The prevalence ofbonded labourinTamil Naduhas reduced drastically by 81.9% — from 29.9% in 2014 to 5.4% in 2021, according to areporttitled Implementation of the Bonded Labour System Abolition Act in the State of Nadu’ released by anNGO.
The study on the Bonded Labour Act was carried out byASK Training and Learning. It was released by T Raja, former acting chief Justice of the Madras High Court. The release was facilitated by the Anti-Human Trafficking Club at Sathyabama School of Law in association with the International Justice Mission.
The report was carried out under four methodologies — the prevalence study, achievements of government, deterrence study and confidence study.
Under the prevalence study, a state-wide quantitative survey was undertaken in which 9,942 people, who were rescued from bonded labour in 37 districts (excluding Chennai), were interviewed. The report found “as compared to 2014, there has been a relative reduction of 81.9% in the state, from 29.9% to 5.4% (from 1 in 3 people to 1 in 20) in 2021.
More importantly, the bonded labour complaints submitted in 2020 and 2021 received 100% response rate from district administrations.