Freed bonded labourers awaiting rehabilitation

By Lalit Basel,Surkhet, Jan. 22: Dile Kami of Chingad Rural Municipality–5 in Surkhet district became a bonded labourer (Haliya) after failing to repay a debt to a village landlord. 

Tragically, he passed away in June last year while working as a Haliya. His dreams of building a modest home and owning land remained unfulfilled.

Following Dile’s death, his son Chandra Bahadur Kami was also forced to become a Haliya to clear the family’s debt. 

According to Chandra Bahadur’s wife Gangamati, both father and son had no choice but to work for the landlord to pay a loan of Rs. 25,000. Chandra Bahadur later moved to India and managed to repay the debt with his earnings. As they lack land, the family now lives in a hut provided by Gangamati’s parents.

The family of Ratna Bahadur Tharu from Birendranagar–10 has a similar tale to share. 

Ratna Bahadur worked as a Haliya to support his household. His daughter, Shanti Chaudhary, revealed that despite the government declaring the abolition of the Haliya system, her family still has to plough other people’s land for their livelihood.

Sixteen years after the government declared Haliya's liberation in 2008, the freed Haliyas are still trapped in a cycle of hardship due to the lack of proper rehabilitation. Thir Bahadur Chaudhary of Birendranagar–9 is also facing a similar fate. Like his father, he is compelled to work on a landlord’s farm. 

Though he holds a Haliya identity card, he lacks land, a house or any livelihood skills. Thir Bahadur has urged the government to focus on rehabilitation rather than just liberation.

The government abolished the Haliya system in 2008, cancelling all debts owed by Haliya families to the landlords. However, the rehabilitation process has remained incomplete, leaving many freed Haliyas vulnerable and still working as bonded labourers to survive.

According to the National Haliya Liberation Federation, there are about  50,000 freed Haliyas across Karnali and Sudurpashchim provinces. 

While data collection has been completed in three districts of Karnali--Surkhet, Jajarkot, and Humla, and all nine districts of Sudurpashchim, many Haliyas remain unrecorded.

Hari Singh Bohara, Executive Director of the Federation, admitted that earlier surveys were prepared in a rush, resulting in incomplete data. 

The Federation estimates around 18,000 Haliyas are in Karnali alone. However, only 668 have been identified in Surkhet, 444 in Jajarkot and 1,421 in Humla.

Yam Raj Malla, Chairperson of the District Haliya Liberation Society in Surkhet, said that while identity cards were distributed to freed Haliyas, rehabilitation has not begun yet. 

The lack of priority from local governments has led to the freezing of the annual budget allocated for the freed Haliyas, he claimed. 

The government has categorised freed Haliyas into four groups for rehabilitation, including Groups A, B, C and D. Group A includes those without both land and a house, while B includes those residing in landlords’ homes.

Similarly, in Group C are those with land but no house and D include those with insufficient land or housing.

To support rehabilitation, the government provides Rs. 200,000 per family for land purchases and Rs. 125,000 for house construction, totalling Rs. 325,000. However, Malla alleged that the identified freed Haliyas in Karnali have been overlooked, further delaying their rehabilitation and perpetuating their struggles.