Building a Wider
Horizon With Labour
When police raided the brick kiln in southern India where Siriya Banchor had been conned into a life of bonded labour-along with hundreds of other poor, illiterate migrants- the 48-year-old seemed more bewildered than relieved. Fumbling in the darkness of a windowless mud-and-brick room she had shared with her family for more than two months, Banchor stuffed her things into a sack, took her child’s hand and emerged into the bright glare of the afternoon sun. “I have two sets of clothes, two utensils and a little rice. We came with nothing, hoping to earn enough to pay back our loan,” she said, stepping over piles of half-baked bricks to join other rescued workers waiting to board trucks that would take them to temporary lodgings.
