There was a time when the human race was limited to a group of cave dwellers. As they were unaware of what one calls basic lifestyle today, they didn’t know about monetary affairs or employment, why, they didn’t even have distinguished professions. But the scenario today is entirely different.
Man has developed and, with him, his world progressed as well. Unfortunately, progression was restricted to some lucky ones. The others, who were pushed down by the system of classes were reduced to nothing, but victims of the growth of man’s understanding. When discrimination on the basis of colour or class was introduced, no one must have anticipated that it might come down to this extent. The so-called low-class people, who were naturally weak in the aspect of economy due to their social position, are now toiling their lives away with virtually no income. Bonded labour, still prevalent in most developing countries, is the situation being mentioned. Bonded labour is a situation in which a person is not able to repay his loans to a better placed individual due to high interest rates and is then forced to work for him. In return, he might get paid for daily expenses, but this adds to the debt, making repayment impossible.
Despite bonded labour being prohibited by various constitutions such as that of India, this malpractice is still continuing, especially in rural areas of India due to ignorance. This practice can be compared to that of the spider and its prey. It had been found recently that a spider lures its prey into the web in the same way as creditors compel socially backward individuals to take loans. Then, the spider covers the prey all around similar to how bonded labour is enforced. The spider eats it prey slowly. This time reflects how a debtor’s life is being sucked out day-by-day.
It isn’t impossible to remove this malpractice. We often remove spider webs while cleaning. In the same way, let us join hands to make a broom that removes these webs of bonded labour from the face of this Earth.
- The reader is a student based in Abu Dhabi.
