PROGRAM ON TO ERADICATION OF BONDED LABOUR

“Education and social action to release 250 women bonded labourers working in quarries, brick kilns and hollow block units in 25 rural villages in Kalasapakkam Block of Thiruvannamalai district”.

This project being submitted is for the benefit of 250  women that have been

working in stone quarries, brick kilns and hollow block units as bonded labourers for many years.

• The owners of the activities have advanced payment to the families. Because of this the

women are forced to continue to work for the owners at very low wages.

-          The beneficiary women have no say in the fixation of wages.

• Many a number of times the women have been subjugated to sexual exploitation. The poor

women succumb to the pressures of the owners and other male supervisors because of their total dependency status.

• The education of the their children is at stake as the women have been circumscribed to live

near the work places that are far away from the villages and schools.

• The health of the women is almost always poor as the women are involved in activities

that are associated with lifting of heavy materials. When they are sick they are not given

time to attend to proper medical attention and care. As a result many of them live with one

infection or the other

• The beneficiary women are unhealthy and suffer from iron deficiency anaemia and ill health.

There had been instances of abortions due to hard work and lifting of heavy materials.