The Bonded Labour System in Nepal

Perspectives of Haliya and Kamaiya Child Workers

Birendra Giri
The Open University, UK

Journal of Asian and African Studies Copyright 2009 SAGE Publications www.sagepublications.com (Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC) Vol 44(6): 599623 DOI: 10.1177/0021909609343414

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Abstract
This in-depth study carried out over a period of one year focuses on the life-worlds of haliya and kamaiya child workers from Morang and Bardiya districts, respectively. The participants, from ethnic Musahar and Tharu backgrounds, become bonded labourers to earn household income and are unable to attend full-time schooling. While a few have managed to forge a study-work contract with their employers, the vast majority are working in difficult circumstances just to support their families. Given the tremendous physical and psychosocial impact from being a haliya or a kamaiya worker, all children want to stop working if they could receive external support on educational and skills learning activities to improve their future life prospects. Keywords Bardiya bonded labour Haliya and Kamaiya children health and education Morang Nepal

Background The issue of bonded labour,1 often termed as the contemporary form of slavery, has become a global phenomenon because about 15 million South Asian people, out of 27 million globally, South Asian people are reportedly in a bonded system (Bales, 2004). Advocacy groups estimate that Nepal has between 300,000 and two million bonded labourers under so-called haliya and kamaiya systems (Robertson and Mishra, 1997; CWA, 2007), but it is unclear whether the figures include working children or not (Giri, 2004). The term haliya means one who ploughs yet it is understood to have the broader sense of an agricultural labourer, who works on another persons land on the basis of daily or short-term fixed wages. When haliya workers find it hard to support their large families all year round by working mainly during the farming seasons, they are forced to take loans from their landlords or

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employers. Many of them end up in debt due to high annual interest rates (up to 60 per cent) and lack of work opportunities, and hence they may have to work as bonded labour. Reports claim that haliya workers belong to many ethnic and caste groups and are found mostly in the far western hills and eastern Tarai districts (Robertson and Mishra, 1997; Giri, 2004). Likewise, a kamaiya means a hard-worker in the ethnic Tharu language, but in Nepali it means a hired worker, who is given some remuneration for his labour (Jha, cited in Giri, 2004). The kamaiya system however is commonly known as an agriculturally based bonded labour system in which a kamaiya makes a verbal contract with a landlord or a moneylender to work for a year. To generalize the complex issue of bondedness, we may say that getting a part of the produce rather than wage barely allows the kamaiya to make a living from a mono-cropped land. The family will be forced to borrow money from landlords in times of crop failure or family hardships. The loan must be paid by working. If the family ends up in a vicious cycle of debt, children of the next generation may also work as kamaiya labourers (Sharma et al., 2001). This is perhaps why NGOs argue that many of the haliya and kamaiya child workers could be considered as working in conditions of servitude or slavery and in many cases they may be paying off a debt often incurred by their parents or relatives (Robertson and Mishra, 1997). While the kamaiya system comprises the largely indigenous Tharu community living in western Tarai districts, many haliya workers are thought to come from the so-called dalit (socially disadvantaged) group belonging to multiple castes and sub-castes, whose exact population is still debated (Giri, 2004).2 After widespread reporting by newspapers and lobbying by NGOs, the so-called kamaiya system of bonded labour was finally banned by the Nepali government in 2000 and a law was introduced in 2002 for their systematic rehabilitation (Daru et al., 2005). Most kamaiya families were removed from the landlords house and given 25 kattha (0.03380.169 hectares) of public land each with the hope of terminating bonded relationship once and for all. However, this policy does not seem to have eliminated kamaiya practice, but rather altered the bonded arrangements from adults to children. Traditionally, children of kamaiya families worked alongside adults for an employer or a landlord, but now, a few adults (are able to) work on an annual contract basis, and instead more and more children are taking back their parents previous roles. Other than patchy columns in newspapers, the haliya system has not gained the same sort of attention as its kamaiya counterparts (see Giri, 2009 for more details). However, the bonded labour awareness campaigns of NGOs and the subsequent introduction of the law against kamaiya labour does seem to have had an indirect influence on haliya practice. That is, as in the kamaiya system, more and more children, especially in the Tarai region, are reportedly becoming a haliya instead of working alongside their parents (Giri, 2004). Children are

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initially hired as domestic workers, but they often carry out both household and agricultural activities (Blagbrough and Glynn, 1999; Giri, 2006). While analysing the bonded labour problem in Nepal, it becomes clear that hardly any studies are found with regard to haliya and kamaiya child workers (Sharma and Sharma, 2002; CWA, 2007). The aim of this extended fieldworkbased article is precisely to fill this gap by exclusively focusing on the lives of bonded children. The following objectives will be analysed from the perspectives of bonded child workers: 1. 2. 3. 4. reasons for becoming a haliya or a kamaiya; living and working environment of bonded child labourers; state of physical and psychosocial health; viewpoints on working conditions, and future expectations.

The structure of the article is as follows: First, it will briefly describe the origin of kamaiya practice (unfortunately hardly anything is written about the haliya labour system). Second, it is important to discuss the status of children in the Nepali society as well as the local understanding of childrens work. Third, the presentation of empirical findings is followed by field research and data analytical techniques. Finally, the article concludes after synthesizing haliya and kamaiya childrens worldviews. The Evolution of the Bonded Labour System in Nepal The South Asian sharecropping or long-term farm labour practice in subsistence agriculture reportedly dates back to the Moghul empire (circa 1500 1700 AD), extending from the present-day Afghanistan to Bangladesh (Lieten and Breman, 2002). After Britain colonized India in the mid-18th century, the small landholders (or beggar/hari people) in general were benevolently treated, defending them from landlords who at the time did not have a direct right over land ownership, but controlled the access of the beggar/hari to land through the sharecropping system (Lieten and Breman, 2002: 3367). As a part of their state control and resources extraction policy, however, the village chiefs could legally register land property in their own names, and subsequently the beggar/ hari people became mere sharecroppers rather than cultivators when they lost security. When the war of Indian independence (or Sepoy Mutiny) spread in the villages in 1857, the colonial administration found it important to ally with loyal members and grant them state-supported power over tenants (Lieten and Breman, 2002: 337). In doing so, land could be bought and sold so anyone could purchase tracts of land to settle with the locals or migrants. Obviously, the key beneficiaries were the local chiefs, bureaucrats, members of the military and police force or generally everyone who actively backed the colonial regime. The post-colonial political set-up also failed to change the sharecropping system

