Why do Dalits Migrate? A Case Study of Neo-bondage in Western Uttar Pradesh

Abstract

Drawing on fieldwork in two villages of Muzaffarnagar district of Western Uttar Pradesh, through case studies of brick kiln workers and cane cutters, this article attempts to show how bonded labour is continued in contemporary times. These two groups of brick kiln workers and cane-cutters belong to the Scheduled caste, and their marginalization is manufactured through social exclusion. Debt is used as a tool to sustain and build upon their marginalization by capitalist forces. Through studying the elements of neo-bondage, this article aims to show how Dalits who are at the lowest rung of India’s informal economy are tied down to exploitative and harsh working conditions that reduce their possibility of exit from those conditions. Not undermining debt as a tool of exploitation, it is also argued that bonded labour is often seen as a protective safety net that not only promises the Dalit labourers fixed employment for a stipulated time but also shows them the escape route from financial dependence on the upper caste moneylenders who play havoc in their lives through usury.