded labour

Bonded labour is a system the place collectors pressure debtors to repay money owed by means of labour. The Act prohibits any individual from making advances below, or in pursuance of, the bonded labour system. It additionally prohibits compelling an individual to render bonded or compelled labour. Nevertheless, the observe continues until date, say activists.

A debt that price a son

Sitting on a flat rock outdoors Reddy’s home on the outskirts of Thurakapalle village, Ankamma cries softly. Thurakapalle is 8 km from Duttaluru city. A slender muddy pavement results in the village, which is populated by about 10 individuals within the morning. The silence of the environment is damaged by the crowing of roosters.

Reddy’s home stands within the midst of an unlimited expanse of lemon orchards. Ankamma and her husband Prakash receives a commission ₹15,000 a month for caring for Reddy’s 12-acre orchard, tending to 10 buffaloes, and doing different odd jobs for him.

Ankamma and Prakash wouldn’t have a home. “That is house,” she says, pointing to a small hut-like construction, perched precariously on 4 logs. The logs are coated on high by a tarpaulin sheet. There may be simply sufficient area for them to sleep.

When Reddy is round, Prakash and Ankamma sit on the bottom. “They’re Reddulu (Reddys). They’re ‘huge’ individuals,” Ankamma says with a reverential tone. She believes that what occurred was all her fault. “We won’t depart Siva Reddy till our final breath. We had left him to work for Muthu and that’s the reason this occurred to us. Any more, we will probably be loyal to him.”

Two years in the past, Ankamma and Prakash went to work for Muthu after Ankamma’s mom advised her that he could pay extra. Taking an advance of ₹15,000 from Muthu, they started taking his geese for grazing. Although he promised them a wage of ₹24,000 a month, Muthu didn’t give them something greater than the advance quantity.

The couple slept within the fields below the sky. They usually stayed awake at night time, fearing snakes and scorpions. They moved from place to put each week, foraging for feed. They provided to repay the debt in instalments, however Muthu refused.

Ankamma has three youngsters from her earlier marriage — Chenchu Krishna (15), Ravu Lakshmamma (12), and Venkatesh. When her first husband died final 12 months, she and Prakash left for Guduru, close to Tirupati district, for his ultimate rites. When they didn’t return, an enraged Muthu went in quest of them. He took Venkatesh away, saying the boy was ‘collateral’.

“Everybody says we are going to get some money (compensation),” says Ankamma. “However we won’t demand something besides justice for my son.”

The Central Sector Scheme for Rehabilitation of Bonded Labourer – 2021 states that quick monetary help of as much as ₹30,000 is assured to people rescued from bonded labour. As soon as the accused is convicted, the help can go as much as ₹3 lakh, relying on the severity of the case.

Ravi Kumar, the executive officer on the Income Divisional Officer’s (RDO) workplace in Sullurpeta, says the Tirupati administration is contemplating offering a housing website and compensation to the household. Satyavedu falls below the purview of the Sullurpeta RDO.

Activists say the administration also needs to challenge a ‘launch certificates’ to Ankamma’s household. “Launch certificates will be issued solely to these in bonded labour. Technically, solely the boy was a bonded labourer. Since he’s lifeless, the household isn’t eligible for the certificates,” Kumar explains.

‘Poor, unlettered, and fearful’

Andhra Pradesh is each a supply and a vacation spot State for bonded labour. “The issue isn’t as prevalent because it was once, however many instances don’t come to mild as of late. Along with migrant labourers from Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, and Chhattisgarh, essentially the most marginalised locals fall prey to the system,” says Raavi Sunil Kumar, convenor of the Vetti Vimochana Coalition, a bunch of NGOs engaged on bonded labour points. In accordance with information compiled by the group, 402 individuals have been rescued from bonded labour within the State from January 2023 up to now. Most of them, together with Ankamma, belong to the Yanadi group.

A report from the Nationwide Fee for Denotified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes, revealed in 2008, says the Yanadis are one of many 59 Denotified Tribes and 60 Nomadic Tribes of Andhra Pradesh. As per the 2011 Census, there have been greater than 5 lakh Yanadis within the composite State of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Noorbasha Babavali, a analysis assistant on the Centre for Research of Social Inclusion at Andhra College in Visakhapatnam, says the Yanadis are extraordinarily poor. Solely 35.35% of them are lettered. “They’ve been exploited as they don’t know in regards to the authorized system. Their worry of society retains them away from the mainstream. They don’t personal any belongings and keep on the canal bunds and in hilly areas.” Ankamma says she didn’t know that vetti chakiri (bonded labour) is illegitimate.

“Many Yanadis don’t confide in strangers even when they’re provided assist,” says Ch. Venkateswarlu, a Yanadi chief from Alluru, a village close to Ongole in Prakasam district. “In contrast to Ankamma, others don’t share their troubles. They worry being crushed up by their employers.”

He recollects one other incident during which two bonded labourers died of electrocution whereas working in a discipline in Palnadu district. “Although this occurred a couple of months in the past, the labourers’ households nonetheless work as bonded labourers,” he says.

