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| Commemorating courage - Remembering the slave trade’s past, shaping a free future | | | Vinod Chandrashekhar Dixit
The International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and Its Abolition is observed across the world on 23 August. It is said that for over 400 years, more than 15 million men, women and children were the victims of the tragic transatlantic slave trade, one of the darkest chapters in human history. The International Day aims to raise awareness about the dangers of racism and prejudice today.
The abolition of slavery has been seen throughout history as a way to have all people be treated equal. Our villages have a number of people who are oppressed and exploited like the Dalits, landless labourers, poor farmers, etc. But the condition of the bonded labourers was the worst. They were made to live as slaves or serfs throughout their lives.
The records of slave trade that flourished around the 15th century in the region show that the practice was carried out on the basis of proper “sale agreements” and that it was not uncommon for lower caste parents to pledge their children to be bonded labour several years. One of the main reasons for the practice of slave trade was that so-called people of white race had the belief of superiority over the black people to whom they referred as Negros and did not consider them human.
Though slavery was abolished in India by the Indian Slavery Act of 1843, it was prevalent till 1910. “In south India, there are several references to the prevalence of slaves bought to work in the lands or temples.
According to the Global Slavery Index , on an average, 51 out of every 100 people in India are vulnerable to modern slavery – bonded labour, forced begging, forced marriage, domestic services and commercial sex work . Forced- and child-marriage are high in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Indonesia. A sex-ratio imbalance, resulting in absence of brides in India, has fuelled the trafficking of women and forced marriage. The supreme court has ruled in various decisions that bonded labour can be regarded as a form of forced labour and hence is unconstitutional under Article 23.This is the fundamental rights guaranteed by our Indian constitution and to give effect to article 23. Parliament has enacted the Bonded Labor System Act, 1976. The Act makes the system of bonded labour a punishable offence. Late Smt. Indira Gandhi, the former Prime Minister of India, declared that the system of bonded labour was a barbarous system. Therefore, it must go. Accordingly, the Government of India issued the “Bonded Labour Abolition Ordinance”on 24th October, 1975. This Ordinance has since become an Act. Under the Act, the evil institution of slavery which had continued all these years was abolished.
The practice of bonded labour persists in India, mainly because of debt, and the entire family is exposed to the risks of physical violence. People are forced to work under unhealthy conditions, and physical violence is meted out, if they refuse to work. The bonded labour system is one of the main characteristics of the feudal hierarchical society. The system was designed to enable a few socially and economically powerful sections of society to exploit the weaker sections of the society.
Let us remember that we as a society must have to change our attitude towards persons of weaker sections and try to restore the value of human dignity which is a part of the right to life. |
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