Bonded and forced labour go by different names in various parts of the country—for example, Gothi, Vethi or Bhagola in Andhra Pradesh, Vet or Begar in Maharashtra, Dadan in Odisha, Hali in Rajasthan and Padiyals in Tamil Nadu. The bonded labour system is prevalent both in agriculturally backward as well as forward areas and there have also been cases of serial bondage where a bonded labourer goes from one master to another in the form of trading. This system, which was largely confined to the agricultural sector, is now seen among workers, in stone quarries, brick kilns, construction sites, forestry, carpet weaving, fishing, bidi making, matchstick-making, etc., which also engage migrant and/or child labourers. The `bondage` results from advances given against future wages, which are paid at rates lower than the statutory fixed minimum. .

Agriculture is the source of livelihood for a majority of the people in India. Around 80 per cent of its population depends directly or indirectly on this sector. In the post-independence period in India, the zamindari and feudal system overwhelmingly perpetuated the bonded labour system. Poor dalit and tribal people were coerced into forced labour. Forced labour, or slavery, continued unabated and passed on from one generation to another. After the promulgation of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition)-BLSA-Act 1976, about 2,85,379 bonded labourers were identified and released, and 2,65,417 bonded labourers were rehabilitated as of March 2004. The Honorable Supreme Court, when dealing with cases of bonded labour, has expressed its concern and anguish at the continued existence of bonded labour in modern India. .

Today, due to poverty, destitution, unemployment and debt, people who once used to be engaged as agriculture workers are making a beeline to urban areas to work as seasonal migrant labourers. In India, 310 million people are reported as migrants (Census 2001). In Odisha, close to 10 million people are migrants. Both opportunity and distress migration have been quite active in the state. Whereas the poor and marginalised people from under-developed regions in the state are migrating under distress conditions, coastal Odisha reports large-scale migration of people for better opportunities and livelihoods. .

Various surveys and attempts at enumeration in India are yet to capture the migration of poor people leaving their villages to work in different establishments in urban centres within and outside the state. However, there are micro surveys and studies that suggest that migration from rural and under-developed regions is on the rise. The Koraput-Balangir-Kalahandi (KBK) belt in Odisha is one such region where distress migration is widely prevalent. During the late 80`s, the then prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi, was moved to visit Kalahandi, to understand the plight of the people of this region, who were undergoing starvation and dispossession. Kalahandi, along with two other backward districts–Koraput and Balangir have long been known for its under-development, poor human development indices and backwardness. The Planning Commission of India has launched a special project known as the KBK project, keeping in mind its poor human development, higher percentage of tribal and dalit communities, drought and human destitution. Tribals and dalits are migrating in distress to various Indian cities in search of livelihoods and means of survival. Migration to brick kilns accounts for 60 per cent of this, with the rest moving into construction and other sectors. A well-organised labour recruitment system, bringing brick kiln workers by paying them an advance is quite evident in these regions. Close to 1,00,000 people are being recruited across the villages of four high migration-prone districts—Balangir, Nuapada, Sonepur and Bargarh districts of western Odisha. In 1975 and prior to the enactment of Inter-state Migrant Workman Act of 1979, Odisha was the first to formulate a law—the Orissa Dadan Labour (Control and Regulation) Act, 1975—to safeguard the rights of migrant workers. (Dadan, in Oriya, means debt migration/bondage). Later, the Government of India took its cue from the Act, and formulated the Inter-state Migrant Workman Act of 1979, formally recognising the system of Dadan and its nature. Today, in many parts of Odisha, inter-state migration is still known as Dadan, and people still use the terminology in rural Odisha to describe debt migration. .

From 2011 to 2013, some 1,139 brick kiln workers were rescued by both the government administration and NGOs from brick kilns in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. More than 20 per cent of those released were children working in brick kilns. .

Once these hapless people are back in their respective states, immediate relief and long-term rehabilitation becomes a huge challenge. After they return, they usually approach the local administration for their rehabilitation. Whereas most districts have district-level Vigilance Committees to identify and initiate the rescue of bonded labourers, many of the nine districts to which these people have returned do not have active and functional Vigilance Committees or the Committee members do not have a basic understanding of the procedures and processes for initiating rehabilitation. .

