GULBARGA: Bonded labour is rampant in Handarki village in Sedam taluk of Gulbarga district and is the reason behind the highest number of school dropouts, out-of-school children and fewer labourers in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).
When Express asked a 12- year-old boy herding cattle why he did not go to school, he replied: “My father has died and my mother has left me here as a bonded labourer and has migrated to Bangalore for work.” The boy, Sharanabasava, said he dropped out of school when he was in the fifth standard though he was keen on studies. Sharanabasava says, “My landlord Lakshman Gowda gave `5,000 and 25 kg of jowar to my mother.” In return, Sharanabasava has to graze Lakshman’s cattle and make kullu (fuel made of cow dung) and do other household work.
Records at the higher primary school of Handarki village confirm the practice.
Parents have written in the school registrar that they are poor and cannot send their children to school. Ramesh, a teacher at the Government Primary School said that when a team of teachers went to the children’s houses, people there beat them up.
The number of dropouts according to official records is 90 in Handarki village and even former Sedam TP president does not send her daughter to school.
When officials noticed a drop in attendance in December, January and February in Handarki, they decided to investigate. During a raid, 19 girls in the age group of 10-16 were found sprinkling pesticides on cotton crops. The team freed the girls and filed a case against the landlord.
According to a survey conducted by Community Development Foundation (CDF), in Handarki village, 363 girls and 309 boys were out of school.
