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It Happens Only in India

27 Man Years Labor = Cost of 40 kg of Rice

By: Santosh :+: Under: It Happens Only in India
On: ⋅ March 27, 2007 ⋅  Email this post ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment
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Normally I dismiss these stories (tip Ahmed via Uber Stories) as exotic news reporting by the Western media but after the spate of farmer suicides in Vidarbha, this problem seems to be more deeply entrenched in the lower economic strata of Indian society.
These are the kind of stories Bollywood movies are made of since time immemorial, think Mother India, where villagers are literally enslaved by an unscrupulous debtor.
Jawahar Manjhi, a farm laborer in the state of Bihar has been living as a bonded laborer for the past 27 years to repay a debt of 40 kg of rice.

Twenty-seven years ago, he took 40kg of rice on loan from a local landowner for a family wedding and in exchange it was agreed he would work in the lender’s field - one day of work for 1kg of rice - to pay off his debt.

But since then he has taken out more loans of rice and does not know exactly how much he has paid back.

Jawahar says he was told he would be freed if he paid more than $100 (£51), but that is an amount far beyond his reach.

It’s just shameful that these kind of practices still exist in our society.

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