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when India became independent in 1947.3 The governments actually allowed jamindar members (or landlords) to establish themselves as local politicians, they became major power players, intimidating and oppressing the peasantry at large and sharecroppers in particular (Lieten and Breman, 2002: 337). Nepal did not directly suffer from foreign rule, but the copying of the extractive policies of the British colonial regime and of the rulers of independent neighbours is believed to have eventually produced an institutionalized kamaiya practice. When the present-day Nepal was founded in 1768 by absorbing dozens of small kingdoms or principalities, the practice of land grants as various forms of personal rewards started to become institutionalized. As a payment, reward or compensation, the monarchist governments offered large tracts of land to the military officials, noble members or the defeated chiefs of the principalities (Rankin, 1999; Lowe, 2001). As in India, however, those who received the land rented it out to tenants under adhiya and kut systems in which tenants would have to contribute at least half of their produce to their landlords (Robertson and Mishra, 1997). Particularly in the Tarai region, the local members known as chaudhari (tax collectors) were granted domain over particular territories to extract agricultural surpluses from the peasantry through revenue farming. However, the use of chaudhari was gradually replaced by jamindar (landlords) as a means of extending a land-based system of patronage as well as expanding the areas of land under cultivation (Rankin, 1999: 34). For a long time, this policy was essential to satisfy the local chiefs, warrior class and to finance the war with Tibet and British India (Rankin, 1999). When the expansionary drive of Nepali rulers was halted by British India in 1818, the whole land policy was geared towards extracting revenues for the ruling elites while allowing landlords to reign freely in the villages (Lowe, 2001). During the kot massacre in 1846, the military strategist, Janga Bahadur Rana, not only crushed all the suspected opponents, but also reduced the power of the King to that of a mere figurehead (Giri, 2004). He started a family-based oligarchy system, and sought an active policy to isolate Nepal from external influence. By doing so, the extended Rana families could enjoy the extravagant lifestyle from the land tax revenue (Rankin, 1999). During Janga Bahadur and his familys 104-year-long reign, as argued by neo-Marxist scholars, the land grant system and taxation rights were consolidated, leading to the process of feudalisation of agrarian relations and strengthening the private landowners economic capacity by diverting revenue away from the state treasury (Karki, cited in Giri, 2004). In addition to the present communist politicians of Nepal, some authors argue that the signing of the Treaty of Sugauli in 1818 reduced the status of Nepal to a semi-colony of Britain (Karki, cited in Giri, 2004). This situation, in turn, further aggravated feudalization of rural communities because the

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Rana rulers supported by British India made it an active economic policy to sell off massive amounts of saal (or shorea rubusta) forest of the Tarai jungles in order to please the colonial regime who at the time were constructing the railway system throughout India and needed the raw materials (Rankin, 1999). In this process of deforestation, the Rana family, their supporters and military leaders in general continued to receive land grants in the southern frontier as well so that their position would be further strengthened. At the same time, the adhiya practice as well as the high interest loans imposed upon poor tenants was starting to breed landlessness and debt bondage, particularly in the western Tarai region (Rankin, 1999). Some argue that labour arrangements involving a kamaiya as a yearly agricultural worker existed in the traditional Tharu society, but it did not take the form of lifetime bondedness prior to the 20th century (Lowe, 2001). Because of the malaria epidemic, hill people were unable to settle on a large scale in the region inhabited by the indigenous Tharu community, who could tolerate tropical diseases and wild animals all year round (Rankin, 1999). Until the first half of the 20th century, it is further argued, Nepals most productive and sought after agricultural land lying in the Tarai region was still rather sparsely cultivated (Rankin, 1999). The collapse of the Rana regime in 1950 was followed by the World Health Organization (WHO) spraying large parts of the Tarai jungle with dichlorodiphenyl-trichloroethane or DDT. This help from the WHO as a part of its global eradication of malaria was quite successful in Nepal, and it subsequently led to mass migration from the adjacent hills (Robertson and Mishra, 1997). In fact, it is argued, the densely forested frontier was the target of state-sponsored resettlements, and sporadic and spontaneous land occupation by the landless from the poor locals as well as hill communities (Lowe, 2001: 4). Over the years, the hillTarai migration not only displaced Tharu people, but also drastically changed the demographic and ecological settings. In fact the Tharu people living in the Naya Muluk districts for the last 600 years, who are thought to be the first inhabitants of the region, were the first group of people to start falling into the system of debt bondage (Rankin, 1999). In 1912, for instance, the great majority of landowners in the Naya Muluk area were believed to be Tharu people, but by the late 1960s, some 80 per cent of the Tharu people were tenants, and 90 per cent of the landlords they worked for were mostly settlers from the hills (Lowe, 2001). Therefore, the eradication of malaria and the active transmigration policy are often viewed as the second instances of state instrumentality in creating a different set of kamaiya practices in Nepal (Rankin, 1999: 35). In the middle of the 20th century, Rana/Shah ruling elites and their loyal supporters reportedly possessed the vast area of agricultural land. The argument goes further that in the Tarai region three leading families owned a total

