MP bonded labourers still live a condemned life

Chirpura (Madhya Pradesh): For them, an occasion of celebration or a tragedy in the family has common fallout, a cursed bonded life.

Welcome to the world of “Barsudiyas” (literally bonded labourers), the “caged birds” of Madhya Pradesh. Almost entire tribal populations of three villages in Harda district in MP have fallen victim to feudal culture, prevalent in a few backwards pockets in rural hinterland of the state that has rendered them to subjugation socially, economically and psychologically.

And their submission to the “condemned life”, it appears, is complete for they saw in it a comfort zone they do not dare to step out.

Last time a community member had dared to dream a life beyond their world was nearly half-a-decade ago, but his “valiant” initiation had left him shattered, financially and morally.

His failed experiment with an alternative life has, tragically, further cemented the fixed mindset, the community has; “Son of a barsudiya is bound to work as barsudiya.”

Manis Uike had opted for bank loan instead of approaching the local landlord for money to buy a tractor to do farming in his five acre land in Chirpura village. He feared that his dependence on local money lender would lead him to perennial indebtedness forcing him to turn a bonded labourer for him.

Later, the bank seized the tractor owing to his irregular debt servicing, causing mental agony. Villagers said he suffered from depression thereafter and died.

“Had he taken the loan from zamindar (landlord), he would have never landed in such a misery. He could have made his son a ‘barsudiya’ to repay the loan if he had failed to pay back the money,” a tribal in the village, who is the third generation ‘barsudiya’ in his family, told this newspaper on Sunday on condition of his identity being concealed.

Barsudiyas, who are either landless or marginal farmers, borrow money from their landlords in their time of needs such as conducting marriages in their family or arranging medical treatment for a sick kin or performing rituals of a deceased member in the family. “The borrowings are adjusted from the monthly paltry wages in phases, leading them to go for more borrowings from the ‘zamindars’ to meet their daily needs, which land them into the trap of a life of a bonded labourer,” Sandeep Kumar Mishra, a research scholar in sociology department in Barkatullah University here, told this newspaper. Many barsudiyas have, thus, been into the system generation after generation.

The “zamindars” have given each barsudiyas a cheap cell phone so that they could call them at any time in day and night. The tribals cannot afford to buy talk time and are seen using the cell phones to interact with their family members with “coded language” of giving missed calls.

They give miss calls as per an arrangement with their family members to reach an appointed place, termed by them as “sign language.”

“We are comfortable in this system since, at least, we are getting job round the year,” another barsudiya in the village said.

“The barsudiyas are so busy managing their daily life that they hardly have time to think of a better life than the one they are leading,” Mr Mishra said. “They are living life of a caged bird,” he added.

“I am worried of losing my job ever since my landlord told me he is planning to hire a drone to spray pesticides on crops,” another barsudiya said.

His narrative described how the landlords are playing mind games with them to ensure that they do not desert them.