Empowering bonded labourers, landless agricultural workers, dalits and adivasis to eradicate bonded labour.
This entry has been selected as a finalist in the
Ending Global Slavery: Everyday Heroes Leading the Way competition.
Building up the agency of bonded labourers, landless agricultural workers, dalit and adivasi youth to take action against bonded labour.
About You
Location
Project Street Address
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Project Province/State
Project Postal/Zip Code
Project Country
Your idea
Sector Focus
Civil society
Year the initative began (yyyy)
1983
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Positioning of your initiative on the mosaic diagram
Which of these barriers is the primary focus of your work?
Vulnerability of targeted populations
Which of the principles is the primary focus of your work?
Increase community resilience
If you believe some other barrier or principle should be included in the mosaic, please describe it and how it would affect the positioning of your initiative in the mosaic
Government apathy and inaction to implement The Bonded Labour system Abolition Act, 1976. This barrier is attempted to be overcome by continuous lobbying and advocacy with the government agencies through the leadership of bonded labourers themselves and the groups that are vulnerable to bonded labour like dalits (the ‘untouchables’ in Indian society- they form the lowest rung in the caste hierarchy), adivasis (literally means indigenous people) and landless agricultural workers. For this a movement of dalit and adivsi youth is built up in Karnataka with the name of JEEVIKA - Jeeta Vimukti Karnataka since 1993. the dalit and adivasi youth take up a number of programmes and activities regarding lobbying and advocacy with government agencies to implement the Act on bonded labour and to conscientise and organise dalits, adivasis, villagers and general public. For those purposes they take up a number of activities like regurlar surveying of bonded labour and making the identified bonded labourers file affidavits for their release and rehabilitation to the various authorities concerned; bring pressure on the those authorities to take action according to the law on behalf those bonded labourers who have filed their affidavits; carrying on regular cultural programmes; secure various poverty alleviation programmes for the benefit of bonded labourers and agricultural workers; bu9ild up Self help groups among women in the families of bonded labourers and agricultural workers; work towards universalization of quality elementary education; promote scientific temper and cultural diversity; promote access to health care and herbal medicine; promote sustainable ecology and so on. A National Alliance on Bonded Labour (NABoL) is also promoted since 2007 to bring together various organisations and movements working on bonded labour in the country and to strengthen their involvement on bonded labour. In Karnataka, bonded labourers and landless agricultural workers are formed into a trade union since 1990 which has been registered in 1997. The union takes up various rights issues of bonded labourers and agricultural workers like the implementation of minimum and equal wages, right to education, right to information, right to housing, right to food, right to work and right to drinking water. They also take part in Panchayat Raj institutions, especially in getting elected to Gram Panchayata and in seeing that the funds for development reach the intended beneficiaries.
Name Your Project
Empowering bonded labourers, landless agricultural workers, dalits and adivasis to eradicate bonded labour.
Describe Your Idea
Building up the agency of bonded labourers, landless agricultural workers, dalit and adivasi youth to take action against bonded labour.
Innovation
What is your signature innovation, your new idea, in one sentence?
Building up the agency of bonded labourers, landless agricultural workers, dalit and adivasi youth to take action against bonded labour.
Describe your innovation. What makes your idea unique and different than others doing work in the field?
From the very beginning of taking up the first initiatives on bonded labour in Karnataka, dalit youth were involved on a voluntary basis and as a movement. The first initiative was to get the correct data on bonded labour in the entire taluk through a scientific survey and analysis. Hence the emphasis from the beginning on action oriented research and research backed action in our movement. Once the data was gathered and analysed, the data was taken up almost simultaneously in a two pronged action, which characterises all the activities of the movement to this day. The two pronged action was lobbying with the government to make it commit to action on bonded labour according to the law and organising and conscientizing bonded labourers identified in the different villages in the taluk of Anekal, Bangalore Urban district. [A taluk is a sub-district under a revenue administrator called tahsildar]. After the survey, each of the identified bonded labourers were motivated and guided to file applications for their release and rehabilitation to the district magistrate. A prominent dalit leader and initiator and ideologue of the the dalit movement in Karnataka who was just then nominated to the Karnataka legislature was persuaded to raise a question on bonded labour in the legislature based on the data of the survey. The bonded labourers in the different villages were formed into organizations/union in their villages. They were brought together for trainings on leadership and social analysis and for struggles to secure their rights.
