Kathmandu, February 28

A delegation of haruwa-charuwa (freed-bonded labourers) yesterday visited the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security demanding an end to their plight.

The haruwa-charuwa community has long been freed from slavery, but even after all these years the government has done little for the upliftment of the Dalits. Harauwa-charuwas mostly reside in central and eastern Tarai districts of the country.

Lokendra Sada,44, of Kanchanrup Municipality, Saptari, said he started tilling his master’s land since he was 13 years old to repay the debt his father had taken to start up his own business.

“I remember that my father took Rs 8,000 loan from the landlord when I was too young. Then he started working as a slave in the landlord’s house. We have not been able to repay the debt till now,” Sada shared.

He recalled that his father worked as a cattle herder for the landlord. He said he sent his children to school so that they would not have to work at the landlord’s house.

Likewise, Rajwati Mandal, 43, from Pipra Rural Municipality, Siraha, also works as a haruwa. She said after she got married, she continued working as a bonded labourer at a landlord’s house. She said she would have to continue working as a bonded labourer to repay Rs 600,000 loan she had taken for her daughter’s treatment. “I had taken loan at different times to save my daughter who had brain tumour. My daughter died, but I’m still working to repay the loan,” shared Mandal.

She requested the government to provide haruwa-charuwas some land and ensure adequate wages for their labour. “We came here to request the government to ensure us our rights.”

Bishwor Bhakta Dulal, who has been working for the welfare of the haruwa-charuwa community, said that until the issue of slavery became an agenda of political parties, Dalit people would continue to be oppressed and exploited on different pretexts.

“The government should bring programmes aimed at uplifting the living standards of haruwa-charuwa community,” said Dulal.

Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Security Gokarna Bista said the government had been formulating plans and policies for the welfare of haruwa-charuwas.