Reducing Vulnerability to Bondage in India through Promotion of Decent Work

The project adopts a comprehensive approach to enhance the opportunities for decent work and living conditions for vulnerable families in the target sectors. The strategy is based on the premise that, in many instances (which may include “mild”, short-term forms of bondage), workers’ and their families’ interests will be best served by seeking to improve their living and working conditions in situ (including by removing possible elements of bondage and coercion in the labour relationship) rather than by “releasing” them and thus obliging them to uproot and re-establish their lives elsewhere and find alternative employment, homes etc. The “release and rehabilitation” option, provided for under the Bonded Labour system (Abolition) Act should nonetheless remain as a viable alternative in the event that no improvements can be made in situ at the workplace (this would most likely be the case in situations of extreme or “worst” forms of bondage, especially long-term bondage under severely exploitative conditions, and bondage of children). The project accomplishes this through a combination of welfare and rights based approaches in destination and source areas of migrant workers in the targeted sectors. As the cooperation of both employers and workers has been fundamental to the success of the project, and given the history of adversarial approaches to the release of bonded labourers adopted by certain actors in the recent past, the project adopts a carefully sequenced, step-by-step strategy which gradually builds up the confidence of all participating stakeholders over time, through a continuous process of dialogue and consultation at all stages. Given that there is a definite gender dimension to the causes of bonded labour as well as the means to address it, gender analysis and mainstreaming will be implemented consciously at each step of the project.

Project symbol

IND/11/02/CAN

Admin unit

DWT/CO-New Delhi

Start date

31/03/2011

End date

31/08/2013

Total allocation

606745

Total expenditure

Status

Closed

606541

Development Partners

Canada, Human Resources and Social Development Canada, International Labour Affairs

Country/Countries

India

Outcomes

Protection of workers from unacceptable forms of work