Jai Singh – Unflinching Compatriot of Bonded Labourers in their Struggles for Liberation

Jai Singh

Yesterday (22 May 2021) morning, when I received the message that Jai Singh was no more, I felt extremely guilty. The reason for my remorse was, despite wanting to talk to him, I had not called him.

Jai Singh devoted his entire life for the liberation of bonded labourers in agriculture and brick kilns. As in the case of a large number of youth all over the country, Jai Singh became an activist in response to the call for ‘Sampoorna Kranti’ (total revolution) by Jayaprakash Narayan in his mobilisation against the authoritarian tendencies shown by Indira Gandhi in the 1970’s and the declaration of ‘Emergency’ in 1975. He was part of a group of young people, led by (Late) Swami Agnivesh, to form Bandhua Mukti Morcha (Bonded Labour Liberation Front) in 1981.

There was growing realisation in the 1970’s of the existence of extreme bonded employment relations in different forms in the agrarian sector in India – ‘sepadari’ or ‘sajhi’ system in Punjab, ‘siri’ in Haryana, ‘halipratha’ in Rajasthan and Gujarat, ‘jita’ in south of India and ‘gotia’ in Bihar. It entailed a worker mortgaging his labour power and freedom to the landlord in exchange for money he has taken as loan. Unable to pay back the money, the debt bondage extends to his entire family and for generations. Similarly, in the brick kilns, workers – both migrant and local – are obtained through contractors, who pay some money in advance and against which the whole worker households will have to mortgage their labour power and freedom during the year and subsequent years, if the money not repaid.

In 1985, with the objective of working among bonded labourers in agriculture and brick kilns in Punjab, he established Volunteers for Social Justice (VSJ). Debt bondage in the agrarian sector in Punjab saw a reduction as a result of fundamental changes in land ownership patterns and employment relations brought about by the adoption of green revolution, mechanisation of farming processes etc,. Jai Singh and VSJ largely concentrated his energies in addressing the problems of bonded labourers in the brick kilns of Punjab and adjoining areas.

Jai Singh followed the classical mode of combating debt bondage in India, which consisted of the triple strategies of identification, release and rehabilitation. The classical mode is the prescription ingrained in the Bonded Labour System Abolition Act (BLSA), 1976, which Indira Gandhi adopted during Emergency at the initiative of a group of sensitive bureaucrats.

Of these, his focus was more on identification and release of bonded labourers in brick kilns. He moved a step further and combined strategies of legal fight, mobilisation and struggle, which made his approach unique, popular, participatory and intense.

He invoked the power that the BLSA vests on the social action groups and the District Magistrate in the identification and release of hundreds of bonded labourers (Neeraja Chaudhary Vs State Of M.P. on 8 May, 1984 CITATIONS: AIR 1984 SC 1099). His team included lawyers who took up the matter at the District Court. Though the the BLSA does not provide for an appeal because the District Magistrates are the first and last authority in determining bonded labour, he challenged their reluctance by making appeals at the High Court of Punjab through Writ of Habeas Corpus and approaching the National Human Rights Commission. The VSJ has produced two volumes of such case files giving tremendous insights into his legal mind and strategies. A second important premise of his legal fight was that brick kilns are factories as defined under Factory Act, 1948 and therefore, workers in brick kilns are eligible for all rights any factory worker would enjoy including regular wages, safe working conditions, non-discrimination between men and women, discontinuance of piece-rate wages, safety and health at work and right to organise and collective bargaining. Most of the legal fights were for payment of wages because the non-payment or delayed payment of wages were the instruments that sustained debt bondage.

Jai Singh, beyond adopting legal strategies, mobilised brick kiln workers and engaged in powerful agitations. To give an example, based on repeated complaints by VSJ team, the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Mansa district, declared workers free in a brick kiln located in Village Dharampura, Mansa District on 10 March 2014 and ordered their release with payment of unpaid wages and transportation to the railway station on the employer’s expenses. On 13th March, at the railway station, henchmen of the employer snatched wages from workers. VSJ team, staged a protest along with hundreds of workers and activists on 14th March 2014 at the railway station, laid down on the railway tracks and refused to get up. Police managed to return the wages to the workers and a case was registered against the employers.

VSJ has a sister organisation, Dalit Dasta Virodhi Andolan (Movement of Dalits Against Slavery). Punjab has the highest percentage of Scheduled Castes in the population (32 per cent) in the whole of India. The local workers engaged in the brick kilns are overwhelmingly Dalits and Jai Singh understood the importance of the caste identity in the mobilisation of workers, especially in the context of mobilisation history of Dalits in Punjab along Deras. Moreover, DDVA helped him to transcend the constraints of working within the framework of a registered society.

Jai Singh had a universal approach despite his deep rootedness. He collaborated with national and international organisations within the framework of fundamental rights and principles at work and universal human rights.

I have had opportunities for close collaboration with him and activists of VSJ and DDVA in our joint struggle against debt bondage in India.

He had the habit of inviting his friends to his house and entertaining them with sumptuous Punjabi non-vegetarian food and drinks. I recall once, we went to a local market on the way, bought big fish, got it cooked by the vendor and carried it all the way to our place of stay in Amritsar.

It was my unnecessary hesitation that created a situation that will keep me discomfited for the rest of my life – that I couldn’t talk to him before he left us.

Jai Singh reminds me there is lot more than minor differences in perspectives in the days of pandemic when nobody knows who goes next.