BENGALURU: In March this year, 43 victims of bonded labourers were rescued from a brick kiln in Bagalur. The victims were brought to Bengaluru from Odisha who had been working at the kiln for five months before they were rescued. This is one among the numerous cases of bonded labourers who are captive in the city.
Even though the practice has been abolished by the Bonded Labour Abolition Act (BLA) in 1976, an estimate of 1.84 crore bonded labourers continue to exist in the country. According to the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment, from 1976 to March 31, 2015 close to 65,000 bonded labourers have been rescued in Karnataka, marking it to be the second largest number of rescues in the country.
To bring about awareness on the prevalence of this social evil, International Justice Mission (IJM) in partnership with the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) department, will be conducting an event, as part of their ‘Awareness of Bonded Labour’ initiatives. The chief guest of the event is freedom fighter HS Doreswamy who continues to fight for the freedom of bonded labourers. Here bonded labourers themselves will also be sharing stories about their experiences. Grammy award-winning musician Ricky Kej has also volunteered to perform, to bring about awareness on the cause.
Using the mall space and a concert by Ricky Kej, IJM hopes that their message about the prevalence of bonded labourers reach the urban crowd in the city. Prathima M, associate director of IJM, says, “Since a lot of us are engrossed in the monotony of our lives and believe that bonded labour doesn’t exist anymore due to the Act against the practice coming into being, information on it is not easily available.” Prathima also emphasises on the need to understand the value of freedom, that we take for granted. “This is a platform to let people see the issue as it is,” she adds.
Ricky, who has volunteered to perform at the venue for free, says that he himself was not aware of the enormity of the problem before he spoke to IJM. He also adds that a lot of traffickers prey on people who fall victim to environmental disasters. “In cases of flood or other such natural disasters, a lot of people are displaced. Such victims and their children are sold as bonded labourers. This is the case in most construction sites too. Many of us are not aware that many who work there are victims of bonded labour,” he adds. Ricky signs off saying that apart from creating awareness about the prevalence of bonded labourers, the ones who are victims must also realise and know that they have the right to be free.
The event will take place at Orion Mall, Brigade Gateway on August 15.