Kotaiah’s escape

Katti Kotaiah, 56, who additionally belongs to the Yanadi group, escaped the clutches of his employer at Chilakaluripeta city.

Kotaiah lives in a Yanadi colony at Alluru, a village close to the Kothapatnam seaside in Prakasam district. About 400 Yanadis stay within the colony. A minimum of 10 members stay in a single hut.

Like Ankamma, Kotaiah blames himself for what occurred. “It was my fault that I accepted a mortgage of ₹10,000 from a creditor in Chilakaluripeta in Palnadu district. On the time, we had no work, no meals, and no entry to consuming water. So, I took the cash,” he says.

To repay that quantity, his household of seven, together with three youngsters, needed to work as bonded labourers for round 20 years. “We got down to work when my son’s three youngsters have been toddlers. Now they’re between 16 and 20,” he says. By the point of their launch final 12 months, that debt of ₹1,500 had risen to ₹15 lakh. The household was bought greater than thrice, and labored as bonded labourers below completely different employers, says Kotaiah.

Katti Kotaiah, 56, who additionally belongs to the Yanadi group, escaped the clutches of his employer at Chilakaluripeta city. Kotaiah and his spouse Katti Gangamma (within the centre) rely upon fishing for his or her livelihood as of late.
| Photograph Credit score:
G.N. Rao

He says their job was to chop Subabul logs, used primarily within the pulp and paper trade. He and his spouse lower two tonnes of logs every single day. “In per week, if we lower 14 tonnes, we’d get ₹1,500,” he says. As per present charges, a employee is meant to get round ₹500 for chopping one tonne.

“These jobs have been at all times effective within the first 5 months. Then, our employers wouldn’t give us wages each day. They might give us simply ₹1,000 per week. We needed to work even after we fell sick. They restricted our actions,” he says.

Kotaiah says a policeman requested him to go away the employer throughout the pandemic. “However I advised him that I owed my employer ₹2 lakh.” he says. Kotaiah bought his home, obtained as a part of a authorities scheme, for ₹1 lakh to clear the debt.

It was solely when Kotaiah’s buddy died that he determined to go away. “We advised our employer that we have now to vote within the election (June 2024). He allow us to go. We by no means went again, regardless of warnings.” This 12 months, too, the employer created a ruckus in Alluru demanding that all of them come again, he recollects. District officers of Prakasam intervened and gave the household safety and launch certificates.

Venkateswarlu says that whereas the federal government palms out launch certificates to survivors, the rehabilitation takes place so late in some instances that a couple of individuals, who discover themselves with out land and work after their launch from bonded labour, return to their outdated employers.

In the present day, Kotaiah lives in a spacious hut with a settee, cot, and cooler. He says civil society members received him these requirements. Kotaiah sells fish for a residing. “Some days, I get ₹200 and a few days I make ₹400. In the present day I received solely ₹100. However no less than nobody is torturing us,” he says.

No motion plan in place

“Other than duck-rearing models, bonded labour instances are reported from areas the place Subabul is grown extensively,” says Ramesh, who belongs to the Rural Organisation for Poverty Eradication Providers, a registered NGO.

In duck-rearing models, youngsters are largely chosen as labourers. “One must be agile and fast to cease the geese from escaping. Duck farmers, largely Yerukulas (one other Scheduled Tribe group), rent Yanadis to work for them. The situations are harsh, with no electrical energy and no correct meals,” says Ramesh.

In his report ‘Bonded Labour in India: Its Incidence and Sample’, former Jawaharlal Nehru College professor Ravi S. Srivastava says that the Supreme Courtroom directed all of the States to gather info on the prevalence of bonded labour in India. The survey was held in 1996. No instances have been recognized in Andhra Pradesh. Nevertheless, the federal government subsequently recognized and launched 37,988 bonded labourers until 2004.

“Since then, no systematic survey has been carried out. Bonded labour persists each within the agricultural and non-agricultural sector, though vestiges of hereditary bondage solely exist in conventional sectors,” he says.

Of the 402 individuals who have been rescued prior to now two years by the Vetti Vimochana Coalition, members say FIRs have been booked solely in seven instances. “There is no such thing as a Customary Working Process or State motion plan for the identification, rescue and rehabilitation of bonded labourers in Andhra Pradesh. However, States similar to Tamil Nadu and Delhi have a strong system in place,” explains Kumar.

Whereas the Bonded Labour Act gives for punishment for as much as three years, there isn’t a information on how many individuals have been punished. The regulation mandates a district-level vigilance and monitoring committee to be in place. “This was fashioned in Prakasam solely final 12 months,” Kumar says. Officers of the Income, Tribal Welfare, Social Welfare, and Labour Departments say they don’t seem to be positive which ones is chargeable for implementing the Act.

“It is very important establish bonded labour as an organised crime,” says Venkateswarlu. “The federal government ought to have a nodal division to take care of pre- and post-rescue operations. It also needs to have a toll-free quantity for individuals in misery. If there had been one, Ankamma wouldn’t have misplaced her son.”

sravani.n@thehindu.co.in

This piece was edited by Radhika Santhanam