Satyabrata Pal
If the Railways can help to bring down the incidence of bonded labour, and of human trafficking, it would perform a social service. That social service would be as valuable as the bullet trains the Railway Minister announced in
his budget, and at a fraction of the cost.
IN his budget speech on July 8, the Railway Minister rued that his charge was “expected to earn like a commercial enterprise but serve like a welfare organisation.” He described these as “conflicting objectives”. What the Minister called “the burden of social service obligations” was 16.6 per cent of gross traffic receipts in 2010-11; in 2012-13, these obligations cost Rs 20,000 crore, which was more than half the Plan outlay for the Railways. Therefore, while the “Indian Railways would continue to fulfil its social obligations, sustaining these objectives beyond a point is not possible”.
Passengers stand in a queue to board a train at a railway station in New Delhi. The Railways should make a distinction between those who travel voluntarily and those who do not.
Social obligations
Rather worryingly, the Minister did not specify where that point lay, or, when it was in his perspective reached, which obligations the Railways would jettison. In his speech, the Minister seemed to have in mind the lines and trains, serving a tiny fraction of the population, bequeathed to him by predecessors who camouflaged patronage as social concern. That filthy bathwater should be thrown out, but there is a baby to look after. The Railways has much larger social obligations, which it cannot ignore.
Redirecting his gaze to the needs of the customer, as a commercial transporter must, the Minister announced that two of the “focus areas” of his budget would be the cleanliness of railway infrastructure and the security of passengers. Each of these would also make the Railways a more socially responsible organisation if properly implemented, even more of a black hole if they are not.
Degrading profession
The Railways continues to be the largest user of manual scavenging, that most degrading of professions, into which persons are bonded by descent. Even now, an Indian train is like a herd of cattle, dunging its trail as it goes. Putting modern toilets on all trains should have the highest priority because it would rescue huge numbers from hereditary bondage, make railway tracks and stations less toxic, and be a relief for passengers. That is a prime social responsibility, but all the Minister said was that “bio-toilets will be increased in sufficient numbers in trains in order to mitigate the problem of direct discharge of human waste…” Mitigate, not remove, and no specifics. What numbers? How quickly? The budget is opaque. And silent on whether the Railways will accept any responsibility to rehabilitate the manual scavengers it has used.
Budget for cleanliness
The Minister went on to say that he was increasing by 40 per cent the budget for “cleanliness” and would outsource the work of cleaning 50 major stations to professional agencies. That, of course, is now standard procedure at airports, but there is no human excrement to be lifted from tarmacs and concourses. It is important therefore that the Railways employs only those companies that will not use manual scavenging to clean tracks at stations. This must be a contractual requirement.
The Minister announced that he was setting up a Corpus Fund for the upkeep of stations and CCTV would be used to monitor cleaning. These are welcome innovations. The fund should be used to invest in the mechanical cleaning of tracks, and CCTV used to ensure that manual scavenging is not.
There is the even larger problem of migrant bonded labour, with which the Railways are complicit. The Global Slavery Index 2013 estimated 14 million in bondage in India, which is more than half the global total. An ILO report this year puts annual profits world-wide from forced labour at $150 billion; pro rata, a practice officially banned in India probably brings in $75 billion, which makes it 4 per cent of GDP, and partly explains the state of denial in government and society on bonded labour. These invisible millions do exist, however, and a very substantial number are taken on the Railways as migrant, inter-state labour or as victims of trafficking.
The Railways ignores this tragedy, though when trains are used to facilitate crimes (which trafficking, child labour and bonded labour all are), and the security of citizens, the victims, is compromised, they have a moral responsibility to act, apart from the legal onus, placed on them by Section 153 of the Railway Act, which lays down punishments if “any person by any unlawful act or by any wilful omission or neglect, endangers or causes to be endangered the safety of any person travelling on or being upon any railway.”
Involuntary travellers
The Railways neither can nor should ask all passengers to explain or justify their trips, but a distinction must be made between those who travel voluntarily and those who do not.The 2001 Census established that 191 million, or 19 per cent of the population then, were migrants. If the 2011 Census finds that this percentage continues, the count now should be 250 million. Even though bonded labour is only a segment of internal migration, it runs into millions. And when so many of its citizens are at risk, institutions of the State cannot be agnostic or indifferent.
