Migrant workers from Odisha belonging to tribal and Dalit communities brought to work in brick kilns of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh continue to be exploited despite laws and constitutional mandates that prevent bonded labour. Two recent incidents reported from these states reveal the extent of ill-treatment towards workers from economically and socially marginalised groups, employed in brick kilns in lieu of loans advanced to them.
After working for six months at a brick kiln in NTR district of Andhra Pradesh, Ranka Bag, a 42-year-old tribal man and his family, which included a child, decided to go back to their hometown in Odisha’s Balangir on May 9. However, the owner of the brick kiln denied their request and forced them to stay back. Ranka told TNM that the owner even asked them to return the advance if they wished to leave. Humiliated by the behaviour of the owner who verbally abused him, Ranka became more firm and desperate to leave the place and return home as he felt threatened by the owner.
In November 2022, Ranka and 11 others were paid an advance amount of Rs 35,000 on the condition that they work for six months in a brick kiln in Donabanda in Mylavaram town of NTR district. There was no written agreement. “The owner never treated us well. He would sometimes pay us around Rs 200 or Rs 300 a month for buying food as we were already paid in advance. We had to work from 3 am in the morning to 11 am and then again from 3 pm to 9 pm or 10 pm. How will we work without proper food?”
Ranka and his family are a blip in the wave of people who migrate seasonally from the Balangir district, predominantly Adivasis and Dalits. According to a report published by Scroll.in, an estimated 1,00,000- 1,25,000 workers from Balangir migrate every year. District officials we spoke to however contested this figure and claimed that only a tenth of this number migrate from Balangir. Nevertheless, these migrant workers are susceptible to exploitation as they travel to southern states, mostly to the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, to work in brick kilns for meagre wages in the months of October to May. They are often denied the freedom to return home after the agreed period of work ends, which results in conflicts.
According to Samata India, a tribal welfare NGO, nearly 1500 Adivasi migrants have been rescued by the organisation since January 2023. Most of the rescue work happened in Telangana, where 1000 people were found to be in distress, followed by Andhra Pradesh (300) and Karnataka (200).
E Rajini, a social worker at Migrant Assistance and Information Network (MAIN), an NGO that helps migrant workers in distress, said the workers are paid less than Rs 200 per day. “There is no minimum wage, and the pay is decided by the middlemen and the owners of brick kilns,” Rajini said. The workers stay on to complete the work as agreed even for low wages because of the conditions back home. “What the workers seek is minimum respect at the workplace, which the owners fail to acknowledge. Instead, they use foul language on workers,” she said.
Ranka is one of the lucky ones. He decided to leave before the end of six months as the ill-treatment and verbal abuse became unbearable. When the owner refused, he reached out to Samata India, which requested the police to interfere. Thirteen migrant workers including a child were rescued from Mylavaram on May 11 with the help of Andhra Pradesh Police and sent to Balangir. Ibrahimpatnam Sub Inspector, P Srinu, who carried out the rescue, said they had worked for five and half months.
In less than a month two similar incidents were reported from Telangana, one each from the districts of Medak and Yadadri Bhuvanagiri. On May 14, from Shivampet of Medak district, 14 Adivasi migrant labourers, including three children, were rescued. They too hailed from Balangir. “The owner asked us to work for a few more months without extra pay. He threatened to verbally abuse women when we tried to stop him speaking in foul language with our men,” said Pushpanjali, a 25-year-old Adivasi woman.
On May 9, Telangana police rescued 167 people, including 50 children, from Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district. Ajay Tanda, a 25-year-old, who was part of the group of workers, alleged that he and other men were beaten up by the brick kiln owner and his accomplices when they informed them of their decision to return home.
"167 #Migrants_brick_kiln_workers of Odisha including 50 children rescued from Pochampalli brick kiln".
