Seventy one-year-old Chadra's family has been living the life of bonded tillers for four generations just to get food to eat from his landlord. Although the government declared an end to the bonded-labor practice in 2007, he has been compelled to continue as a bonded laborer even today.
"My ancestors started working for landlord Dhurba Raj Pandit as bonded laborers hundreds of years ago, and we're still doing the same thing," he said. "My family will have nothing to eat if I stop ploughing my landlord's fields."There are nine members in the Chadra family, and they have to plough the fields for three harvests a year, according to him.
Like Chadra, many other locals residing in the remoter part of Bajura district are still serving as bonded tillers just for the sake of a hand-to-mouth existence for their families. Government data does noit include the Haliya in Nuwakot. This is evident for the fact that the Haliya, who have only been freed on paper, are all facing the same fate as Chadra.
The situation of the Haliya has remained unchanged due to the government's apathy towards resolving their problem through actual measures, according to stakeholders.
Only 922 locals have been certified as bonded tillers in Bajura district, as per the Federation of National Freed Haliya´ Society (FNFHS).
One of the Haliya, Lal Bahadur BK, said that many locals from the remote villages who are still serving as bonded tillers have not yet been included in the government's records.
"Freeing the Haliya is limited to a declaration only," said BK. "We're compelled to continue the old-age slavery just for our food."
The government has already freed the Haliya legally, but that has not solved their problem at all. The Haliya alleged that the government has not taken their problems seriously and has failed to rehabilitate them with any meaninful plan.
Meanwhile, Balram Bhattarai, a coordinator for Haliya advocacy, said that fair and just rehabilitation and certification for the bonded tillers has yet to be effected.
"The conditions of the freed Kamaiya and Haliya are the same although the government has abolished these age-old traditions of social injustice," said Bhattarai. If only the government arranges a source of livelihood for the freed laborers, the change can become sustainable and bring about transformation in their lives, according to him.
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