T he National Human Rights Commission, NHRC organized day long workshop on 'Elimination of Bonded Labour System' at Pune and Goa on the 6th and 27th October, 2017 respectively. Mr. Justice D. Murugesan, Member, NHRC chaired the Workshops. In Pune, after the interactive sessions, the Commission also heard five pending cases of Bonded Labour, which were awaiting compliance from the concerned State authorities. These included three from Pune, and one each from Nagpur and Jalgaon,
The participants of the workshops included senior officers of NHRC, the Governments of Maharashtra and Goa, Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission, NGOs and representatives of brick kilns, stone crushing and other related industries, Academicians and final year law Students/Research Scholars from various Universities in Pune and Goa.
The objective of the workshop was to familiarize and sensitize the District Magistrates, Sub-Divisional Magistrates, State Labour Officers and Members of Vigilance Committees, representatives of brick kilns, stone crushing and other related industries about the process of identification, release and rehabilitation of bonded labourers and with the provisions
of Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976 and related laws.
The Commission, in its endeavor to raise concerns on the continuance of bonded labour has been organizing such workshops to sensitize official machinery to work for its abolition in different parts of the country. It has organized 42 workshops on elimination of bonded labour so far.