Received SOS from civil society Samata,@susheelshinde98 @hemprasad_J on migrant brick kiln workers from Bolangir, Odisha in distressed condition. Immediately on our… pic.twitter.com/jRLbEUczAD— CID, TELANGANA STATE POLICE (@CIDTelangana) May 9, 2023
“The owner paid us Rs 40,000 in November. He never paid us anything in all the six months. He threatened us when we told him we want to leave. He insisted that we work for two more months without pay,” said Ajay. The workers would have agreed if they paid them for extra work, he said.
Speaking to TNM, Yadadri Bhuvanagiri Deputy Commissioner of Police, Rajesh Chandra, said no action has been taken against the owner yet. “The owner is a registered brick kiln owner. He claims that some migrant labourers worked only for a week here and decided to leave because of which he was at loss. The Labour Department has to enquire into this and submit a report. As per primary inputs, the owner is also at fault because he had paid the workers in cash, which is illegal, and did not maintain records,” the DCP said. The workers were sent to their hometown on a train after they expressed their wish to return home.
Rule 21(sub-rule (2)(vi)) of the Minimum Wages (Central) Rules, 1950 outlines specific deductions that are permitted from workers' wages for the recovery of advances. It states that advances cannot be made in excess of what the employee would have earned over the course of two calendar months. Additionally, it states that "the monthly deduction instalment shall not, in any event, exceed one-fourth of the wages earned in such month.” Significant changes were made, however, by Section 18(2)(f)(i) of the Code on Wages, 2019 which eliminates the limit of not more than two months of a worker's wages that an employer may give as an advance and permits deductions from wages for the repayment of advances with interest, without specifying the interest rate the employer may charge. The Code raises the maximum monthly deduction that may be made in order to recover such costs to half of the employee's monthly salary.
Ajay Tanda said he was paid Rs 34,000 by a middleman (colloquially called Sardar) in November through UPI and the remaining amount in cash in November. “Some in the group had arrived in the last week of December but almost everyone had completed at least four months of work. The middleman has the details but it’s doubtful whether he would take our side since the kiln owner pays him also for furnishing manpower,” said Ajay.
Moinuddin, a Labour Department official in Bhongir, told TNM that the workers arrived in November. “The workers were insisting on going back to their hometown. If they had complained, necessary action would have been taken,” he said.
Sushant Panigrahi, Director of Samata, said the cases are not simply cases of human rights violation but have many layers. “The people are paid six months in advance and trafficked without any registration or agreement. This is bonded labour and not just trafficking. The Sardar also holds their identity cards. The owner has an attitude that he paid money not just for work and behaves as if he owns them. The migrant labourers are treated inferior because they do not speak their language and it is easier to abuse them while the local workers are paid a lot better for the same kind of work,” said Sushant
The Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976, defines “advance” as payments made in cash or in kind, or partly in cash or partly in kind, by the creditor to the debtor based on an agreement for providing forced labour based on agreements, which can be oral or written. Offenders are punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and a fine. The practice, also known as debt bondage, is also prohibited vide Articles 21 and 23 of the Constitution.
Sushant said no records of employment are maintained right from the payment of the advance. “Many factors are involved, the brick kilns are not registered and hence they cannot provide labour cards. The workers are eligible for compensation and rehabilitation after they are rescued but it is denied in the absence of the agreement papers between the owner and the workers,” he said. The exploitation continues to happen as the government departments responsible for regularly checking the brick kilns fail to do so.
On February 15, this year, 72 people including seven girls were rescued from a brick kiln site at Darga Thanda village of Sangareddy district in Telangana. The girls were admitted to Sakhi centre, a centre which provides assistance to women and children in distress, as there were allegations of sexual abuse. Owners of the brick kiln were booked under provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and Child Labour Act.
A 2005 paper published by the International Labour Office and authored by professor S Ravi Srivatsava, noted that in the non-agriculture sectors, stone quarries and brick kilns have a high incidence of bonded labour, where the workers are recruited by middlemen at low wages. According to the author, migrant workers from western Odisha districts of Kalahandi, Bolangir, Koraput, and Gajapati, accept advances through middlemen and are taken to work in brick kilns in other districts of the state or in Andhra Pradesh. Members of the Gond, Sabar, Dal, Mirdha, Khond and Binjhal tribes in Odisha are most vulnerable to this form of bonded labour, as well as certain Dalits communities.
