Friday, March 8, 2019

Critical Analysis on Bonded Labour System Analysis Act, 1976

Critical Analysis on Bonded tire strategy (abolition) bet, 1976 SALIENT FEATURES OF THE BONDED LABOUR SYSTEM (ABOLITION) ACT, 1976 This cause provides for the abolition of the system of bonded confinement. It freed uni later on all(prenominal)y all the bonded promoteers from bondage with simultaneous liquidation of their debts. The Act does away with either obligation of a bonded labourer to repay each bonded debt it similarly dispenses with the forthcoming liability of repaying a bonded debt.The law provides that (a) no suit or otherwise proceedings shall be instituted in all Civil romance for the convalescence of some(prenominal) bonded debt (b) every attachment made before the source of the Act for the recuperation of any bonded debt shall stand vacated and (c) much(prenominal) movable property shall be restored to the bonded labourer. The district and sub-divisional magistrates do been entrusted with certain duties/responsibilities towards instruction ex ecution of statutory provisions.Under Section-13 of the Act, Vigilance Committees atomic enumerate 18 need to be constituted at the district and sub-divisional level for implementation of the provisions of the law. They argon composite bodies with representatives from different cross sections of the society and have a life of 2 years. Registers containing the names and addresses of all freed bonded labourers, their vacation, occupation and income, detail of the benefits received are required to be maintained under the Bonded grok System (Abolition) Rules. The Act provides for imprisonment up to 3 years and amercement up to Rs. 2000/- to whoever compels any person to render any bonded labour and whoever advances any bonded debt. An umbrage detailed surveys in their provinces. The same information was submitted to the Supreme Court by the order authoritiess in the form of affidavits in 1997. ?One ILO end to wit Prevention of Family debt instrument with Micro Finance fi nal cause and cerebrate Services is being use in trinity States, namely Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.The objective of the project is to construct existing micro finance institutions to develop, attempt and offer savings and lend products, particularly tailor-made for vulnerable families at the risk of getting into debt traps. The summit focus of the project is on preventing peripheral families from falling into debt bondage and also to ensure sustainable reclamation of freed bonded labourers. base on its experience, a framework could be considered for replication or practise in other parts of the Country. Liability to repay bonded debt to stand extinguished.On the commencement of this Act, every obligation of a bonded labourer to repay any bonded debt, or much(prenominal) part of any bonded debt as remains unsatisfied straight before such commencement, shall be deemed to have been extinguished. After the commencement of this Act, no suit or other proceedi ng shall lie in any civil court or before any other situation for the recovery of any bonded debt or any part thereof. Every legislation or order for the recovery of bonded debt, passed before the commencement of this Act and non fully satisfied before such commencement, shall be deemed, on such commencement, to have been fully satisfied.Every attachment made before the commencement of this Act, for the recovery of any bonded debt, shall, on such commencement, stand vacated and, where, in pursuance of such attachment, any movable property of the bonded labourer was seized and removed from his custody and unbroken in the custody of any court or other way pending sale thereof, such movable property shall be restored, as soon as whitethorn be practicable after such commencement, to the possession of the bonded labourer. Property of bonded labourer to be freed from mortgage, etc.All property vested in a bonded labourer which was, immediately before the commencement of this Act und er any mortgage, burden, irascibility or other encumbrances in connection with any bonded debt shall, in so far as it is relatable to the bonded debt, stand freed and discharged from such mortgage, charge, lien or other encumbrances, and where any such property was, immediately before the commencement of this Act, in the possession of the mortgagee or the holder of the charge, lien or encumbrance, such property shall (except where it was subject to any other charge), on such commencement, be restored to the possession of the bonded labourer.If any delay is made in restoring any property, referred to in sub-section (1), to the possession of the bonded labourer, such labourer shall be entitled, on and from the date of such commencement, to recover from the mortgagee or holder of the lien, charge or encumbrance, such mesne profits as may be obdurate by the civil court of the lowest pecuniary jurisdiction at heart the local limits of whose jurisdiction such property is situated. A uthorities who may be specified for implementing the provisions of this Act. The State Government may confer such powers and impose such duties on a District Magistrate as may be necessary to ensure that the provisions of this Act are mightily carried out and the District Magistrate may specify the officer, subordinate to him, who shall exercise all or any of the powers, and perform all or any of the duties, so conferred or imposed and the local limits within which such powers or duties shall be carried out by the officer so specified.Vigilance Committees. Every State Government shall, by notification in the Official Gazette, constitute such number of Vigilance Committees in each district and each Sub-Division as it may think fit.Each Vigilance Committee, constituted for a district, shall consist of the following members, namely (a) the District Magistrate, or a person nominal by him, who shall be the Chairman (b) three persons belonging to the Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribe s and residing in the district, to be nominated by the District Magistrate (c) two social workers, occupier in the district, to be nominated by the District Magistrate (d) not to a greater extent than three persons to represent the official or non-official agencies in the district connected with rural tuition, to be nominated by the State Government (e) i person to represent the financial and credit institutions in the district, to be nominated by the District Magistrate. Act to have overriding act. The provisions of this Act shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in any enactment other than this Act, or in any instrument having effect by virtue of any enactment other than this Act. Agreement, custom, etc. , to be void. On the commencement of this Act, any custom or