Bonded labour bartan system abolished in Orissa

Orissa government has abolished the customary bartan system.

Following intervention of the National Human Rights Commission NHRC,the Orissa government has abolished the customary bartan system a practice under which upper caste families extract work from barbers and washermen for a pittance like 15 kg of paddy for the whole year.

The state government through its Panchayati Raj department has asked all District Collectors to instruct field functionaries to ensure that such an evil practice is discouraged at all costs by taking stringent action against the culprits under the Bonded Labour System Abolition Act,1976,a notification from NHRC said.

The notification said,Since time immemorial communities like barbers and washermen have been rendering certain kinds of services to other people in a customary and traditional manner. It is seen that some of these customs and traditions are exploitative and beneath the dignity of human beings.

Some have gone to the extent of forcing the barbers to wash the feet of guests during social ceremonies like marriage etc. The barbers are sometimes forced to lift leaf plates containing leftovers at the end of ceremonial feasts, it added. The NHRC described this practice as a bonded labour.

Incidentally,the state Panchayati Raj department in April 2004 had stated that the barbers and washermen working in rural areas cannot be identified as bonded labour. The NHRC had asked the state government to stop bartan system and take action against those who failed to stop this illegal practice or abetted it.

The NHRC intervention came following a complaint by a human rights activist,Baghambar Patnaik.

Patnaik in his complaint had alleged that under the custom of bartan,several upper caste families in Puri district gave an advance of a little quantity of paddy for each married male in a village at a particular time of the year.

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In return,that person,called sewak,had to render services to all members of the family including relatives and guests during social ceremonies throughout the year without any other remuneration.

If a young barber refused to follow the custom,the upper caste neighbours wont talk to him and the shopkeeper there refused to sell him anything. They could neither walk down the main road nor bathe in the village pond, said Patnaik.

He first came to know of the practice in 1986 when barber Bhramarbar Barik was forced to drink urine and crawl down a village road for his refusal to comply with the demands of the upper castes.

The old man died a few months after the humiliating incident.