Report on Bonded Labour in Uttar Pradesh: Analysing the Effectiveness of the Programmes for the Eradication of the Bonded Labour System

[Brick Kiln Database - Working Paper]

This study was a part of an Indian project to research on bonded labour system in Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Karnataka, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. It was a South Asia regional project on bonded labour coordinated by the Anti Slavery International. The series of working papers, outcome of these studies, gives an account of changing dynamics of labour bondage in India. The study looks into the reasons for the ineffectiveness of the programmes initiated by the government, international organisations and NGOs in this direction. It also tries to understand and conceptualise the newer, and increasingly elusive, forms of bondage relations. Known as Banihari or halwahi, the bonded labour system in UP continues to be a persistent feature in the agricultural and non agriculural sectors. The reason for its continuation is almost always the indebtedness of the poor and the landless. This study covers Allahabad and Chitrakoot districts also known as the patha region.