Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2004, published 93rd ILC session (2005)

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - India (Ratification: 1954)

The Committee has noted the Government’s reports received in 2003 and 2004, which contain replies to its earlier comments, as well as a discussion which took place at the Conference Committee on the Application of Standards during the 91st Session of the International Labour Conference (June 2003). The Committee has also noted a communication dated 20 August 2003 received from the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), which contains observations concerning the application of the Convention by India, as well as the Government’s reply to these observations received in October 2004.

Bonded labour

1. The Committee has previously referred on many occasions to the urgent need to compile accurate statistics of the number of persons who continue to suffer under bonded labour, using a valid statistical methodology, with a view to identification and release of bonded labourers. This issue is again the subject of each of the communications and discussion referred to in paragraph 1 hereof.

Government report 2003

2. The Committee has noted the Government’s report and in particular the following matters which the Government has emphasized:

-  that it has a strong will and intent to eradicate bonded labour and has the necessary machinery and infrastructure to reach down to the grassroots to do so;

­-  that, since the enactment of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976, and up to 31 March 2003, 282,970 bonded labourers had been identified and 262,952 had been rehabilitated (as compared to the data provided by the Government in its 2001 report of 280,411 bonded labourers identified and 251,569 rehabilitated up to 31 March 2000);

-  that the work done in the field of identification and rehabilitation of bonded labourers represents significant progress and over a period, the incidence of bonded labour system is declining;

-  that central assistance has been provided by the Government to the various state governments for conducting surveys on bonded labour in 120 districts;

-  that the figures quoted by the non-governmental agencies regarding incidence of bonded labour are not based on facts, as no appropriate statistical tools have been adopted for collecting the primary data.

ICFTU report

3. The ICFTU in its 2003 report referred to above, adverted to a number of matters including the following:

n  reiterated that the number of people identified by the Government since 1976 does not represent the total number of bonded labourers in the country. It referred to the survey conducted by the Ghandi Peace Foundation and the National Labour Institute (NLI) in 1978-79 ("the Ghandi Peace Foundation Survey"), which cited a number of 2.6 million bonded labourers, which number has been previously rejected by the Government on the grounds that the methodology of the survey was not scientific;

n  pointed out that even if an allowance was made for a significant overestimation, such as 10 per cent, the figures would still leave over 2 million bonded labourers, being considerably larger than the Government had so far identified;

n  indicated that the Ghandi Peace Foundation Survey only deals with bonded labour in agriculture and had made no estimate of the number of bonded labourers in other industries like mining, brick kilns, silk and cotton production and bidi production which is also likely to affect millions of people across India.

Conference Committee June 2003

4. The Conference Committee in the course of its discussions, urged the Government once again to adopt measures to reinforce the statistical system and to ensure the full implementation of the Convention.

Government report 2004 and response

5. The Committee has noted that in its reply to the ICFTU the Government made the following comments:

n  it denies the existence of bonded child labour in the silk industry and in cotton production in India and expresses the view that assistance provided by the children to their families in bidi production cannot be considered as bonded/forced labour;

n  it admits that some incidences of bonded/forced labour in brick kilns, quarries and mines have been reported, but such complaints are invariably sent to the concerned state government for investigation through vigilance committees, so that bonded labourers on identification are released and rehabilitated;

n  it indicates that the state government concerned is being advised by the Government of India to conduct periodic surveys for identification of bonded labourers;

n  it expresses the Government’s view that in India, which is a vast country with federal structure, having a wide range of religious, linguistic and cultural diversities, a centralized survey for identification of bonded labour may not be feasible or practicable. Hence, the central Government has been directing the state governments to conduct the surveys for identification of bonded labour at the local level with the help of their field agencies and also by taking the services of local NGOs and research institutions;

n  it again refers to the modification in May 2000 of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme for Rehabilitation of Bonded Labourers in order to provide funds to the state governments to conduct surveys on bonded labour in all sensitive districts on a regular basis once every three years.

6. While noting with interest the above information on the progress achieved, the Committee reiterates its hope that a statistical survey on bonded labour throughout the country will at last be prepared, using also the results obtained through measures taken on the state and district levels referred to above. The Committee requests the Government to communicate the surveys’ findings with its next report and also provide information on the activities of the National Human Rights Commission, which has been overseeing the progress made by the state governments in identification and rehabilitation of bonded labour.