tradition or any contract, agreement or other instrument (whether entered into or penalise before or after the commencement of this Act), by virtue of which any person, or any m ember of the family or dependant of such person, is required to do any work or render any military service as a bonded labourer, shall be void and inoperative. CONSTRAINTS Bonded repel System is a dynamic problem it fuck occur and reoccur at any address of time in any industry or occupation. Once the bonded labourers are identified and released, in case they are not immediately rehabilitated, they start out even worse off as compared to the situation when they were bonded and were at least(prenominal) able to survive by getting two square meals. opposition to the traditional perception that bonded labour is confined to the agricultural sector alone, it can also occur and reoccur in any form of economic exertion such as, agriculture, brick-kiln, stone quarries, carpet weaving, pisciculture, etc. , CONSTITUTIONAL AND LEGAL pabulum The Constitution of India guarantees to all its citizens- justice, social, economic and political, freedom of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship, equity of locating and opportunity and fraternity, dignity of individual and unity of the Nation. Under Article 23 of the ConstitutionTraffic in human beings and beggar and other similar forms of forced labour are prohibited and any contravention of this provision shall be an offence punishable in accordance with law. Bonded lug System (Abolition) Ordinance was promulgated. Which was later on replaced by the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976. CENTRALLY SPONSORED PLAN system FOR REHABILITATION OF BONDED LABOURIn order to assist the State Governments in their task of rehabilitation of released bonded labourers, the Ministry of Labour launched a Centrally Sponsored Scheme since May, 1978 for rehabilitation of bonded labourers. Under this Scheme rehabilitation assistance of Rs. 20,000/- per freed bonded labour is provided, which is shared by the Central and State Governments on 5050 basis in the case of the vii North Eastern States, 100% central assistance if they express their unfitness to provide their share. The Scheme also provide for financing of the following activities. Rs. 2. 00 hundred thousand per sensitive district can be provided to concerned state administration to conduct survey for identification of bonded labour once in three years. Central assistance of Rs. 10. 00 hundred thousands every year can be authorize to every tate governing body to undertake awareness generation activities relating to bonded labour system. Rs. 5. 00 lakh per year can be sanctioned to every state government to study impact of existing land-debt related issues affecting bonded labourers and the impact of pauperism alleviation programmes and financial assistance provided by various Government sources so far. Besides above the States Governments have also been advised to integrate/ dovetail joint the Centrally Sponsored Scheme for rehabilitation of bonded labour with other ongoing privation alleviation schemes such as Swaran Jayanti Gram Swa Rojgar Yojana (SJGSRY), Special Component conception for Supreme Court, Tribal Sub-Plan etc.Accordingly, the rehabilitation package provided by the concerned tell Governments for the freed bonded labourers includes the following major components (i) Allotment of house-site and agricultural land (ii) Land development (iii) Provision of low cost dwelling units (iv) Animal husbandry, dairy, poultry, piggery etc. (v) Training for acquiring new skills developing existing skills (vi) Wage employment, enforcement of nominal wages etc. (vii) Collection and processing of minor forest products (viii) bring of essential commodities under targeted public distribution system (ix) Education for children and (x) shield of civil rights.INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANISATION AND FORCED/ BONDED LABOUR There are two ILO Conventions, Convention No. 29 concerning Forced or imperative labour (1930) and Convention No. 105 concerning Abolition of Forced Labour (1957). Government of India has ratified both the Conventions. Before the 89th Session of the International Labour Conference (June 2001) the Director General of ILO submitted a global report on Stopping Forced Labour. This report contained references regarding incidences of bonded labour in India on the basis of survey conducted by the Gandhi relaxation Foundation and issue Labour Institute and also the estimates of some other NGOs.The Gandhi Peace Foundation and the National Labour Institute conducted a survey in 1978-79, which had estimated the number of bonded labour as 2. 6 million. This survey was based on a hit-or-miss sample drawn from a score of 4,50,199 villages in the ten selected States. Finally, cat valium villages from out of the 4,50,000 villages were selected. Every 450th villages in the census list of villages of each State starting with a random number was selected for the survey. The findings of the survey in complaisance of the above 1000 villages were multiplied by 450 to find out the total numb er of bonded labourers in ten States. Since the methodology adopted by the Gandhi Peace Foundation was not scientific the Government have not authorized their estimates.The need for having authentic data on number of bonded labourers in India was emphasized. It was urged that encompassing and authoritative survey might be conducted in this regard. From the Government side, it was utter that the Government has strong will and intent to abolish and totally throw away the bonded labour system from every nook and corner of the country. It was indicated that the Government of Indias estimates of bonded labour, as also reported in the following pages, were based on the information submitted by the concerned State Governments after conducting detailed surveys in their States. The same information was submitted to the Supreme Court by the State Governments in the form of affidavits in 1997. One ILO project namely Prevention of Family Indebtedness with Micro Finance Scheme and Related S ervices is being implemented in three States, namely Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The objective of the project is to induce existing micro finance institutions to develop, test and offer savings and loan products, particularly tailor-made for vulnerable families at the risk of getting into debt traps. The prime focus of the project is on preventing marginal families from falling into debt bondage and also to ensure sustainable rehabilitation of freed bonded labourers. Based on its experience, a model could be considered for replication orapplication in other parts of the Country.

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