To address the issues of bonded labourers in Odisha, proper intervention is required at different levels to sensitise the administration, the community and the migrating people. The Inter-state Migrant Workman Act of 1979, which was enacted to reduce the vulnerability of migrant wage labourers, has failed to regulate and facilitate safe and protected migration. The Act is yet to see the development of a system to register labour contractors and labourers, who are recruited at the source area. The provision in the law for registration of migrant workers at their place of work is often not implemented. Usually, the states from which they migrate provide a passbook to each of the registered workers in their native districts, which contains the details of the migrant worker, including their profile, address, nature of work, wages, entitlements, etc. The pass book is to be inspected and verified at the destination state by the Labour Inspector or District Labour Officer. The official is also responsible for filing information pertaining to work site facilities, wages and nature of engagement, in compliance with the Inter-state Migrant Workman Act. Unfortunately, hardly any state government in India follows these procedures. .

The effort by ILO to bring together the labour departments of the governments of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh is a step towards ensuring the implementation of the Act and providing basic facilities and services to brick kiln workers. Andhra Pradesh, in collaboration with ILO, has initiated pioneering work in a brick kiln located in Ranga Reddy district, to provide basic services and entitlements to inter-state migrant workers. However, the Government of India needs to amend the Inter-state Migrant Workman Act of 1979, to protect and safeguard the rights of migrants and their families, who work in brick kilns. A special Labour Welfare Board for the workers in brick kilns is crucial, because poor and marginal communities usually find refuge in brick kilns for employment. .

The reduction of vulnerability to bondage at the brick kilns themselves is a larger challenge for the government. Some of the recent surveys conducted by Aide et Action in various brick kilns reveal that most of these operate illegally. It is still not clear which wing of the Department of Labour should enforce labour laws in brick kilns. Does the brick kiln come under the Factories Act or, as per its seasonality and recruitment of large numbers of migrant workers, should it be placed under some other wing of the department, which will address monitoring, conflict resolution and the rescue of bonded labourers? In many states, the Bonded Labour Act is implemented by the revenue department; in some other states, the Department of Rural Development specifically looks after the rehabilitation of bonded labourers. It is high time that the issue of bonded labourers in organised sectors such as brick-making, stone-crushing and construction came under the Department of Labour. A special enforcement wing should conduct routine visits to ascertain the implementation of labour laws and welfare programmes in brick kilns..

The rehabilitation of rescued bonded labourers also faces a variety of stumbling blocks. First, labourers rescued in states to which they have migrated under the BLSA Act are often denied their rights to effective rehabilitation in their home state. The states to which the workers have migrated often deny having any bonded labourers in their districts, and once any bonded labourer is, in fact, rescued from destination states, the sole responsibility of rehabilitation falls on the source district. Also, at times, the bonded labour release certificate issued by destination states is not accepted by the respective officer in the labourer`s home state. Earlier, bonded labourers were often released and rehabilitated by the district administration, which secured the funds for rehabilitation by reporting the cases directly to the central government. Rescued bonded labourers often slip back into bondage due to the utter negligence and lack of timely response from the district administration. In Odisha, some districts have done pioneering work, effectively acknowledging inter-state bonded labour release certificates and have taken meaningful action in providing employment under MGNREGA, making provisions for inclusion under PDS, for housing, for pension and making better use of the rehabilitation assistance of Rs 20,000 in planning livelihood regeneration programmes for released bonded labourers. Aide et Action and its partners have developed comprehensive rehabilitation plans for around 800 bonded labourers in the KBK region, and provided training to district officials in the preparation of livelihood plans for released labourers. The timely release of bonded labour rehabilitation assistance is key to the successful rehabilitation of bonded labourers. There remain instances in Odisha of bonded labourers waiting for years to receive the basic entitlements specified under the BLSA Act of 1976. Much more work remains to be done to build on and generalise the success of the existing efforts.