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of 42.5 per cent of cultivated birta (tax exempted) land (Pokhrel, 1999: 412). Upon coming to the throne in 1955, King Mahendra faced an unprecedented pressure from foreign donor agencies to do something about the widespread disparity in the land ownership (Robertson and Mishra, 1997). After establishing the partyless panchayat government, the King introduced the Land Reform Act in 1964 to guarantee security for tenant farmers and to put a ceiling on landholdings. At the beginning, it was thought that a revolutionary policy would positively reduce economic inequalities in rural areas, particularly in the Tarai region. The Act had some success in protecting the rights of the tenant farmers, but the large landholders continued to take advantage of several loopholes in the policy. The jamindar members reportedly made a clever move to transfer their land in the names of their extended family members in order to free themselves from the control of land reform policy. For instance, only 1 per cent of 600,000 hectares of land reserved for redistribution was distributed, and no more than 300,000 farmers received tenancy rights certificates out of 1.8 million eligible (Robertson and Mishra, 1997). In 1966, the jamindar system itself was abolished but its power structure, so firmly established over the centuries, continues even today (Giri, 2004). As a result, within a few generations, tens of thousands of Tharu peasants became kamaiya workers cultivating other peoples land; women became bukhrani (or helper) and children worked as kamlari (maids or domestic workers) until they were old enough to take over their parents work (Lowe, 2001). With the introduction of the multiparty political system in the early 1990s no major land reform policies have been implemented. A 1995 survey of landlessness reported that around one million farming households owned less than 0.1 hectares of land, and almost half that number could not even build a house on their own property (Robertson and Mishra, 1997). On this basis the number of people who were effectively landless farmers was estimated to be around two million for the whole country (Robertson and Mishra, 1997). Besides the kamaiya problem, as discussed elsewhere, many of these people today are known as the haliya agricultural labourers. The amended Land Reform Act 1997 did little to change people under both systems (Giri, 2004). Many of the present-day urban elites, including those politicians fighting for the proletariat cause either own land in the Tarai or have family and relatives living as landlords. They receive not just foodstuffs or funds for election campaigns, but also can wield unfettered power and prestige in society. To preserve such a status they need to be complicit about the issue of land and landlordism regardless of changes in the political system (Giri, 2004). It is debated that the top 5 per cent of the population controls 40 per cent of agricultural land and the bottom 60 per cent controls only 20 per cent; about 50 per cent of households own less than 0.5 hectares of agricultural land (Giri, 2004).4

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Moreover, it is argued that debt bondage is closely related to situations in which a cash economy is combined with subsistence agriculture (Giri, 2004). Particularly in the Tarai region commercial farming has been nationally encouraged. The free market policy has provided ever-greater incentives for the jamindar community to intensify the cultivation of products like jute, rice or sugarcane for export. Because of the low prices of primary commodities in the world market, the landlords increasingly rely on a competitive organization of labour for their profits, which can further accelerate the indebtedness of vulnerable people. Moreover, some authors have argued that the debt bondage problem is made worse by the economic liberalization associated with the structural adjustment programmes of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in which government is forced to cut down what little welfare spending exists (Rankin, 1999). As Nepal participates in an increasingly globalized economy, the practice of haliya and kamaiya labour becomes more than a caste phenomenon, as people in debt bondage may even belong to the same ethnolinguistic group (Bales, 2004). According to Rankin (1999: 44; cf. Robertson and Mishra, 1997),
the class convergence of Tharu and non-Tharu jamindar is more significant than the shared ethnic identity of Tharu kamaiya and Tharu jamindar albeit Tharu landlords like to claim that they are better masters to their bonded workers than their non-Tharu counterparts.

Indeed, it is argued that the condition for becoming a haliya or a kamaiya does not generally concern caste, colour, religion or tribe, but focuses on weakness, gullibility and deprivation of people, making a direct relationship between labour bondage, wealth and abuse (Bales, 2004: 11). At present, the haliya and kamaiya individuals may be used not just by landlords as bonded workers, but also by local politicians, moneylenders, rich city dwellers and by hoteliers as cheap labourers (Rankin, 1999; Sharma et al., 2001). State of Nepali Children The Government of Nepal ratified the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990. It has also submitted two periodic reports (1995, 2004) to the monitoring Committee on the Rights of the Child. Besides forming a separate Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare, the Childrens Act was introduced in 1992 to provide a comprehensive national legal framework for the rights of the child (Nepal CRC Report, 2004), and the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regularization) Act (1999) not only defines different types for work, but also prohibits the employment of children under the age of 16 in hazardous sectors (Nepal CRC Report, 2004). The Government also ratified the ILO Convention on Worst Forms of Child Labour in 2002, and the same

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year, it promulgated the Kamaiya System (Prohibition) Act banning the practice of bonded labour prevalent in far western Nepal and in September 2008, the Government also declared the haliya system as illegal though no concrete legal documents or rehabilitation plans have been published so far (Giri, 2004; Daru et al., 2005; Giri, 2009). Although several clauses of national laws have been either repealed or modified to synchronize with international legislation, the implementation of any rules and regulations is likely to clash with the diverse domestic values and norms concerning children and childhood. Nepal is one of those countries where communal customs and familial interdependence have precedence over national laws, and the Government seems to have failed to take into account childrens duties and responsibilities towards their families when ratifying or accommodating international laws (Blanchet, 1996; Rankin, 1999). Doftori (2004: 689) argues that Western children have their own identity as social group whereas Nepali children do not have the same status as they are not recognized as actors in their own rights. He refers to Kakar (1979, 1981), who has studied Indian childhood on the basis of caste and family parameters, to argue that children in the Western world can enjoy public childhood that surfaced during the industrial revolution, and now it is being institutionalized and protected by various national laws. Nepali children, on the other hand, are stuck with the family childhoods derived from the community norms that basically deny their autonomy and agency (Doftori, 2004: 69). This clearly suggests that the Government is in no position to interfere with the centuriesold family traditions, regardless of national and international legislations. For poor Nepali families, children are an important part of the family, especially in a sociocultural sense. They have a duty to be obedient and respectful to their elders and to take the responsibility to contribute to household maintenance. In the long term, a son will maintain the family inheritance line, including honouring forefathers, whereas a daughter will move to her husbands home and live as a good wife. Although this thinking is consistent with the differential treatment and upbringing of sons and daughters, a number of other forces (e.g. mass media, NGOs, consumer products) are rallying for new concepts of child and childhood, which are increasingly standing in opposition to the traditional views. Besides opening the countrys economy to the global market in the late 1990s (Rankin, 1999), the promotion of the UN-backed universal primary education is perhaps one of the major events that is gradually influencing western construction of childhood in Nepal (Baker, 1998; Alaraudanjoki, 2003; Doftori, 2004). More and more children, especially in urban settings, are embracing the possibility of enhancing their individual rights. As they start to spend more time at school than working with or for their families, their contribution to the household economy naturally decreases. In the communities where there are schools, parents have to face, say, the new concepts of childhood coming

