Recently freed Irula families who were being kept as bonded labor in rice mills
have been provided with land in Palabakam to build a village and 40,000 rupees
($922) per family by the Indian government. According to the BBC, adult members
of the community in the southern state of Tamil Nadu are now working on nearby
farms and the children have access to education.
According to a BBC report, in December 2004, a few Irula men escaped their slavery-like conditions and approached activists asking for their help. Thousands of Irulas were forced by the mill owners to do hard labor for 18 hours per day, were only paid three cents per day, and did not have shelter or basic sanitation. The local government denied that bonded labor existed in the area, but the workers were freed after the intervention of India’s National Women’s Commission.
