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On the occasion of India’s 79th Independence Day, the Union government invited 100 rescued and rehabilitated bonded labourers as ‘Special Guests’ to witness the ceremony in New Delhi.
But even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered a 103-minute-long speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort, there was no mention of these bonded workers.
Sanno, 27, from Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh told The Quint that she has still not received the entire rehabilitation assistance from the government four years after she was rescued from a brick kiln. She and her husband Danish attended the Independence Day ceremony, hoping their woes would be heard and their payout expedited.
“But we were not even addressed. Neither were we given an opportunity to share our struggles, nor were we offered any help to obtain our rehabilitation assistance from the government,” claimed Danish.
“Ye sab to chhodiye, bus ka kiraya tak nahi diya (leave alone compensation, we weren’t even given money for conveyance),” he lamented.
The 27-year-old, who now works as a daily-wage labourer, not only lost his day’s pay—and the means to feed his four young children—but also had to spend money to travel 260 kilometres from Muzaffarnagar to Delhi and back. All for nothing.
This long wait for rehabilitation assistance of Rs 2 lakh, in addition to at least Rs 15 lakh in pending wages, has not only curtailed Sanno’s bid to get her life back on track, but has also pushed her children deep into the cycle of poverty and exploitation.
This is not just the story of Danish and Sanno, but of many other rescued bonded labourers who found themselves trapped in forced servitude repeatedly while they waited for rehabilitation mandated by the government.
'Worked 17 Hours a Day; Got Rs 2,000 Per Month'
Danish, a resident of Sikhreda village in Muzaffarnagar district, had been doing odd jobs since he was 18. Having lost both his parents in early childhood, he neither had means to educate himself nor to sustain.
In 2020, Danish and his wife Sanno were offered work at a local brick kiln. They were promised Rs 650 for every 1,000 bricks they made and were given an advance of Rs 12,000.
“We worked from 11pm to 4pm the next day, i.e. 17 hours in a day. We made 3,000 bricks daily. But we were paid only Rs 1,000 – 2,000 a month,” Danish told The Quint. When he demanded his dues, the manager allegedly thrashed him in front of everyone. “He used to misbehave with Sanno as well,” Danish alleged. But no one spoke up.
Their children – except the youngest daughter – too worked at the kiln, turning wet bricks to dry them.
Unable to support his family on this paltry sum, Danish was compelled to take loans to survive—and inadvertently fell into a debt trap. He said that workers weren’t allowed to leave the kiln and lived in makeshift huts on the factory premises.
Danish and Sanno endured this oppression for nearly eight months before they were rescued by Nirmal Gorana, Convenor of the National Campaign Committee for Eradication of Bonded Labour (NCCEBL).
Gorana explained, “An individual is said to be trapped in bonded labour if he/she a) isn’t given minimum wages; b) loses freedom to move or leave the job; and c) works for the repayment of an advance, loan or inherited debt.”
'4 Years Since Rescue, Not Received Full Financial Aid'
According to the Central Sector Scheme for Rehabilitation of Bonded Labour-2021, the rescued bonded labourers must be issued a Release Certificate by the district administration so that they can receive rehabilitation assistance to the tune of:
Rs 1 lakh, for male workers; wherein it is the workers’ choice to receive cash or deposit it in an annuity scheme, such as fixed deposit (FD)
Rs 2 lakh for women and children workers; where Rs 75,000 shall be transferred directly to the worker’s account and the balance Rs 1,25,000 shall be deposited in an annuity scheme
Rs 3 lakh for survivors of sexual exploitation; where Rs 1 lakh shall be transferred directly into the worker’s account and the balance Rs 2 lakh shall be deposited in an annuity scheme
After Danish and Sanno were rescued, they were both issued Release Certificates by the Muzaffarnagar District Magistrate in 2021. Danish said he received the full rehabilitation assistance of Rs 1 lakh, and that Sanno received Rs 75,000.
Four years since, Sanno is yet to receive the balance assistance of Rs 1.25 lakh. “We were told by the labour department that the sum has been put in a fixed deposit (FD). But the FD matured on 27 December 2024. It’s been eight months and there is still no word on our sum,” Danish claimed.
Burdened with the same issue, at least seven women from Sikhreda village have written to the Assistant Labour Commissioner, appealing that their assistance be released promptly.
The Quint has reached out to relevant authorities in the district administration and will update the story once they respond.
'Scanty Aid, Wage Theft Pushing Rescued Workers Into Re-Bondage'
This is not the first time that Sanno and Danish had been rescued. In 2019, the couple was allegedly trafficked to work at a brick kiln in Jalandhar district of Punjab, where they faced the same repression—debt bondage, wage theft and restricted freedoms—for a year.
In late 2022, the couple again found work at a brick kiln in Saharanpur district, where they were forced to work without any pay. “We were promised Rs 580 for every 1,000 bricks. We made 4,000 bricks daily for eight months but were given no wages at all. When I demanded our salaries, he thrashed me. So, we escaped from there,” Danish claimed.
Simple math suggests that Danish and Sanno have not received their wages to the tune of Rs 15 lakh for their labour at the brick kilns in Jalandhar, Muzaffarnagar and Saharanpur.
“If we take unpaid wages into account, the rehabilitation sum is akin to a drop in the ocean. And that has also not been paid in its entirety. This is the reason Danish and Sanno found themselves caught in exploitative work practices repeatedly,” Gorana argued.
According to the Central Sector Scheme for Rehabilitation of Bonded Labour-2021, in addition to providing monetary assistance, the district administration must:
Offer immediate assistance such as food, lodging, medical assistance, legal aid and witness protection;
Provide proper education, psycho-social counselling, skill development of child bonded labourers; and
Provide compulsory employable skill development training.
“Were Danish and Sanno given a health card, or their children given admission in a school? Were they given skilled training? Did anyone help them recover their salaries? No. Then what options do they have? Improper and inadequate rehabilitation is perpetuating bonded labour, and the administration needs to realise this,” Gorana asserted.
'Inviting Bonded Workers to Red Fort Not Enough'
Three generations of Sanno’s family have purportedly been trapped in bonded labour. Although Sanno’s mother had been rescued, she died before she could receive the entire rehabilitation assistance.
Meanwhile, Sanno’s younger sister Saniya, who was 14 years old when she was rescued in 2021, has still not received any financial aid at all despite being issued a release certificate. Danish and Sanno’s children were also seen working at the local brick kiln, from where the couple was rescued.
“Inviting rescued bonded workers to the Red Fort is not enough. This opportunity could have been utilised to give them their rehabilitation aid in full or give them health cards or a house under PM-Gramin Awas Yojana. But their presence was not even acknowledged by PM Modi or any of the Union Ministers,” Gorana rued.
He contended that justice won’t be served to these workers until the perpetrators are punished and the workers' wages are recovered from them.
Danish said that during the Independence Day celebrations, the bonded workers were given a tour of the museum, offered food and gifted a token. “We weren’t offered any help in recovering our dues, but Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta clicked a photograph with us,” he told The Quint.
While Danish had managed to buy a small piece of land with the financial aid he did receive, he has still not been able to build a house and lives in a temporary hut with a tarpaulin roof. He and Sanno await the rehabilitation assistance so that they have a pakka house and can send their children to school.
Also Read: Govt Released, Rehabilitated Only 2% of 1.84 Crore Bonded Labourers Since 2016