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through education, which not only incorporate government legislations, but also copy the western construction of the child by media and NGOs. So, even if the traditional thinking on children still prevails in rural areas the modern form of childhood and lifestyles are gradually creeping into the indigenous/tribal communities. Studies have shown that children of even the remote villages seem to believe that a schooled childhood is better than only work, but what practical differences formal education can (or will) make in their lives is altogether a separate story (Escobar, 1995; Ahearn, 2001; Maslak, 2003). Local Understanding of Work In western industrialized societies the concept of work is based on the age of the children (McKechnie and Hobbs, 2007). Young children may not work at all, and even if they do, they normally carry out easy tasks within a prescribed time. For many families in a society like Nepal, no work means no food for the day so both children and parents may not even use the term work. It is rather a shared responsibility of all household members to perform family duties by putting in maximum time and effort. For poor families, work does not have a fixed timetable. If there is enough food at home children may stay idle and in times of scarcity they may be working day and night (Giri, 2006, 2007). I will summarize my own childhood experience as an example to illustrate this point. In Nepal, young boys do not get involved in household or farm work if there is enough food or money to feed the entire family (though the girls still have to work along with their adult members). I did not have the same choice because I was born to a poor illiterate family. My parents had to work elsewhere to earn much needed household income so I carried out both domestic chores and agricultural activities. At home, I would cook, clean, fetch water or wash dishes and clothes. I had even earned the name buhari (i.e. daughter-in-law) because I worked in the kitchen, which is considered as the domain of women. From the age of nine, I went to the forest to collect grass, fodder, firewood and also shepherded animals. During the planting and harvesting seasons I also worked for the neighbours to exchange labour for the busy farming seasons. My playing time was in between work, and I attended school whenever there was relatively less agricultural work. I continued to carry out both domestic and farming tasks until I moved away from my family after 10th grade (Giri, 2007). This kind of story may be common among children of poor Nepali families, but its nature (i.e. working within ones own family) is often regarded as not comparable with that of children working away from home (see also Levison, 2007). The prohibition of the kamaiya system in 2000 has somewhat changed the bonded labour practice. Before the ban for instance, the whole family would be bonded to a landlord in which parents engaged in agricultural work, young boys looked after animals and the girls carried out kitchen work and/or took care of

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small children. Now, all genuine kamaiya families have been removed from landlords homesteads, and are each given 25 kattha (0.03380.169 hectares) of land to settle (Giri, 2004). While this small plot of land is insufficient to support the large family, parents (or adult members in general) are unable to find manual work nearby and they are not normally accepted as a kamaiya again. As a result, there seems to be a trend of adults entering the cities or migrating to India for labour, and children going to their parents former landlords or to a city dweller via a distant relative with the hope of contributing some household income (Giri, 2004). The recent economic liberalization is also accelerating this process (Rankin, 1999). As a foreign aid dependent country, Nepal must bow to the economic policies of Bretton Woods Institutions and at the same time to the pressure of international labour legislations. The Nepali government is forced to open its national economy to the global market, which seeks cheap workers, and yet it has been told to regulate the labour force with fixed working hours and wages (Giri, 2004). These opposing forces are gradually affecting the village economy and the traditional labour relationship. Many present-day landlords do not want to hire a kamaiya worker because of the government law, and also due to some former kamaiya men getting involved in the anti-bourgeois struggles of ultraleftist factions. Most of all, hiring adult kamaiya labourers is no longer profitable for the landlords because they are free to bargain for higher payment than in the past (Edmonds and Sharma, 2006; Hatlebakk, 2006; Villanger, 2006). However, the prevailing mass under- and unemployment in Nepal is forcing (former) kamaiya families to send their young children, particularly girls, to work for the landlords or city employers as bonded labourers (Janak, 2000; Giri, 2004; CWA, 2007). While there is a tendency to send girls to work as near as possible, the capable boys, regardless of their age, are also taken by their fathers to the cities or even to India if they cannot find manual work within the country. Thus, childrens responsibility in former kamaiya families has changed dramatically because today they may be working as a kamaiya (with a possibility of education in a few cases), or engaged in manual or domestic activities in urban areas. Data Collection and Analytic Procedures Based on the suggestions of NGOs and local leaders, I selected one of the largest (former) kamaiya settlements of Bardiya district whereas haliya children came from a section of ethnic Musahar people living in the eastern Morang district, whose total population stands at 172,434 members (NTG, 2006). Before starting fieldwork, all participants were informed about the objectives of the research as clearly as possible. They were made aware of their right not to partake in interviews at any time and that their identities would not be revealed without

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their explicit permission (Bryman, 2004). Since most children were illiterate, I had to obtain both verbal and written consent from children in the presence of their parents or guardians, but the employers were not contacted as the study took place when haliya and kamaiya child workers were with their families. During the pilot study I had prepared a number of broad themes (namely household situation, working conditions, physical and psychosocial impact from work, and from the treatment of employer, and future prospects) to be included in the interviews with haliya and kamaiya child workers. When I realized inaccessibility to bonded child workers, especially from kamaiya group, I decided to carry out basic household questionnaires in the settlements from where many children were suspected to be going away to work as a haliya or a kamaiya. From about 70 surveys conducted in one of the largest (former) kamaiya settlements in Bardiya district, I was able to identify about 58 children working as a kamaiya. Likewise, I was able to trace 32 haliya child workers from the predominantly Musahar community when conducting the same number of surveys as in Bardiya. For this in-depth study, however, some 15 haliya and 34 kamaiya children took part in various types and stages of in-depth studies. In the kamaiya group, the majority of the participants were girls whereas I had mainly boys from the haliya group, and their age ranged from 9 to 18 years, but the vast majority of them fall between 1216 years age cohort. All individual interviews were recorded on digital voice recorders, and the group discussions were recorded on a camcorder. During the individual interviews, some haliya and kamaiya child workers appeared shy or afraid to share their personal conditions while a few felt distracted in the company of their family members or friends. All in all, I was able to carry out interviews successfully. As for the group study, it was difficult to find a quiet place for the participants to describe their world of work. Because of the frequent disturbances the video recording had to be abandoned a couple of times, but I succeeded in the end. As I hired guides, who knew many of my research participants, any issues bothering the children could be discussed right away. Likewise, all interview materials were immediately transcribed into Nepali from Musahar and Tharu dialects/languages, but the translation into English was done only after the fieldwork was completed. Presentation of Empirical Findings The objective here was to analyse childrens understanding of their duties, responsibilities and their world of work from their own viewpoints. In all interviews, becoming an adult appeared as a general theme reflecting haliya and kamaiya childrens progression from childhood to adulthood. Of course, this understanding is not based on age, but rather on their duties to work and support their families. For most working children it was a period of dilemma:

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they were not ready to act as adults, but at the same time were old enough to take family responsibility. While for a few it was also a lifestyle transformation from rural to urban or semi-urban setting, the vast majority of children worked in the domestic and agricultural spheres in the rural areas. On a typical day, a 15-year-old haliya girl carried out the following tasks:
I get up at 5.30am and make tea for my maliks family and for myself. Then, I cook khole [soup made out of leftover food] and feed it to the animals. I again make the khole for the afternoon. Then, I prepare kuti [fine chopping of grass] and give it to the animals after mixing with bhus [rice skin] and hay. I eat food and leave for school at around 10am. During the short afternoon break, I come back home to give the khole to the animals, and prepare snacks for my maliks family. Then, I go back to school till 4pm. After coming back, I give food to bhai [literally small brother, baby son of her malik], and go to cut the grass. Then, I play with bhai until evening meal is ready. After eating, I clean the utensils, and watch television for a while. I study for about 30 minutes before going to bed at around 8pm I do not get anything extra than lodging, fooding and attending school. (Saru)

Likewise, a 16-year-old kamaiya boy may be doing the following in a day:

Ive to wake up at 4am to clean animal shed, milk the buffalo, and give grass/ fodder and water to cows and buffaloes. Then, Id go out to collect grass and fodder. I also have to take the bullocks to the field for ploughing and in the afternoon Ive to take all animals to graze. If there is no planting work in the field, then Ive to collect firewood or help construction of animal sheds, tanga [oxen or male buffalo-drawn wooden wagon], etc. At the beginning of our contract, I was told that I just had to take care of the buffaloes and look after the children during their school holidays. Cutting grass and other works were done by my maliks family, but when I started to work, they made me do everything, from planting to harvesting. Although I entered the home at 6 or 7pm for food, I normally went to bed at around 11pm because I had to help with household work and also find out what work will be done in the coming days They give 2 quintals of unprocessed rice to my family, and two pairs of trousers and shirts and sandals for me in a year. (Thage)

The vast majority of children become a haliya or a kamaiya to receive food and clothes for themselves, and also some cash or kind income for their families. As it will be discussed later on, a few are hoping to study while working as a bonded labourer. By going through the vast amount of fieldwork notes and interviews, I was able to unearth several important aspects affecting the lives of haliya and kamaiya children, and group them into categories (e.g. bonding, schooling, work, health and well-being) for a detailed analysis.

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Working Childrens Bonds With Family Members In all interviews, both haliya and kamaiya child workers expressed their unfledging support to their families. These children considered helping their parents and siblings whatever way they could as their topmost priority (Giri, 2006, 2007). Most working children stress that it is absolutely necessary to be obedient towards their parents, and follow whatever roles and responsibilities are assigned to them. As such, their own hopes and interests are either suppressed completely or considered as of subsidiary importance (Reynolds, 1991; Janak, 2000; Jacquemin, 2004). Of course, parents also expect children to contribute to the household economy. For example, a 15-year-old girl, who has already worked as a kamaiya for five years, says:
My parents have many children, but weve no land, except 5 kattha [0.169 hectares] given by the government when it banned the kamaiya system, and my father is the only person working to support us. So, when I was able to do some household work, my father found me a malik and sent me to his house. I didnt want to go because I wanted to attend school, travel and play like other children, but our economic condition isnt good; weve to struggle daily to gather food and clothes. So I had to think about my family and go to work for someone else. (Lalu)

Likewise, a 15-year-old kamaiya boy, who even gave up his study to support his family, had this to say:
I was studying at 6th grade, but my father asked me about finding work elsewhere. My parents are getting old so they cant do outside work [farming or manual labour], and Ive many siblings to take care of. I saw that my family hadnt got enough food to eat or clothes to wear. I didnt know where else to go so I decided to become a kamaiya in the nearby village. (Gope)

With Employers/Landlords With the exception of a few haliya children, most went to work for an employer or a landlord through their parents or relatives and in principle forged a bond like ones own daughter or son. This is a topdown relationship (i.e. parentsemployers) rather than an age-based notion. Its significance lies in the employers position in offering a little support to the children coming from conditions of economic hardship. As already mentioned, children went to work because they did not have enough food and clothes at home so the employers assumed the role of parents by taking care of them, including teaching skills and disciplining them. For haliya and kamaiya children as well as their parents,

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getting food and clothes was a first priority, and then comes the issue of monthly or annual salaries. For example, a 13-year-old kamaiya girl informed me:
Weve a problem of food and clothes, and everyone in my family is engaged in majduri [manual labour] to meet our daily household needs. I was also involved in majduri for a while. My parents thought becoming a kamaiya would be easier than working daily in someone elses field and receiving NRs605 a day. That is because I could get food, clothes and about 2 quintals of unprocessed rice from the malik in a year. It does not depend on whether I have to work or not. (Mayu)

To get pocket money or be able to attend school is something that made the bonding between the working children and their employers close to their own parents. A 15-year-old kamaiya boy says:
I used to call my malik a grandfather, who used to buy things when I really needed them. As I looked after goats, my slippers got worn out quite fast and my malik used to buy me very thick chappal and make jokes like if this one gets torn apart soon, Ill order you an iron-chappal. He also used to give me pocket money during the festival periods. (Sagune)

If this parentchild relationship gave certain freedoms within the employers view, and children and employer had good contact with the family, working children felt generally happy and satisfied. However, a better perceived or actual relationship between child workers and employers did not mean that the workload was reduced or a fixed free time was allowed. Whether children work within the house, in agriculture or in both arenas, there are no scheduled working hours or better conditions. Some say that they have no time for rest (Raju), they sometimes receive only rice and ground chillies with a bit of salt as curry (Minu) and some have to sleep in the chhidi [nearby entrance/stairs] on a mat and a few bedclothes (Mayu). Obviously, those having problems at home also found themselves to be in a difficult relationship with their employer. A 16-year-old haliya boy, who was unsure of his age, explains:
I used to be scolded in my family so I ran away to work as a gothalo [shepherd]. My mother came to take me back home, but I refused to go. After working for a while, my malik scolded me, and my mother told me to leave the work. Then, I changed my malik, but I was again scolded a lot. I went to work as a haliya to my third malik. After I had finished ploughing the barren rice field, my malik said you dont know how to plough so I had to leave yet again. (Biddhe)