Vigilance committees

7. The Committee has previously requested information on the functioning of vigilance committees, which the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976, requires to be established to deal with the problem.

8. In relation to the operation of the vigilance committees, this Committee has noted the following:

n  the Government indicated in its 2001 report that such committees existed in 29 states and union territories; they were constituted at the district and subdivisional levels and the meetings were held regularly;

n  the Government’s response to the 2002 comments by the ICFTU (which expressed doubt as to the satisfactory functioning of these committees), that during the last six months of 2002, 221 meetings of these vigilance committees have been held and that no case of bondage had been reported;

n  the Government’s response to the 2003 comments by the ICFTU, that, for example, in the State of Punjab, there are 84 vigilance committees (17 at the district level and 67 at subdivisional level), and their meetings have been held regularly;

n  that the ILO is implementing a subregional project entitled "Preventing and Eliminating Bonded Labour in South Asia" (PEBLISA), which operates in four countries of the region, including India, and addresses the issues of release and rehabilitation of bonded labourers, in particular in Tamil Nadu, through capacity building of vigilance committees at panchayat and district levels.

9. In the light of the above matters, the Committee hopes that the Government will continue to provide information on the practical functioning of vigilance committees, as well as information on measures taken or envisaged to increase their efficiency.

Law enforcement

10. In its earlier comments, the Committee referred to the law enforcement problem in connection with the eradication of bonded labour and sought information on the number of prosecutions, convictions and acquittals in various states under the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976, and also questioned the adequacy of the penalties imposed. The Committee previously observed that, in the light of Article 25 of the Convention, the number of prosecutions launched under the Act did not appear to be adequate when compared to the number of identified and released bonded labourers reported by the Government.

11. On this topic, the Committee has noted the following:

n  that, in the communication received in 2003, the ICFTU refers to comments by Anti-Slavery International, which expressed concern that "in some states the district magistrates are not functioning effectively in terms of releasing bonded labourers or ensuring the prosecution of those responsible for using bonded labourers";

n  the Government indicated in its 2003 and 2004 reports that exact information on the number of prosecutions launched for offences relating to forced/bonded labour during the period under review is not available, but the state governments have been requested to furnish the exact details in this regard, so that the authentic information is maintained;

n  the Government, in its reply to the 2003 observations by the ICFTU, received in October 2004, stated that 4,859 cases of prosecutions under the bonded labour system have been reported so far (as compared to 4,743 cases of prosecutions reported by the Government in December 2001). It expressed the view that one of the major factors for the lesser number of prosecution and conviction cases, is the Indian social and anthropological system and the psyche of the people living in the rural and informal sector of the country where an "informal system of equilibrium" is in place to cater to their needs; which also includes the system of grievances and disputes resolution through conciliation.

12. The Committee hopes that the Government will continue to provide, in its future reports, full information on the number of prosecutions, as well as on the number of convictions and on the penalties imposed, including sample copies of relevant court decisions.

Child labour

13. The Committee previously raised a number of questions concerning efforts to eliminate child labour falling under the Convention (i.e. in conditions which are sufficiently hazardous or arduous that the work concerned cannot be counted as voluntary). The Committee has noted the following matters:

n  the Government’s indications in its 2001 and 2003 reports that census data for 1991 had estimated the number of working children in the country as 11.28 million;

n  that a survey conducted by the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) in 1999-2000 indicated the number of working children in the country at around 10.40 million, but that the results of the census held in 2001 were still awaited;

n  the ICFTU, in its communication received in June 2002, estimates that the numbers of working children in India vary between 22 million and 50 million, and that the efforts to reduce child labour have yet to have much impact and must be considered inadequate to deal with the scale of the problem, although some progress has been made;

n  the information submitted by the Government representative to the Conference Committee in June 2003 concerning the efforts made by the Government to address this issue;

n  the Government’s reply to the Committee’s previous observation received in August 2003;

n  the information concerning the enforcement of the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, which provides for prosecution and punishment of employers found employing children in occupations and processes prohibited under the Act;

n  the Government’s indications in its 2003 report that inspections conducted by the enforcement agencies during the last five years identified 21,246 violations, and that prosecutions were launched in 12,348 cases resulting in 6,305 convictions;

