Michael Rosenkrantz

Bonded laborers

Through my volunteer work at Community Self-reliance Center (CSRC) I was recently able to interview a number of Haruwa/Charuwa (bonded laborers), mostly Dalits, who were in Kathmandu to advocate for their rights with policymakers. The group included four men and five women, primarily with the last name of Ram or Sada. They were from villages in Saptari and Siraha districts. The majority of the group was illiterate due to lack of educational opportunities, discrimination, land-poverty, and lack of funds.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention Nos. 29, 105 and 182 prohibits forced and bonded labor, including child-bonded labor. The Government of Nepal has ratified ILO Convention Nos. 29 and 182, and has passed its own legislation. However, a substantial number of rural individuals and families are still compelled to work as semi-bonded labourers. Lack of capabilities and access to alternative sources of livelihood, children deprived of a school education due the family’s generational debt, debt at exorbitant interest rates, and lack of citizenship papers are just some of the issues which perpetuate poverty and bonded labor system. Most of the Haruwas have no land, and have settled on some landlord’s land, which is another reason they have remained bonded.

The Government of Nepal formally abolished the Kamaiya Labour System in 2000 and enacted the Kamaiya Labor (Prohibition) Act 2001 to prevent Kamaiya Labor and rehabilitate them. This Act includes agricultural labor systems under Haliya, Haruwa, Hali, Charuwa, etc. under “Kamaiya Labour”. Haliya/Haruwa and Charuwa are very poor Dalit people, traditionally considered “untouchables”. They are some of the most marginalized people, with the majority being landless. Often entire families are bound to work as unpaid laborers to a landlord as the father is engaged as a Haliya/Haruwa.

According to an unpublished ILO study, today there are approximately 69,000 Haruwa/Charuwa families in the eastern Nepal. Their number is gradually reducing, but there are still families working to pay off debt. Most of the Haruwa/Charuwas (approximately 90 percent) are forced to pay 60 percent interest to local landlords or money lenders to meet their survival needs. Wage payments are mainly in-kind (rice) and the cash value is only 50-60 percent of minimum wage. Endemic poverty, wage exploitation, and lack of access to land, health and quality education continue to be major problems.

Siran Sada, 55, of Badagama VDC, Saptari told me that his grandfather became a Haruwa by taking a loan, and that his family is still working to pay off this debt. Siran has a home on public land on a river bank. He has found daily wage jobs, which hardly pays more than 5-6 kg of rice/day, but the landlords puts pressure on him to work their land. Siran was given four kattha of land, which is insufficient to grow food for a full year. He too has taken out a loan from his landlord. Siran has not been able to educate his children, and the life of a Haruwa has now been passed down to a fourth generation, to his son. Siran’s family is one of the fortunate few among the group in that his son brought home a mobile phone from India.

The 63-year-old Latar Sada, from Sishawani, Siraha discussed how educating the young might eliminate the Haruwa system, but he also said that he has insufficient resources to send his children to school. He indicated that children have to leave school early due to discrimination—non-dalits were provided with new books, while Dalits were given old books, or the fact that Dalits had to sit at the back of the classroom. Also, though school fees and stationery items are advertised as free, in fact, there are costs.

Sonawati Sada, 34, from Hanuman Nagar, Siraha had borrowed Rs 40,000 from six money lenders for medical treatment. Each charges 60 percent interest. If the family doesn’t pay back, they will get evicted. Sonawati has three daughters, with the oldest, 12, taking care of the family, meaning that she is no longer in school and will have little livelihood opportunity.
Rajaya Debi Sada, 44, from Madhupati VDC, Saptari, lives on government land with a family of nine. Rajaya was married at 17, and neither she nor her husband attended school. Her father was a Haruwa and she married a Haruwa. Rajaya has four grandchildren: her son was 18 when he married a girl of 16.

All of these people felt that being a Haruwa/Charuwa was not fate, that it was man-made. When I asked the group how to resolve the issue, some talked about the government exempting the loan and providing social security to cover medical expenses. Gulab Debi Ram, 45, from Haripur, Saptari told me that the government should provide for housing and enough land to grow food for 12 months.

How do we truly eliminate Haruwa/Charuwa systems, provide these people with opportunities, and get them out of poverty and into the mainstream? How do we ensure that children are not born into a life without hope, only because they were born to someone with the surname of Sada? Why can’t land be distributed based on generations of tilling? Why can’t fair wage be paid for a fair day’s work? Why is it that some must remain impoverished?

Although many events have been organized by CSRC and the National Land Rights Forum (NLRF) to this end, which has included demonstrations, rallies, sit-ins, submission of demand letters, and meetings, a number of times with high government officials, there has been no proper response.

At some point in the distant future the vision of CSRC, a Nepali society where everyone enjoys a secure, free and dignified life, might become reality, but until then we need, even in small ways, to give hope to people like Rajaya, Siran, Latar, Sonawati and Gulab and their families. It is up to all of us—government, civil society and corporate world, to work collaboratively—to create bright future for all Nepalis.

The author has been a VSO Nepal volunteer since June 2012, working as a partnership builder in the corporate and media sectors

Published on: 6 June 2013 | Republica