Some haliya and kamaiya children, who are commuting from home to work during the daytime, seem to have a labour market (i.e. employeremployee) bonding. This kind of contract generally involves fixed working hours and tasks

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as well as payment methods. Since these children are not included in family life like those working under like ones own child relationship, it gives some autonomy to the child workers, but at the same time there is a risk of less support and protection. In fact, most child workers go to work early in the morning and come back late in the evening, which can be a frightening experience for a young person:
Theyd sometimes send me home at 10 or 11pm. I was so frightened to walk alone through the jungle, streams and fields. I often saw ghosts and spirits running around. My heart would pound like a drum until I reached home. (Lalu, 15)

Trust and Anxiety Having some kind of parental bond with the employer seemed to give haliya and kamaiya children a sense of personal protection and trust. If child workers make a mistake or do not understand things the employer will guide them, and may also use disciplinary actions like scolding or even giving a few slaps. For instance, a 14-year-old kamaiya girl says that they scold me only once in a while and mostly they advise how to avoid making mistakes (Laxu). Generally, scolding or shouting is taken as a normal part of life, be it at home or at work, but many seem to feel humiliated when they are slapped, or worse, badly beaten. For instance, a 15-year-old kamaiya girl shares her experience:
My malik used to come home drunk late at night, and whenever my maliknia complained about my work or behaviour, then hed beat me up by tying my hands behind my back to the point that Id receive bruises and wounds. Id also get smacked for cooking slowly or if the meal wasnt tasty enough. Many times I was slapped on my face, and once he poured hot tea over my body. This kind of treatment made me cry when I recalled my parents and home. (Raju)

When parents send their children to work as a haliya or a kamaiya, they will (or like to) believe that their children will be well cared-for, but unfortunately this is not always the reality. On top of scolding and slapping some girl workers face sexual mistreatment from their employers or even from some predators in the neighbourhood. A 16-year-old kamaiya girl tells how her employer indecently approached her a few years back:
While Id be sleeping alone in my room, my malik would come in. Hed start persuading me to let him sleep with me. Hed offer me money, but I refused. I think my maliknia knew his behaviour towards me, but she didnt react even when I talked to her about it. (Kalpu)

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Although it is very hard to get information about sexual assaults, my guide was able to persuade a rape victim to explain her ordeal when she followed her maliknias order:
Once she asked me to go to a kiosk to buy some items. I replied, I dont want to go to the shop at night. She shouted at me so I had to follow her command, without any complaint. As I went to buy things, I was raped in a dark alley. I came back running to inform my maliknia. I had bruises all over my body and my clothes were soaked with blood. I couldnt describe the incident, and instead of helping me she told me to go to sleep. The next day, she accused me of going out to sleep with a man. She even suspected that I was prostituting myself to earn more money. No one believed my ordeal. I felt really humiliated as I didnt know what to do. I still get flashbacks of what happened and faint. (Raju)

Significance of Education At a symbolic level, both haliya and kamaiya children themselves see school as the best place for them. They seem to be fascinated with their intermingling with poorly organized village schools, NGO campaigners and with educated children of their employers. A 15-year-old illiterate kamaiya girl surprisingly says, education is our right. So, we shouldnt be working to earn money based on our age; we should also have enough time for play, rest and study (Lalu). At the practical level, however, it is clear from the in-depth interviews that schooling means nothing more than being able to read and write (Giri, 2006). It is not so much because they would not want to study, but there are often no post-primary schools nearby, and most of all, parents cannot relinquish their childrens contribution to the household economy when they are becoming adults. During the interviews, it was found that completion of the sixth grade is the highest level of education attained by a male kamaiya child worker, and none of the girls have completed even the primary level. While lack of economic means is considered as the key barrier to education, the general attitudes, including vague future prospects of parents and children is also prevalent in the haliya and kamaiya communities. As girls go with their husbands and do not preserve the inheritance line or honour the ancestors, they generally do not get priority for studying. This sort of gender discrimination is widespread in Nepal and reinforces their sense of inferiority. They therefore tend to count on their siblings to do better at school. For instance, a 15-year-old kamaiya girl, who had a difficult relationship at home, and was also badly mistreated where she worked, says:

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My siblings are studying at the local school, and Im satisfied in thinking that theyre fulfilling my dream. My sisters and brothers are studying at the 4th and 3rd grades, respectively. Im very happy for them. I think if Ive a desire to learn, then, Ill be helped by my siblings. (Raju)

A number of haliya and kamaiya children are combining their work and schooling at their employers house, which puts them into a situation of double trouble (Giri, 2007). They have to complete both household/agricultural tasks as well as homework; failing to do either one of them can invite punishment of unknown extent, including possible expulsion by the employers. For instance, a 16-year-old kamaiya boy, who combines his work with study, explains:
I had to get up at 5am to sweep the floor, cut the vegetables, wash utensils, prepare tea and serve it to everyone. Then, Id wash cups/glasses and make everything ready for cooking in the kitchen. My maliknia used to cook the meal and eat together with her husband and rush to office. Id have to serve food to other remaining members so by the time I had the chance to eat all the students were leaving for school. How could I be in my class on time when I start eating at 9.30am [and the school starts at 10.00am]? Sometimes I turned up after one or two periods. My teachers were angry and said, Why do you always come to the lessons late? Do you play around on your way to the school?, etc. (Shivep)

Those failing to sustain the double trouble naturally quit studying, and once they leave the school (either because of poverty, or attitudes of family and friends) it is almost impossible to rejoin. In fact, they feel embarrassed for quitting it in the first place and are then too old to continue. A 15-year-old kamaiya girl says,
If you go to attend primary school as a 1415-year-old girl, everyone is staring at you, often in an indecent manner. You feel angry and bad, and when your parents also notice it, theyll tell you to stop going to school. (Samju)

As the girls grow older, they prefer to pursue more vocational training, instead of formal education which has less apparent direction. Learning to make clothes and goat husbandry appear to be the most common preferences, but many also would like to have their own farmland to work and get married to settle with husband/wife and children. The government law says that a girl must be at least 18 years old for nuptials, but the majority of kamaiya girls appear to be married before their 16th birthday in fact 50 per cent of Nepali girls are found to be married before reaching 18 (Plan International, 2007). When they move to their husbands family, almost all girls stop working as a kamaiya to become a housewife and a manual labourer. Their transition to adult- or womanhood is unlikely to be any less stressful.

