‘We know the pain’: freed India coffee workers lead way from bonded labour
Thousands of families are trapped by debts on plantations in south-west Karnataka, despite the practice supposedly being abolished in the 70s
It was a chance meeting in the market that led to freedom. On his monthly trip to buy groceries, Ramesh bumped into a relative who asked him how his job was going.
Ramesh, 40, and his wife, Nandini, had worked at the Cauvery coffee plantation in Kodagu for 10 years, but they were not happy. Earning 100 rupees (£1) a day, for a 14-hour shift picking coffee, they were trying to pay off a 25,000 rupee loan they had taken out with their boss. Each month, they fell deeper into debt as interest rates increased. Meanwhile, they were trapped on the site. Ramesh had to ask for permission to be allowed to make the monthly outing to buy supplies.
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