n  the implementation of the national child labour projects (the number of which was increased to 100 in 1999), which the Government indicates are operational for the rehabilitation of 210,000 children withdrawn from work through 4,002 special schools, and about 170,000 children have so far been mainstreamed from the special schools set up under the projects into the formal education system;

n  the Government’s indication in its 2003 report that about 164 projects have been operational under the International Programme for the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) in various child labour endemic districts, which cover about 110,000 children;

n  that a National Conference on Child Labour was held on 22 April 2003 (with the participation of labour secretaries and labour commissioners of the states, officials of central ministries, NGOs and international organizations), paying special attention to the elimination of child labour from hazardous occupations and to the strengthening of the law enforcement machinery;

n  the Concluding Observations of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) following its examination of the report of the Government of India on the Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN document CRC/C/15/Add.228, 26 February 2004), which noted that it was extremely concerned at the large numbers of children involved in economic exploitation, many of whom are working in hazardous conditions, including as bonded labourers, especially in the informal sector, in household enterprises, as domestic servants and in agriculture. The Committee is further very concerned that minimum age standards for employment are rarely enforced and appropriate penalties and sanctions are not imposed to ensure that employers comply with the law. Further, that the Committee on the Rights of the Child also made recommendations that the Child Labour Act, 1986, should be amended so that household enterprises and government schools and training centres are no longer exempt from prohibitions on employing children; and that India should ratify ILO Conventions Nos. 138 and 182.

14. While noting with interest the Government’s commitment to eliminate child labour expressed both in its reports as well in the statement by the Government representative during the 2003 Conference Committee discussion, together with the Government’s efforts directed to that end, the Committee:

n  hopes that the Government will redouble its efforts in this field. This is particularly important with regard to the identification of working children and strengthening the law enforcement machinery, in order to eradicate exploitation of children, especially in hazardous occupations;

n  requests the Government to supply the results of the latest census on the number of working children in the country and in addition asks that the Government address the issue of differing statistics in its next report;

n  notes from the Government’s 2003 reports, that the examination of Conventions Nos. 138 and 182 with a view to their ratification, is under active consideration by the Government in consultation with the social partners, state governments and other relevant bodies, and that a meeting of the Tripartite Committee to examine the possibility of the ratification was held in December 2002, and looks forward to receiving further information on this subject.

Prostitution and sexual exploitation

15. In its earlier comments, the Committee welcomed the adoption of a National Plan of Action to combat trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of women and children, among other positive measures taken by the Government, as well as the Government’s intention to review the existing legal framework including the Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act, the Indian Penal Code, the Criminal Procedure Code and the Evidence Act, with a view to making the punishment more stringent for traffickers but at the same time, more victim-friendly. However, the Committee noted from the report of the Committee on prostitution, child prostitutes and children of prostitutes (1998) that there were no reliable estimates of the extent and magnitude of trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation in India, and expressed the hope that measures will be taken to compile reliable statistics, including that concerning child prostitutes, which would contribute to the process of their rehabilitation.

16. The Committee has noted the Government’s indications in its 2003 report of a number of measures being taken, specifically:

n  a survey on trafficking has been initiated within the country to investigate the cause and behavioural aspects of all agents in trafficking, including investigation of the magnitude of the problem and estimating the number of persons involved and trafficking routes;

n  another survey has also been commissioned to estimate the extent and magnitude of the problem of prostitution in the country;

n  the statistical information supplied by the Government concerning the rescue and rehabilitation of trafficked victims in the National Capital Territory of Delhi and other states where the problem exists (Andhra Pradesh, Mumbai, Kolkata, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Rajashan, Bihar);

n  the nine innovative model projects under Grant-in-Aid at an approximate cost of Rs.4.2 million that have been sanctioned during the financial year 2002-03 for combating trafficking and rehabilitation of rescued victims, a number of support services (such as short-stay homes, crèches and family counselling centres) have been developed and awareness-raising programmes for women have been undertaken;

n  as to the review of legislation, the Government states that consultations have been initiated, pursuant to the recommendations of the Law Commission of India in its 172nd report, with regard to proposed changes, in order to make the laws more victim-friendly and to increase the punishment imposed on perpetrators.

17. The Committee notes the above information with interest and hopes that the Government will continue to provide, in its future reports, information on the action taken to combat trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of women and children, pursuant to the National Plan of Action referred to above, and in particular, as regards the revision and development of the legislative framework and implementation of rehabilitation projects.