The Minister announced six new Jansadharan trains, from Jaynagar and Darbhanga in Bihar and Gorakhpur and Saharsa in UP to urban centres in Gujarat, Punjab, the NCR and Mumbai. This caters to need, because the Census established that the largest outflows of migration were from these two desperately poor states. A significant percentage of these migrants, however, and of the passengers on these Jansadharan trains, are bonded labour or victims of trafficking, which make these trains modern counterparts of slave-ships.
Grave problem
What can the Railways do? The first step would be to acknowledge the gravity of the problem and its responsibility to address it. In his speech, the Minister said the Railways would ask “individuals, NGOs, Trusts, Charitable institutions, Corporates” to adopt and maintain stations and provide passenger amenities there. This remit should be extended to bring in reputable NGOs, particularly in states that send and receive bonded migrant labour, as partners of the Railways to monitor and rescue passengers who might be victims.
These NGOs, specialised in the field, would identify and rescue from stations and trains child labour, women and girls being trafficked and bonded labour. Once rescued, the Railways should give them free passage back to their homes and prosecute, under Section 153 of the Act, those who were trafficking them.
Trains and stations are in fact where this critically important work can be done most effectively, because the victims are concentrated; once they are brought to their destinations, they are dispersed and it is much harder to trace and help them. But the NGOs will be effective only if the Railways accepts them as partners, and its officials are instructed and made to cooperate with their staff. The instinct of station-masters, ticket examiners and Railway Police will be to obstruct their work, since it would choke off a lucrative source of illicit income.
Coaches on vulnerable routes should have safe migration procedures and NGO contact details painted inside, offering victims a helpline. Ticket examiners must be trained and instructed to check migration licences and ask the right questions, especially in case of suspicious bulk bookings on these trains. NGOs can help with this training and should be asked to run courses for key Railways staff. The Minister announced that 17,000 more RPF constables would be deployed, and 4,000 women constables recruited. This is welcome, of course, but only if the RPF, often venal and violent, protect the vulnerable, not prey on them. Unless the Railways invests heavily in training and sensitising the RPF on the rights of citizens, a larger force means there will be more predators around. NGOs can help with this training as well, as can the National Human Rights Commission. The Railways should enlist their help.
Monitoring migration
As this work starts, the Railways should commission studies to map routes and trains most commonly used for the victims, the districts and stations most at risk and the patterns of seasonal migration. For instance, child labour when BT cotton has to be transplanted in Gujarat, families to Haryana and Western UP in the brick-making season. NGOs with specialised knowledge will advise the Railways on the areas where the greatest focus should be. They should be closely involved, as should state governments and the Central ministries concerned. The Railways staff should be briefed on the findings, and sensitised to their duty to prevent trains from being used to transport bonded labour and others at risk. Last month, the Supreme Court expressed its outrage at the brutal case of Nilambar and Dialu, two Odiya labourers who were being trafficked by rail to Andhra Pradesh in December 2013. When the others in their group managed to escape, the traffickers chopped off their hands in revenge. The court apparently commented that this did not happen even in the most primitive societies, and asked what kind of country we were living in. It’s a fair question. If the Railways can help bring down the incidence of bonded labour, and of human trafficking, it would perform a social service that would be at least as valuable as the bullet trains the Minister also announced in his budget, and at a fraction of the cost.
Train to reform
* The Global Slavery Index 2013 estimated 14 million in bondage in India, more than half the global total.
* An ILO report this year puts annual profits world-wide from forced labour at $150 billion; pro rata, a practice officially banned in India probably brings in $75 billion. This makes it 4 per cent of GDP, and partly explains the state of denial in government and society on bonded labour.
* The Railways ignores this tragedy. Though when trains are used to facilitate crimes (which trafficking, child labour and bonded labour all are), the security of citizens, the victims, is compromised.
* They have a moral responsibility to act, apart from the legal onus, placed on them by Section 153 of the Railway Act.
Coaches on vulnerable routes should have safe migration procedures and NGO contact details painted inside, offering victims a helpline. Ticket examiners must be trained and instructed to check migration licences and ask the right questions, especially in case of suspicious bulk bookings on these trains. NGOs can help with this training and should be asked to run courses for key Railways staff.
The writer is former Member, National Human Rights Commission
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