Human Bondage: Tracing its Roots in India - Hardcover

Mishra, Lakshmidhar

9788132105602: Human Bondage: Tracing its Roots in India

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 8132105605 ISBN 13: 9788132105602

Publisher: SAGE Publications Pvt. Ltd, 2011

Human Bondage: Tracing its Roots in India is an in-depth study of bonded labour with special focus on how the system exists in India. The book provides us with a detailed analysis of the historical, social and cultural context in which bondage has developed.

The author discusses the socio-economic characteristics that accompany bondage: caste, illiteracy, landlessness and land tenure issues, alienation of land, lack of skills, poor employment and wage conditions, indebtedness, migration, and globalization.

Extreme forms of bondage, including child labour, trafficking in women and children, and social forms like devadasis and yoginis have also been covered.

The book explores important factors like the legal framework, policy interventions, solutions and the role of the various stakeholders-media, government, trade unions and NGOs-in tackling this issue.

The book is essentially about human freedom and dignity-the quintessence of human existence-and the forces that rob them, the dispossessed victims, consequences of dispossession, and ways and means of restoration.

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Review:

The book provides thoughtful insights into many dimensions of the social evil of bonded labour. [It] is a great eye-opener for economists, leaders and policy-makers who have become complacent because of their satisfaction with India’s growth story...The author has done a brilliant work by agitating the consciousness of all sensitive human beings in our society...this book draws the attention of those who matter and acts as a ray of hope for economically exploited helpless and weaker sections of society. (The Tribune)

Combining humanist sensitivity with the diligence of a committed public servant, and a careful reading of the law, [Mishra’s] book is an encyclopaedic record of labour unfreedoms, past and present. [The author] traces ancient roots to contemporary forms of bonded labour in India... [He] unravels the riddle of the perpetuation of unfree labour in free India.

(The Hindu)

A well-documented volume, brought up to date, and an important addition to the hitherto published major critical studies on bonded labour...Mishra’s analysis is illuminated by flashes of direct encounters with bonded labourers, migrants, members of depressed castes and women workers, enabling readers to listen to their voices- complaining, angry and rebellious. (Economic & Political Weekly, Vol 48, 22 June 2013)

About the Author:

Lakshmidhar Mishra is currently Special Rapporteur with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). He holds a doctorate in Educational Planning from the Intercultural Open University, Netherlands.

He has held important positions in both state (1964–78) and central government (1979–2000) and took voluntary retirement on 30th September, 2000, when he was Union Labour Secretary in order to join the International Labour Organization (ILO), a specialized agency of UN, in a senior position.

He is a prolific writer and has over 300 articles and 15 books to his credit. These cover a wide range of subjects―labor welfare to rural development, health and education, mobilization and organization of the poor and deprived for social justice, etc. Many of his articles have been published in journals of national and international repute.

As a socio-legal investigating commissioner of the Supreme Court, Dr Mishra submitted three voluminous and valuable reports on the plight and predicament of workers in brick kilns and stone quarries. A condensed version of the work he did for the apex court has since been published as Burden of Bondage in May, 1997.

For his outstanding contribution to public service and, in particular, in the field of adult literacy and education, Dr Mishra has received a number of awards such as National Unity Award, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Award, Dr Malcolm S. Adiseshiah Award, Sramik Bandhu Award, Saheed Dhoom Das award, etc.

Dr Mishra has carried out the following studies and investigations in his capacity as Special Rapporteur with the NHRC, which are of great interest and relevance for the poor, deprived and disadvantaged sections of humanity:

1. A study on poverty, hunger, starvation and malnutrition and malnutrition-related deaths of tribal children in 15 tribal districts of Maharashtra.
2. Investigation into the affairs of stone quarries and prevailing debt bondage in the stone quarries of Vijaywada in Andhra Pradesh.
3. Investigation into admission and continuance of children in the jails of UP and incarceration therein.

So far―from 2006 to 2010―he has submitted over 100 reports to the Commission on issues such as bonded labor, child labor, migration, trafficking, mental health and custodial justice and reforms.

Scholarship tinged with clear perception, deep insight, empathy, sensitivity and commitment with which the studies and investigations have been conducted and reports submitted make all his publications interesting and relevant to the poor, deprived and disadvantaged sections of the society.