Organised by our partner Seva, 7 remote villages were brought together for a cricket match to launch “Adivasincha Aavaj“, or “Adivasi Voices”, a mobile phone app that will give bonded labourers vital access to information, which could transform their lives.  Bonded labour was made illegal in India in 1976, however a 2018 report estimated that around 8 million workers in India were unpaid or held in debt bondage, although campaigners believe the true figure is much higher.

Bonded labourers from an Adivasi community demonstrate a mobile phone app that will transform their lives

Around 200 bonded labourers from the seven communities were able to join the cricketing festivities as they were home for the Hindu festival of Holi that celebrates spring, love, hope and new life.   And team leader Shilpa believes that is exactly what the app is all about, bringing hope and new life.  “We’re breaking the cycle,” says Shilpa.  “These young men did what their parents did and what their parents before them did, but now they will be able to learn about living a life that is free from bondage.”

Although Seva had been addressing the issue of bonded labour and workers rights on the village ‘speakerbox’ programmes for more than a year, our evaluation showed that they were not reaching labourers, because they had already left their villages to work.  It was during Covid that the idea of a mobile phone app first occurred to them.  “As our team were delivering food to vulnerable communities, we had conversations with many bonded labourers and heard their stories of how they were tied because of debt, unaware that there were ways to break the bondage and earn a living,” said Shilpa.

The mobile phone app, which delivers audio programmes and can facilitate interaction between subscribers,  is now available on Android devices, but it will be tested first on this limited audience from a few villages, to learn how it is used and what content they find most valuable.  Once the concept has been tested on this small scale, it can be easily scaled up and tailored to reach bonded labourers across the entire sub-continent in multiple languages.

Shilpa and Maneesha from Seva award the Man of the match and cup to the winning team

After the winning team cup and man of the match awards were given, men from the different villages exchanged names and contact numbers and it became apparent that something very special had happened that day.  “Not only did several villages come together for the first time ever to share their love of cricket,” said Shilpa, “but new bonds of friendship were made and eyes were opened.”  As if a metaphor for life, all the teams were given real cricket balls to take away as they had only had access to plastic cricket balls.   “We’re never going back to old cricket,” said Rajesh, one of the players. “Now that we’ve experienced that there is a better way of playing, we want more of it.”

As everyone returned to their respective villages and the men go back to their bonded labour situations, the Seva team is very aware that they could face a backlash from unscrupulous landlords, once they realise that their cheap labour supply could be threatened, as workers become empowered to break free from their bondage.  But as Shilpa says, “Somebody had to step in.”

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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.

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