Bonded Labor: Tackling the System of Slavery in South AsiaColumbia University Press, 2014 M05 6 - 336 pages Siddharth KaraÕs Sex Trafficking has become a critical resource for its revelations into an unconscionable business, and its detailed analysis of the tradeÕs immense economic benefits and human cost. This volume is KaraÕs second, explosive study of slavery, this time focusing on the deeply entrenched and wholly unjust system of bonded labor. Drawing on eleven years of research in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, Kara delves into an ancient and ever-evolving mode of slavery that ensnares roughly six out of every ten slaves in the world and generates profits that exceeded $17.6 billion in 2011. In addition to providing a thorough economic, historical, and legal overview of bonded labor, Kara travels to the far reaches of South Asia, from cyclone-wracked southwestern Bangladesh to the Thar desert on the India-Pakistan border, to uncover the brutish realities of such industries as hand-woven-carpet making, tea and rice farming, construction, brick manufacture, and frozen-shrimp production. He describes the violent enslavement of millions of impoverished men, women, and children who toil in the production of numerous products at minimal cost to the global market. He also follows supply chains directly to Western consumers, vividly connecting regional bonded labor practices to the appetites of the world. KaraÕs pioneering analysis encompasses human trafficking, child labor, and global security, and he concludes with specific initiatives to eliminate the system of bonded labor from South Asia once and for all. |
Contents
An Overview | 1 |
Kamaiya and Hari | 49 |
3 Bricks and Bidis | 78 |
4 Shrimp and Tea | 104 |
5 Construction and Stone Breaking | 132 |
6 Carpets and Other Sectors | 158 |
7 Bonded Labor and the Law | 185 |
8 Tackling Bonded Labor | 208 |
Select Bonded Labor Economics | 247 |
Select Bonded Labor Supply Chains | 257 |
Bonded Labor as Defined by Indias Bonded Labour System Abolition Act 1976 | 261 |
Bonded Labor Law and Cases Pakistan Nepal Bangladesh India | 265 |
Select Economic and Human Development Statistics | 271 |
Notes | 273 |
293 | |
299 | |
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Common terms and phrases
agreement agricultural Asian Bandhua Mukti Morcha Bangladesh bangles bidi rolling bidis bonded and child bonded labor Bonded Labour System brick kiln brickmaking British carpet weaving caste child labor construction costs debt bondage deductions Delhi demand-side documented economic eliminate bonded labor enforcement ensure forced labor former kamaiya global hari human rights human trafficking huts income individuals industry initiatives jamadars janajati kamaiya kamaiya system kamaliri Kathmandu labor exploitation labor in South land landowners living million minimum wages Nepal NGOs overall paid Pakistan peasants penalty People’s percent peshgi poverty Pradesh production Profit prosecuted quarries Revenues rural season sector servitude shrimp farming Sindh slavelike South Asia stonebreakers stones supply chain Supreme Court system of bonded tion told Total trafficked slaves typically U.S. dollars Union of India vicarious liability village weighted average western Terai women workers zamindars