The paper states that the need for credit and the need to seek employment and livelihoods under bondage among tribal groups, who migrate, are caused by land alienation. Tribal people are uprooted from their traditional habitat as non-tribals gain control over land. They are also impacted by declining forest cover, low agricultural productivity, and poor irrigation facilities.
Female workers at work in a brick kiln
Chanchal Rana, District Collector of Balnagir spoke to TNM and reiterated that it is mainly the residents of four districts — Koraput, Kalahandi, Balangir and Gajapati — who migrate to other states to work in brick kilns. However, he mentioned that Balangir relatively witnesses lower migration. The IAS officer said that only six blocks of the district have been witnessing migration and contribute significantly to rice and cotton production in the state.
Speaking about the measures taken by the administration, he said, “We have brought in a unique initiative to encourage participation in NREGS. In addition to the 100 days guaranteed by the centre, the state government provides another 200 days of work in these six blocks.” Chanchal Rana elaborated on other programs taken up in the area — a dairy development scheme for inclusive participation of women, establishing 25 seasonal hostels for school children, and encouraging procurement of cotton by private players to provide better returns. The district police also launched a program ‘Mission Udhar’ to streamline the migration, prevent inhumane trafficking, and rescue migrant workers in distress. TNM will verify the delivery and implementation of the schemes in the district soon.
In collaboration with Aide at Action, the state government of Odisha has been implementing Mission Udhaar in the district. Umi Daniel, Director, Migration & Education Thematic unit at Aide et Action (South Asia) told TNM that at least 25000 people have registered themselves before departure to other states and 40 Sardars were booked for human trafficking. “Through this, the trafficking can be avoided as the Sardar and principal employer (the brick kiln owner) are known to the state. The anganwadis play an important role in registration and maintaining contact with them before departure to arrival,” he said.
Explaining the reasons behind the reason for cases not being booked under The Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, Daniel said, “There is a procedure to be followed, for the case to be filed under the Act. Once proved, the District Magistrate gives a certificate that the person has been released from bonded labour and a relief of Rs 20,000 will be provided. They are reintegrated at the source state and get benefits from their state and Union government too. All this will take at least a few days and the migrants do not wish to stay any longer once being rescued by the police.”
Uni Daniel pointed out that the states should come together to address the problem and said, “Earlier there was MoU between Odisha and erstwhile Andhra Pradesh governments. But after the bifurcation, there is not much discussion to sign MoUs again.”
Suresh Gutta, Regional Manager (Chennai and Hyderabad), Aide et Action (India) said that since the numbers are high and the state governments are ashamed of them, they do not prosecute under the Bonded Labour Act. They are also responsible for compensating the worker when they are freed, which the government is not willing to disburse, he said.
Suresh said brick manufacturing is a Rs 5,000 crore industry in Telangana and it is the responsibility of the state to provide all entitlements like health, education and security to workers.
“Children who accompany their parents lose access to education and are exposed to child labour and sexual exploitation. The workers also have very little access to proper food and medical care,” he said. While the cases are taken up by revenue officials nothing happens because it’s difficult to furnish evidence. Migrant labourers also don’t file official complaints because of lack of resources.
“It is the joint failure of the several stakeholders like departments of Revenue, Women and Child Welfare, Labour, Health and Family Welfare, and Education,” he said
M Kumaraswamy, joint secretary of Telangana Civil Liberties Committee (CLC), alleged that brick kiln owners are connected to powerful people in politics. They are also connected to local government officials. “The police rescue the workers from Chhattisgarh and Odisha frequently and send them back to their states so they can create an impression that they are people-friendly police,” he said.
This reporting is made possible with support from Report for the World, an initiative of The GroundTruth Project.