Freed bonded laborers have been one of the biggest victims of state apathy and the protracted political deadlock. Although the Kamaiya system was formally abolished in Nepal in 2000, most of the freed laborers continue to live in utter destitution. Whichever government comes to power, they complain, does not make a difference, as no political party has shown the willingness to ensure justice for them. Indeed, it was in 2008 that the government declared Banke, Bardiya and Kanchanpur districts in western Nepal as “bonded laborer free districts” and promised to provide the freed laborers with adequate land to till, and financial and material help to construct their homes.
But nearly four years on, most of the freed laborers have either been partially compensated or have received none of the promised help. According to bonded labor activists, in Banke district alone 1,743 families have not received wood for house construction; another 400 are yet to receive Rs 10,000 that the government promised for the same purpose.
Similarly, Haliyas, the agriculture bonded laborers, were freed from servitude in 2008. But their freedom only seems to have added to their distress. While declaring them free, the government did not hold the landlords responsible for the rehabilitation of the laborers. Now the situation is such that even those who earlier had shelter have been left homeless and without any work. Likewise, around 1,000 Tharu girls (kamlaris) are reported to be still indentured in remote villages or with powerful families in Kathmandu.
In perhaps the most damning evidence of their reluctance to eradicate the kamalari system, many of the young girls were found to be working for high-ranking political leaders; but the underage girls were also found employed by people from a range of sectors, from journalists to police, suggesting that people still tend to overlook the injustice of employing underage girls if they are benefitting from cheap and exploitable labor force.
As the freed laborers have been saying, the government’s announcement that they are free citizens holds little significance unless the state shows its commitment to fulfill past promises. In Banke district alone, over 2,600 laborers remain deprived of their rightful compensation. This blatant oversight of their plight has bred considerable resentment among the laborers who still have to run from pillar to post just to remain alive.
At a time the country is undergoing unprecedented political and socio-economic upheaval, the state’s failure to look after the needs of ex-bonded laborers could throw them into the arms of radical forces like Mohan Baidya’s Maoist party that has been championing the cause of radical land reform. But that is not the primary reason the problem needs to be addressed without further ado. More than anything else, it is the duty of a democratic government to look after the needs of its people. With the freed Kamaiyas, it is a question of protecting their most basic right to food, shelter and education.
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