Delivery Model: How do you implement your innovation and apply it to the challenge/problem you are addressing?
A team of 7 to 15 committed dalit and adivasi youth are identified in a taluk. They are given sufficient orientations and trainings on bonded labour Act, social analysis and leadership skills and empowered to take up action action on behalf of the bonded labourers in their taluks. The bonded labourers and landless agricultural workers in the taluk are formed into a union with units in a village and at the taluk level. They are made to gather for weekly meetings where in the presence of Jeevika activists they discuss their issues and find ways to mitigate them. The activists take up their case with the concerned authorities. The union leaders and members are also given regular trainings at the taluk level and also at the state level and empowered to take up action on their own behalf.
How do you plan to grow your innovation?
Right now the Jeevika activists and the union leaders carry out various activities in association with each other almost merging the two identities. The union will be guided to become totally independent to plan and execute its activities. The union members being very vulnerable and very poor, are not in a position to mobilise the financial resources from their own contributions. Some sort of support requires to mobilised to support their livelihood concerns and also to support their struggles. The Jeevika activists being from dalit and adivasi communities are likewise very poor. Some means will be found to strengthen their livelihood sources. They have already been trained in a number of areas in which they themselves can be trainers and can take up various activities. The Jeevika activists in each taluk, nearly twenty, are enabled to register their own societies. This will help them to mobilise resources from the government agencies in the Gram Panchayats, their taluks and districts. Informal groups of dalit and adivasi youth are promoted in almost all the taluks in Karnataka state. All these groups form the Jeevika network. The movement and the union are supported by an NGO - Vimukti Trust. Some of the dalit youth in the movement are in the executive and governing bodies of the Trust. Provisions will have to be made to see that periodically leaders from the movement and the union are elected/nominated to the trust.
Do you have any existing partnerships, and if so, how do you create them?
Vimukti Trust / Jeevika is associating with movements/networks like, Campaign Aginst Child Labour - K, National Alliance of People's Movements - K, Karnataka Social Forum, Karnataka State Forum for School Development and Monitoring Committees, Joint Action Forum for the Rights of Children, and national Alliance on Bonded Labour. In the first network, Jeevika joined with the existing network. In the other networks, it is the constituent member; it joined seven other movements and networks to promote the forum. In the last alliance, it took the leading role in promoting the alliance.
Impact
Provide one sentence describing your impact/intended impact.
The impact so far has been phenomenal and has shown possibilities of developing into a people's movement to encompass all the dimensions of the life of the vulnerable.
What are the main barriers to creating or achieving your impact?
The apathy of the government agencies, the vulnerable situation of dalits, adivasis, bonded labourers and agricultural workers, the strong feudal tendencies of the landlords, the entrenched caste mentalities in the Indian society, lack of education and awareness, prevalence of superstitious attitudes, callous disregard of the just claims of unskilled labour.
How many people have you served or plan to serve?
We have reached out directly to twenty thousand or so bonded labourers, agricultural workers and child labourers. Indirectly we may have reached out to lakhs [one lakh is hundred thousand] and lakhs of villagers and the general public, through our cultural programmes, processions, mass public programmes, public speeches, handbills, wall posters, wall writings and reports and articles in news papers and magazines. We plan to reach out to the entire agricultural labour and bonded labour population and also all dalits and adivasis in the state and also the entire population on the dignity of labour and the requirement to build up an egalitarian and exploitation-free society.
Directly
See above.
Indirectly
See above.
Please list any other measures of the impact of your innovation?
Many bonded labourers have on their own taken decisions to wean themselves away from bonded labour without waiting for any grants for rehabilitation from the government. Many bonded laourers have developed into promising leaders of their union. Many women leaders have emerged from the self help groups taking up the causes of women in their villages. The incidence of bonded labour is reduced much in the twenty taluks of intense involvement in the past ten years or so. The movement leaders and the movement is recognised by other movements and government agencies and are invited to conduct different programmes. They easily take up leadership roles in any gathering or common programme.
