27 yrs of Bonded labor for Repaying 40 kg rice

In India bonded labor does not exist officially & so as per the Bihar state government's official records. But many farm workers at Paipura Barki village, some 60 km from Patna, state capital of Bihar state have not been able to throw off the yoke of bondage even though they have worked for nearly three decades for their lenders. As per an article in "Times of India" :

"Meet Jawahar Manjhi, 45, who has a wife and four children. About 27 years ago when he was a teenager, his starving family took rice on loan from the local "mahajan", or lender, for a wedding. It was decided that Manjhi would work in the lender's field and repay with his labor. For a day's work, he would be given one kg of rice, which is one-third of the normal payment of three kgs.

Since then Manjhi has been working six days a week, eight hours a day. But the loan remains to be repaid. "Originally the loan was one 'mun' (about 40 kgs). Twenty-seven years on, I don't know how much have I repaid and how much more I owe to the 'Mahajan'," said Manjhi. "

Though slavery was abolished in most parts of the world, even from the African continent, there can be many cases like above which still exist in many parts of the India where people work for whole of their lives just for food & clothing.Read more.........Repaying 40 kg rice with 27 yrs of bonded labor

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