An app to tackle bonded labour
It’s shocking to think that around 40 million people worldwide are estimated to be trapped in modern slavery today – more than ever before – as poverty, conflict and crises fuel the growing global slave trade. In India, which accounts for almost 8 million or 20%, making it the largest absolute contributor to modern slavery, our project partners, Seva, regularly come face-to-face with this reality in the form of bonded labour.
Although illegal, the practice of bonded labour is commonplace in the country. For some time the Seva team has been trying to tackle this issue, however during a recent Covid outreach in a number of Adivasi (indigenous tribal) villages, the team heard stories from many bonded labourers. After the rice harvest, many leave their villages to give their labour as security against money they have borrowed, or when they inherit a debt from a relative. Some are lured into buying ‘luxury goods’ like mobile ‘phones in the promise of secure jobs and medical cover, which never materialises. Many don’t realise that there are laws to protect their rights to a minimum wage, basic amenities and fair treatment – but remain in debt bondage to owners who deny them these rights – often with impunity. For many, Covid has pushed them further into debt and bondage.
“Every year families leave our village to bond themselves to landlords to pay off their debts,” one elderly lady explained. “It has been like this for as long as I can remember.”
Although Seva has been addressing labour and rights issues on the village ‘speakerbox’ programmes and encouraging other ways for people to earn a living, the team realised that families that had left their villages to work, never had access to the programmes.
Team leader Shilpa told me, “After these labourers shared their stories, and we realised they were missing out on the information that could really help them through the speakerboxes, we came up with the idea of creating an ‘app’, that could deliver content right onto their own mobile ‘phones. They will soon be able to listen, without fear from their bosses, any topic they want to hear and even what kind of format, whether a song, drama or interview,” she added.
Most importantly though, this app will give bonded labourers vital access to information, which could help them make better choices which could change their lives. It will also enable them to have conversations with others and will create a safe space to share their experiences.
The app, simply called, “Adivasincha Aavaj“, or “Adivasi Voices”, will go live in March and will be trialled in one village first. This will enable us to learn lessons and discover how it could become more widely available to many other people facing similar injustices in other parts of India.