Venkata Lakshmamma is a farm hand in an agricultural district in Karnataka, a state in southern India. She worked as a labourer, along with her family, for 5 years towards paying a loan of 10,000 INR (140 USD) that her father-in-law had taken. After 5 years, her employers told her that she had paid-off only half of what she owed. They did not allow her to send her children to school.
Bonded labour is the most widespread form of modern slavery. It occurs when a person is forced to work to pay-off a debt that often spans many years of labour to fulfil. As in the case of Lakshmamma, the value of their work usually becomes greater than the amount borrowed.
Lakshmamma, now emancipated, works as a daily-wage worker. She has paid off her family’s loans, educated her children, and taken care of her family’s medical expenses. She turned her life around with the help of a women’s self-help group that gave her access to a loan and financial services.
My project documents these women’s self-help groups - made up of former women bonded labourers and wives of bonded labourers. Members of the group work together to improve their lives and reduce their dependence on land owners eager to exploit their vulnerability.
Though India outlawed bonded labour in 1976, it is still prevalent in an unseen and ruthless manner. Social customs and economic drivers have seen the barbaric practice continue to thrive especially in agriculture, brick kilns and factories. According to data presented to the Indian Parliament in 2019, Karnataka has one of the highest rates of bonded labour.
In 2016, the Indian government set a target of rescuing 18 million workers from bondage by 2030, and increased the amount of compensation for survivors.Though thousands are estimated to have been rescued since, few have received the payment they are eligible for upon their emancipation.
Survivors are entitled to claim full compensation only after obtaining an official release certificate - a legal process that can take years. As a result, emancipated labourers struggle to make ends meet, thereby falling back into debt and eventually bondage. According to government statistics, more than 60% of survivors are back in bondage or working in slave-like conditions.
I came across the practice of bonded labour while photographing the drought in Karnataka in 2017. I learned that the practice is widespread in rural areas where the agricultural industry relies on contracted, often migrant, labourers.
While documenting two women’s self-help groups in neighbouring villages, I learnt that its members work together to support each other, gain access to financial services, and spearhead changes that affect the entire community.
The women work as daily-wage workers in farms eking out savings from their minimum wages and collectively depositing it at the bank. Once this deposit is substantial, they are able to avail a loan that they distribute amongst themselves according to individual needs like buying livestock, children’s education, medical expenses, etc. Availing these loans is critical to their ability to maintain their independence.