Report on Bonded Labour in Karnataka: Analysing the Effectiveness of the Programmes for the Eradication of the Bonded Labour System

[Brick Kiln Database - Working Paper]

This study was a part of an Indian project to research on bonded labour system in Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Karnataka, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. It was a South Asia regional project on bonded labour coordinated by the Anti Slavery International. The series of working papers, outcome of these studies, gives an account of changing dynamics of labour bondage in India. The study looks into the reasons for the ineffectiveness of the programmes initiated by the government, international organisations and NGOs in this direction. It also tries to understand and conceptualise the newer, and increasingly elusive, forms of bondage relations. In Karnataka, the study mainly focused on the role of JEEVIKA (Jeetha Vimukti Karnataka), an NGO working for the identification, release and rehabilitation of bonded labourers. The study covers the villages in the districts of Mysore and Kolar where the interventions of JEEVIKA are prevalent.