Is there a policy intervention element to your innovation?
Jeevika / Vimukti Trust was invited by the Principal Secretary, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Ministry, Karnataka in 2004 to draw up an Action Plan for the rehabilitation of bonded labourers in the state. The Action Plan was drawn up by Kiraan Kamal Prasad in 2005. It has been finally approved in July 2007 and is being printed by the Karnataka Government. Vimukti Trust has suggested to the GOK to print 10,000 copies of the Action Plan in Kannada and 1000 copies in English and circulate it to the the GP secretaries and all the revenue inspectors and village accountants. Vimukti Trust has suggested to involve all the government functionaries, administrative, police and judicial while distributing the Action Plan, so that the Action Plan is taken seriously by the officials concerned.
Exactly who are the beneficiaries of your innovation?
Bonded labourers, landless agricultural workers, dalits, adivasis, landless agricultural workers, child workers, women in the families of bonded labourers and agricultural workers, villagers and also the general public. Dalits (technically the former untouchables in Indian society) were the ‘captive slaves’ in the caste system and even now +90%of the bonded labourers in India come from dalit communities. Adivasis, number about 7.5%of the Indian population, and though they do not form part of the caste system, some of the adivasis are treated in worse than the untouchables.
This Entry is about (Issues)
Sustainability
How is your initiative financed (or how do you expect your initiative will be financed)?
By international donor agencies to a great extent, by government funds minimally, by public donations and by membership fees of the union to a small extent.
If known, provide information on your finances and organization
Annual Budget in 2006-2007
Funds Received
From Govt: Rs. 6,79,711/-; From Foreign sources: 71,11,211; From Other sources: 26,01,985.
Total Income: 103,92,907. Total Expenditure: Rs. 135,64,639.
Activists:
Full time: 47 Male; 28 Female.
Part time: 95 Male; 8 Female.
What is the potential demand for your innovation?
All the bonded labourers and landless agricultural workers will be attracted to the union and the movement of Jeevika. The dalit and adivasi youth will join the movement of Jeevika in great numbers. Other community youth will also be attracted to the egalitarian dreams and other ideals of the movement.
What are the main barriers to financial sustainability?
The main barriers are the utter poverty of bonded labourers and landless agricultural workers and also the very poor situation of many of the dalit and adivasi youth in the villages. Many villagers and Indians do not come forward easily to support social causes.
The Story
What is the origin of this innovation? Tell us your story.
I was motivated from my childhood and teen age days to devote myself to the cause of the poor. In the course of my studies, I realised that poor in India means to a great extent dalits and adivasis and also the best way of working for the poor was to work for structural change and to organise and conscientize the people to take up their own struggle for their emancipation and empowerment. I sought out a junior research fellowship offered by the Karnataka University because I had secured a first class first in my post graduation studies in Social Anthropology and went to stay with Siddis (Africans in Karnataka brought as slaves by the Portuguese) in June 1983 so as to study their life and conditions, to organise and conscientize them. As part of of the effort I undertook a complete monograph on the socio economic and political and cultural situation and took up the cause of getting them recognised as a scheduled tribe. They have been recognised as an ST group by the Parliament in 2003. I again sought out the Junior Research Fellowship offered by the UGC in 1985 when I had passed the NET when UGC first conducted it in that year. I went and stayed with dalits in Anekal. I cultivated dalit youth to put up street theatre to canvas on Panchayat Raj when PR Act was brought in Karnataka in 1986. This caused a lot of turmoil in the village which resulted in a social boycott on the dalits in the village to send me away from the village. I was once literally thrown out of the village with one high caste person kicking me from behind. The SPO investing the incident asked me how many bonded labourers were there in the village. When I gave her a list of 40 bonded labourers in that village, she remarked "Now I know why they are against you." This remark made me reflect on the issue and to take up the issue for systematic intervention.
Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers marketing material
Born in 16-9-1951 (by some mistake registered at the panchayat office as 14-09-1951)
Studies: (Science and Maths up to Intermediate), BA in Kannada Major, B.Ph. in Philosophy, B.Th. in Theology, MA in Social Anthropology, LL.B., registered for doctoral studies at the national Law School Of India University, Bangalore.
Taught Kannada in a High School in 1975-76; in a College in 1979-1980 and part time in 1987-1992;
Married in 1998; wife died from a motor accident in 2003; now am single and no children.
Involvement with Siddis in 1983-84
Involvement with dalits and bonded labour in one taluk in 1985 - 1993; at the state level since 1993.
Emphasis of Work
Emphasis is mainly protection and prevention. All the interventions detailed above either speak of the various measures at protecting the interests of bonded labourers and landless agricultural workers, dalits and adivasis. They also highlight the concern to effectively promote the preventive mechanisms mainly by building up strong people's movement and the agency of the bonded labourers and the agricultural workers and by securing the various pertinent rights of the vulnerable.
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Comments
Dear Rashmi, thank you for your appreciation of our work. In all our work we have tried to reach out to all the bonded labourers in Kasrnataka in as large a area as people. We only wish to reach to every village in Karnataka to tackle bonded labour./ For this, since 2006 we have adopted one strategy to mobilise dalit youth to tackle bonded labour in all the present 176 taluks of Karntaka. I hope, with proper support, we will succeed in that strategy.
I am Manu Alphonse, the director of "Social watch - Tamilnadu", a state-level public policy advocacy-cum research organisation. Having watched Ashoka Changemakers from a distance and Vimukthi Trust from a much less distance, I am convinced that the two are made for each other! The multipronged approach of the Vimukthi trust - research, cultural action, political mobilisation, leadership building etc - in a field which has defied all solutions in this country - the bondedness of labourers - has always inspired me! I have always had the privilege of a close friendship with Kmal Prasad, based on common commitments and concerns! Ashoka Changemakers will gain lots of credibility by taking Vimukthi trust in its fold!
Dear Manu, thank you for sharing your admiration for all our work all these years. I am so happy that you have observed the multi-pronged approach Vimukti Trust has adopted in tackling bonded labour. It is my firm belief that bonded labour cannot be correctrly understtod not properly solved if it is is not understood in its relationship with dalits, adivasis and the caste system, which means we necessaraily require to take up a multi dimensionsal strategy to attack bonded labour system. Thanks to the committed teams of Jeevika/VT, we have have been able to initiate many such direly needed initiatives.
Hello Kiran, great to see all the reviews and appreciation. in my view you and your team at Vimukti/Jeevika deserve each bit of it.
My name is Pradeep Esteves and have been involved in the development sector for the past 30 years, first 20 at the grass roots and the last 20 by supporting organisations by faciitating change processes within them. During one of such facilitation process, I happened to get to know Kiran Kamal Prasad. This gave me the good opportunity to accompany the Jeevika team through a change and reflection process which gave me a deeper insight into the work they have done with regard to the releasing and organising the Bonded labourers for their proper rehabilitation through formation of Sanghas.
Apart from this Kiran has done vast research on the Siddi communities and has also published many books. Today when you go into some remote villages in Karnataka, the mention of Kiran and Jeevika could be heard with regard to their work on relasing bonded labour
In my view, the greatest achievement of Kiran and Jeevika has been to persistently persue that bonded labour had not been eradicated as was being claimed by the government, but had taken different forms. The biggest challenge Jeevika and Kiran have overcome, in my view is in having the government to accept the prevalence of bonded labour, which in itself is a great achievement that has paved the recognition of the rights of the bonded labourers in the country.
All the best to Kiran, and in my view Kiran deserves all support and also deserves the recognition through the presentation of this award.
