In January 2020, the CNN Freedom Project visited Sidlaghatta, a silk hub some 40 miles northeast of Bangalore, Karnataka, and met Hadia and Naseeba. This mother and daughter were forced by their “master” to work 11 hours a day, for which they earned just 200 rupees (about $ 2.75) to repay a loan of 100,000 rupees (about $ 1,370) that has since size had doubled.
Naseeba worked in a silk factory for three years, her mother for nine years, boiling silkworm cocoons and removing the threads from which silk was made. The steam was dirty and their hands were bleeding, she said.
“(The master) came and he said to my mother, if you don’t pay back the money, we will have a rich man and you will have to sleep with that man,” said Naseeba.
“I’m afraid of the owner because he gave us (a) house to live in,” she added. “Where are we supposed to go? We have nowhere to go. We don’t know what he will do to us after (sees) this video.”
Hadia and Naseeba hid their faces from the camera and agreed not to be identified by CNN until after receiving their release certificates.
In India, forced laborers can approach authorities to request a certificate of release. If an investigation shows that their case is genuine, they will receive the certificate, which proves that their debt has been canceled and that they are entitled to government aid. The process can take a long time – sometimes years – and forced laborers may need to report to the authorities when faced with social pressure and harassment.
“It is very difficult to convince the slave workers (to go to the authorities) because they feel they are obligated to the masters or the landlords who helped them in the hour of their need,” said Kiran Kamal Prasad, founder of Jeevika, an organization committed to eradicating forced labor.
Authority figures often come from the same communities as the slave workers’ guardians, or are the same dominant caste as the landlords, Prasad explained.
“Very often the authorities do not enforce the Bonded Labor System Act,” he added. “It takes an enormous effort to get the officials to do what they have to do.”
Life after forced labor
Jeevika has allies in people like Shiva Kumar, a senior local government official in Sidlaghatta.
“I grew up the son of a forced laborer,” he told CNN. “The (slave workers) in the village think this is their (fate). If they bring complaints, we will file a criminal case against the landlord.”
For Prasad, freedom is only the first step for the victims. “We want to build the slave laborers’ agency to help them ensure justice for themselves,” he said.
Programs arise in villages, where communities of former slaves come together to put their savings in a collective fund. They can draw on the fund when they need it, without having to turn to their former masters – or another master – for a loan.
Jeevika has helped secure the freedom of nearly 7,000 slave workers in India for the past six years, and last year added Hadia and Naseeba to that total. The mother and daughter filed papers and received their release certificates in May 2020.
Guided by government officials from the silk factory they had toiled in for years, they finally felt free enough to show CNN and the world their faces one more time.
