Report on Bonded Labour in Punjab: 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. This paper discusses the condition of migrant bonded labour in Punjab, particularly the tribal agricultural labourers.