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In the course of India’s transformation to market capitalism, the use of unfree labour has increased dramatically. Hidden behind the glamour of accelerated growth in production, and visible signs of wealth, is the poverty and vulnerability of large segments of rural and urban workers.
This volume analyses the historical, social, economic, technical, and political fabric of bondage, while highlighting the continuity between the past and the present. Based on an interdisciplinary perspective, the book is broadly divided into three sections—agrarian bondage in historical perspective; contemporary forms of bondage; and the urgent need for legal and global action. It argues that while the state gives absolute priority to the interests of formal and informal capital accumulation, it has abdicated its responsibility of providing basic security and protection to the people at the bottom of the economic and social hierarchy.
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Isabelle Guérin Research Fellow at the Institute of Research for Development, Provence University, France; and Head of the Research Programme ‘Labour, Finance and Social Dynamics’ at the French Institute of Pondicherry.