BBC to broadcast weekly Hindi programme on bonded labour

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) will broadcast a programme in Hindi on bonded labour based on  experience of people who have borne the brunt of it and views of NGOs and crusaders against the age-old social evil.

The 30-minute weekly half an-hour radio programme titled, "Majboor Kisko Bola! (Who are your calling helpless!)", will be a dramatization based on the experiences of those bonded labourers, past and present, mostly in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and aimed at highlighting their woes, Mohanlal Sharma, the producer of the programme, told reporters here.

The narration of the programme has been scripted by K P Saxena, a Padam Shree awardee and a writer of dialogues of movies like 'Lagaan', 'Swades' and 'Hulchal'.

The programme will depict the plight of the bonded labourers and their families, their day-to-day deprivation and inhumanly treatment being meted to them by their owners since generations as their forefathers got trapped in poverty and indebtness, he said.

"We have tried to highlight the woes of the bonded labourers and their families by enacting their lives through dramatization and spread awareness among the civil society about the prevalence of the archaic system," Sharma said.

"We have also suggested various remedial measures, including rehabilitation of the rescued families of the bonded labourers through interviews of the empanelled guests, NGOs' officer bearers and noted social workers," he said.