Q. Despite the efforts of the government, bonded labour still continues in India. Discuss.

Model Answer:

Despite the 1976 Abolition Act, unfree labour (Begar, Hali) persists in India. Sociologically, it reflects the enduring resilience of the caste-class nexus rather than mere administrative failure.

Structural Resilience of Bondage

Caste-Class Hegemony

Dominant Castes (M.N. Srinivas) utilize debt bondage to maintain economic surplus and social dominance over marginalized Dalits and Adivasis (Gail Omvedt).

Interlocking Markets: Amit Bhaduri highlights the interlocking of labour and credit markets, where collateral-less poor must pledge their future labour for survival credit.

Capitalism and “Neo-Bondage”

Neo-Bondage

Jan Breman notes traditional bondage has been replaced by capitalist “neo-bondage”, where advances are used to extract cheap, hyper-exploitative, migrant “footloose labour”.

De-proletarianization: Tom Brass argues capitalists intentionally use debt to convert free labourers into unfree bonded labourers to suppress wages and prevent unionization.

Modern bondage thrives in informal sectors like brick kilns. Subaltern scholars like David Hardiman note state-elite collusion often renders rehabilitation efforts, like the 2016 Central Sector Scheme, structurally ineffective.

Conclusion

Eradicating bonded labour requires moving beyond legal abolition toward dismantling systemic landlessness, echoing Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s vision in Annihilation of Caste for true socio-economic emancipation.