New Delhi: Twelve states, including Delhi,
have not submitted their half-yearly status reports on bonded
labourers to the National Human Rights Commission since 2010
even though the Supreme Court gave an order to this effect in
2004.
Only Jharkhand and Chandigarh have submitted status
reports for the first half of this year while all the other 33
states and union territories have failed to submit their
statements on the status of release and rehabilitation of
bonded labourers.
According to NHRC documents, 12 states and union
territories including Andaman and Nicobar, Andhra Pradesh,
Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu
Kashmir, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tamil Nadu and Tripura - have
failed to submit the mandatory status reports.
The Supreme Court had in May 2004 ordered that all states
and union territories should submit their status report to
NHRC every month besides constituting Vigilance Committees at
district and sub-divisional levels in accordance with Section
13 of the Bonded Labourers System (Abolition) Act, 1976.
The apex court had in November 1997 tasked the NHRC with
the responsibility of monitoring and overseeing implementation
of its direction as well as provisions of the Act.
Most of the states in their status reports claimed that
there were no bonded labourers in their state. In the second
half of last year, only four states said they have either
identified, released and rehabilitated bonded labourers.
In 2010, Uttar Pradesh topped the list with
identification of 863 labourers out of which 61 were sent to
their home states. The state needed to rehabilitate 2,041
labourers and only 175 were rehabilitated during last year.
The state caught 725 employers who violated the Bonded
Labour System (Abolition) Act, the NHRC document said.
PTI