Pradeep
Thank you Pradeep for your fulsome praise of my work with bonded labourers and the Siddis, You hae rightly recognised our role in making the Goernment change is stand on bonded labour and recognise the existence of teh evil even now and also tht it continues to tke different forms which have to be tackled according to the existing legislation. But we still feel still a lot has to be achieved in this regard. The goernment machinery is such a hard nut to crack thast we cannot remian compalecent. We require to see that sound institutioanl processes are set up with the administration at the levels of the countryl, statye, district , taluk and Gram (village) pachayat. This is the task we have to address now amoang other things. We have also to continue to sensitise the government at the levels of not only the administration bu also the judiciary, the police and people's rrepresentatives. I believe with support from peopele like you and other organisations an movements we can achieve whaat requires to be done in the interest of the boned labourers and dalits.
I know Kiran Kamal Prasad in Bangalore in 2004 when we co-founded an ONG associated with the UNESCO Slave Route Project named The TADIA Society (The Society for Research, Culture, Education and Development of he African Diaspora in Asia. In 2005 I had the satisfaction of indicating successfully the name of Kiran as the South Asian representant in the UNESCO International Scientific Committee.
I admire the exceptional social work realized by him in the benefit of the Dalit, Siddis and other empowered and enslaved Indian communities.
Prof. Dr. Jean-Pierre Angenot
Full Professor, Universidade Federal de Rondônia, Brasil
Dear prof. Angenot, thank you for your admiration for my work with dalits and the Siddis.
I know Kiran Kamal Prasad in Bangalore in 2004 when we co-founded an ONG associated with the UNESCO Slave Route Project named The TADIA Society (The Society for Research, Culture, Education and Development of he African Diaspora in Asia. In 2005 I had the satisfaction of indicating successfully the name of Kiran as the South Asian representant in the UNESCO International Scientific Committee.
I admire the exceptional social work realized by him in the benefit of the Dalit, Siddis and other empowered and enslaved Indian communities.
Prof. Dr. Jean-Pierre Angenot
Full Professor, Universidade Federal de Rondônia, Brasil
Prof. Angenot's interest and invlovement with the African diaspora in Asia (TADIA) and his association with me in that regard, revitalised my earliest systematic social involvement after my post graduation studies in social anthropology with the Siddis (the African diaspora in Karnataka/India) since 1983. After 1983-84, I had kept up the efforts to get the Siddis included in the list of schduled tribes in whatever way I could. Prof. Angenot initiated in 2003 an internet network, TADIA, of scholars working on and institutions interestd in the African diaspora in Asia, which gained a membership of nearly 300 scholars and 150 institutions in just two years. The Angenot linguist couple came to Goa to do a study on the Siddi Konkani. Prof. Angenot also suggested that we organise an international conference on the African diaspora in Asia in 2006 and The Tadia Society was formed with me as its secretary to facilitate the organisation of the conference. The conference was a great success. I was entrustted with editing the papers and publishing them with support from the Unesco Slave Route Project. The book will be out in print soon. I was nominated on the UNESCOSRP international advisory committee. I started involving myself with the developmental concerns of the Siddis in Karnataka. Involvement with the Tadia Conference and the editing of the papers has widened my theoretical concerns of international slavery, enslaved Africans and linking African slavery with contemporary slavery in bonded labour. The siddis with their historical past in slavery also show unique dynamics in their living situation in karnataka, many of them also being bonded labourers and the Siddis interacting with the caste structures of Indian Society. The Siddis also strikingly bring to the fore the African substratum in Indian society- the primordial African migration to India, the present Negritos in Andamans, the Siddis. The issues of bonded labour and the Siddis are intimately linked.
Mr. Kiran Kamal Prasad has been working towards eradication of Bonded Labour and dalits in Karnataka and many other states of India for many years. I was staying together with him and i have seen his work and concern towrds them and for their cause .I have followed Mr. Kiran Kamal Prasad in his work towards eradication of Bonded Labour and they are carrying a great work .
I have also met these people and have been closely associated with few who are working strongly along with Mr. Kiran . In his campaign’s he has been providing education to child labourer’s in many parts of rural Karnataka. He spent his whole life for these people and for their betterment.He has reached a lot a people in rural villages educated them and has bought about awareness among these people . He is also working for siddis in india and also uplifting these people towards better life.
I extend my full support to him and the vimukti trust in his mission of eradicating bonded labourers
-Harsha Lobo
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