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Work Environments/Conditions None of the children think that working is in any way a bad thing. Both haliya and kamaiya children worked at home as well (though they would carry out significantly few tasks). For instance, a 17-year-old kamaiya girl, who stopped working after getting married and subsequently giving birth to a daughter, stresses, They [some interviewees] say we should be allowed to go out with friends to play, but I often didnt want to go out to wander around. I was okay carrying out light household tasks (Bhagu). Given that there are no other choices, both haliya and kamaiya children seem to feel proud of being able to support their family by working at someone elses house (Janak, 2000; Jacquemin, 2004; Giri, 2006). Working As a Bonded Labourer Both haliya and kamaiya children come from socially disadvantaged communities (Alaraudanjoki, 2003). Although many of them work near their villages, there is of course a huge economic difference between their parents and those who employ them. Their need to go to work ranges from scarcity of daily meals and clothes, to certain remuneration, including the hope of studying. It appears that many kamaiya children may be earning more than their mothers (if we are to calculate cash and kind payment, including food and clothes). For instance, a mother labours for a whole day to earn just NRs60, way below the nationally fixed wage rate of NRs74, whereas a 14-year-old kamaiya girl earns, besides food and lodging, 4 quintals of unprocessed rice and two pair of clothes and slippers (Lalu). Beyond the obvious economic reasons, distant relatives and friends helped to attract children to work as a haliya or a kamaiya. While their relatives pretend to support them to overcome their pitiful household conditions, their friends persuade them of the possibility of getting good food, clothes and money. For example, a 14-year-old haliya boy, who was lured by his own relative, says, my aunt brought me to meet my malik and said, if you stay here you will earn money, and may be able to do something good in the future (Shibe). Another 10-year-old haliya boy went to work following his friends advice: I had come to kill rats [for meat] in the rice field when I met Rite. He asked me to come to work for AB, who, he said, gives good food and a place to stay (Jibe). Prior to the ban on the kamaiya system in 2000, as mentioned elsewhere, the whole family used to be bonded to a landlord in which each member would carry out specific tasks (e.g. wife working in the kitchen, and a young boy shepherding animals). Today, adult members do not (or no longer can) work as a kamaiya so many children are forced to combine both household chores

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and agricultural activities in a way to compensate the loss of post-2000 adult kamaiya workers. Doing such heavy work is obviously stressful both physically and psychosocially, and if homesickness is added to the negative treatment by their employers, some children are likely to reach the point that they cannot handle it any more. Health and Well-being To be able to eat enough food, wear nice clothes, play and to study are all necessary parts of childhood, but such a lifestyle is a luxury for haliya and kamaiya children. Instead of a playful adolescence, they must work to support their families from an early age. When it comes to getting sufficient food, new clothes and a proper sleeping place, child workers, especially kamaiya children, appear to have different views. A 15-year-old kamaiya girl complains, I often had to eat leftover food. My sleeping place was the kitchen floor. In the winter, it is so cold that I cant sleep (Raju). In contrast, another 13-year-old kamaiya girl says, The food and the sleeping place are much better than what I get at my parents home (Kamu). Being unable to visit family members frequently is an obvious cause of loneliness. Some longed to see parents and siblings while others felt detached and alone. A 15-year-old kamaiya girl laments, I wasnt allowed to contact my parents. When my employers received phone calls for me theyd say I wasnt around. I desperately wanted to go to my family, but I couldnt leave (Raju). Another 10-year-old haliya boy has a different story:
I give my earnings to my parents. They borrow a lot of money and everything ends in jad-raksi [home-brewed alcohol]. I am facing a dilemma. If I decide to live alone [away from parents], theyll come to ask for money and quarrel with me. So I have to stay with my malik here [so that they dont dare to come]. (Jibe)

The majority of haliya and kamaiya children do not recall being seriously ill from natural causes or work. However, minor injuries and illnesses are reported frequently, and most of them received varying degrees of support from their employers to overcome their sickness. A 16-year-old kamaiya boy had this experience when he became ill:
Once I was severely ill and my malik took me to the health post, costing him NRs180 for a check up and medicine. In the evening, my maliknia found out about it and she quarrelled with him by saying, Why did you spend so much for others? (Thage)

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In contrast, a 15-year-old haliya girl explains how positively she was treated by her woman boss:
My maliknia scolds me, but does not beat me up. When I had cut my fingers, she said, If you lose one of them, you will not be able to join the police force [later on], and she gave me medication, including tetanus injection. Then, she used to cut the grass and clean the utensils until my wound was healed. (Saru)

The Future Prospects of Bonded Workers After thoroughly reading all the field study materials, one might conclude that both haliya and kamaiya children have a rather narrow perspective on their future. For them, however, even the small goals they have are far fetched ones when they are not sure of securing their daily survival needs. For instance, becoming a police officer or a teacher was one of the highest wishes the working children have, and their success really depends on whether someone helps them. While an in-depth discussion can be found in Giri (2009) regarding haliya and kamaiya children cautious analysis of their future, I would like to offer here a number of examples as an illustrative overview. A 13-year-old kamaiya girl says, Id like to ask people to help me continue my study because I want to become a teacher when I become an adult (Kalpu). For most children, they would be happy if they could take care of their family members and siblings well, and secure certain skills, education, income or properties for their future. A 16-year-old boy, who has the highest education among all kamaiya children interviewed, has this vision for the future:
If anybody wants to help, then Ill ask them to help me set up a shop so that it becomes easier for me to support my family. Ill also ask them to support my study because Id love to become a teacher. If any training is given by organizations, then we can improve our family life by using that training to earn better income. (Shivep)

Likewise, a 15-year-old haliya girl hopes for the following:

If someone would help me, Id ask for money to build a nice house for my parents. Id get a job and stay in that house after my parents are dead. Id ask them to let me study and learn skills so that no one can cheat or look down on us. (Saru)

Interpretation of Childrens Lives Most haliya children took the initiative to work and went away with the consent of their parents, but kamaiya children were sent away, sometimes forcefully, by their families. Even though haliya and kamaiya children carry out similar work

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activities, their earnings and experiences are not quite similar. Many haliya children found their employers by themselves whereas kamaiya child workers followed their parents advice with little or no say themselves. It is interesting to note that the majority of haliya children express a generally negative relationship with their parents and often a better one with their employers whereas kamaiya children say they are well loved by their parents, but they face frequent scolding and sometimes beating from their malikmaliknia. Some kamaiya girl workers were also sexually assaulted, which in at least two cases involved rape. However, child workers with some kind of parental bonding through their families and the employers expressed that their working experiences had been relatively positive. Although kamaiya children seem to be better paid than their haliya counterparts, most of them seem unhappy when it comes to daily meals, clothes or sleeping place. For those kamaiya children having a difficult relationship at home made their work experience much worse. The majority of children did not mind working, but their argument is that we shouldnt be allowed to do only work or carry out tasks that are too much difficult (Lalu). Whatever activities haliya and kamaiya children have to carry out is more of a family duty than work because the family must to be supported when needed. It was not something that they would have wished for, but a moral obligation had fallen upon them to meet the daily household needs (Giri, 2006, 2007). Although they are sad about forfeiting their education, both haliya and kamaiya children seem to feel proud that they are helping their families. As various studies have also pointed out, leaving their own families teaches them important lessons in life, including becoming grown-up adults and being willing to take responsibilities beyond contributing to their household economy (Fyfe, 1989; Reynolds, 1991; Woodhead, 1999; Jacquemin, 2004). Conclusion At present, two forms of childhood seem to have emerged in Nepal. In the rural areas, children must work to support their family, thereby preparing to become responsible adults. For urban children or the offspring of well-to-do families, in contrast, spending time doing school work and playing is the normal part of their upbringing. Thanks to media outlets and NGOs for their advocacy, rural children are increasingly becoming aware of these two different forms of childhood; let us call them traditional and modern. The Government has also introduced laws that promote social issues like education for all, equal rights for girls and boys, and has banned marriages below 18 and hazardous work below 16. Although haliya and kamaiya children are fascinated by what they see and hear about the modern ideals of childhood, they are unable to be part of it because contributing to family survival is their topmost priority. Their family situation is such that whatever media, NGOs or the Government advocate

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becomes impracticable. At the same time, they are not passively observing what is going on around them. For instance, many haliya and kamaiya children are keen on helping their siblings to get a formal education even if they could not study themselves (Giri, 2006). They are becoming further aware that if they are to emerge from generations of poverty, they must not just depend on their parents small amount of land, but actively try to obtain other skills like tailoring, carpentry, opening a kiosk and such like. Acknowledgements
I am grateful to my supervisors, Dr. Heather Montgomery and Prof. Marin Woodhead, Nigel Pigott for grammatical support for the first draft this paper, and my research assistants, Tikaram Ram Chaudhary, Samjhana Giri, Sharmila Chaudhary and Radha Subedi. I am also thankful to various members of JAAS and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.

Notes
1. A person enters debt bondage when their labour is demanded as a means of repayment of a loan, or of money given in advance. Usually, people are tricked or trapped into working for no pay or very little pay (in return for such a loan), in conditions that violate their human rights. Invariably, the value of the work done by a bonded labourer is greater that the original sum of money borrowed or advanced. (Anti-Slavery International online) 2. Robertson and Mishra (1997: 15) report that 95 per cent of kamaiya labourers belong to the ethnic Tharu community, whose total population stands at 1.2 million or 6.5 per cent of the total inhabitants of Nepal. Likewise, the 2001 Census of Nepal puts the number of dalit people at 3,030,067 (or 13.09 per cent) out of the total population of 23,151,423.1, and kami (blacksmith) is the largest group with 29.57 per cent and halkhor (sweeper) is the smallest group with 0.12 per cent of the total dalit inhabitants (Giri, 2004). 3. It should be noted that while Pakistan was founded on 14 August of the same year, the presentday Bangladesh was called East Pakistan until 1972. 4. There are, however, large numbers of haliya workers in the hill and mountain regions of Nepal, but some scholars believe that no big landlords could be found in the same area. According to Marks (2003: 32, cited in Giri, 2004): A big landlord in the hills, for instance, may be a man with two hectares of land; but objectively this does not fit the definition of such. The point is fundamental, for if the essence of the Nepals problems lies, as it does, in the population exceeding the carrying capacity of the land ... Other authors also make similar claims that Nepals ability to reclaim more land in order to accommodate a rapidly growing population had already reached a maximum threshold in 1981 (cited in Giri, 2004). So, what are the factors that keep the haliya and kamaiya practices alive? Is it the population explosion, lack of land, caste discrimination or the overall underdevelopment of the country? 5. As of 2008, one US dollar was about 74 Nepalese Rupees (NRs).

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Sharma, S. and R.K. Sharma (2002) Findings on Debt Bondage: Long Term Farm Labour Systems in Kavrepalanchowk and Sarlahi Districts. Nepal, Kathmandu: National Labour Academy. Sharma, S., B. Basnyat and G. Gharti Chhetri (2001) Nepal: Bonded Child Labour among Child Workers of the Kamaiya System: A Rapid Assessment, Investigating the Worst Forms of Child Labour. Rapid Assessment Series, No. 5. Geneva: ILO. Villanger, E. (2006) Is Bonded Labor Voluntary? Evidence from the Liberation of the Kamaiyas in the Far-Western Region of Nepal, CMI (Chr. Michelsen Institute) Working Paper No. 16. Woodhead, M. (1999) Combating Child Labour: Listen to What the Children Say, Childhood 6(1): 2749.

Birendra R. Giri was born in a remote village of Nepal, but obtained an International Baccalaureate diploma from the International School of Amsterdam, BA (Honours) from the Utrecht University College, an MA degree from the Universiteit van Amsterdam, the Netherlands; and MSc and PhD degrees from The Open University, Milton Keynes, the UK. The authors research interests include (bonded) child labour, poverty and inequality, development aid, migration and refugee and NGOs movements. Address: R240, ChDL/FELS Department, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, UK. (kavreli@gmail.com)

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