With the independence day around the corner, it's ideally a good time to talk about freedom. In spite of all the dents in our democracy, to say, "we are a free nation not under the oppressive rule of any colonial empire or the hegemony of kings," is itself a remarkable stage of social evolution. Although it's premature to conclude that our journey to freedom and self-rule is complete, where we are today is a precious space, our forefathers struggled to be in. But this space, unfortunately, is not a reality for many, as slavery still persists.
Slavery has been a curse upon humanity. Even great kingdoms of our past, which we hail as sacrosanct to our heritage, were nobler to some and oppressive to many. It's an uncontestable truth that most grandiose architectures of the erstwhile eras were built using slave labor. With the toil of innumerable souls, these structures, which would later speak for the glories of their kings were erected.
But this was not a phenomenon pertaining only to our country. The world under the dominant kings and their regional empires were competing with one other to create architectural structures that they believed spoke of their world outlook and faith. But in India, with the advent of foreign invaders, who came to plunder wealthy kingdoms, power began to dwindle from the hands of these regional kings, raising slavery and subjugation to another level.
Then came the colonial powers. Oppression under the British rule is known to all. Not only in India but wherever colonies were established, labor in those regions were exploited and resources were plundered, but slave labor was not limited to the colonies alone. Even within England, during the periods of industrial revolution, both native and migrant laborers were made to work in clumsy working conditions for endless hours.
Broadly, the plight of the majority that is the working class people around the world had always been shuttling between bad and worse, for centuries, under various forms of rule (kingdoms to colonies). When literature talks about glorious things of these eras, we never ask, were they glorious to all?
It was after the demise of colonial rule and birth of free nations, the common man began to benefit. Today, if a considerable size of human population is able to exercise free labor of their choice and benefit from notable labor reforms, the credit must go to freedom and labor movements, in India and around the world, which championed the cause of people neglected for ages. But this remarkable journey, to date, has not culminated in the total abolition of slavery. If we too, in our times, fail to address the disparity in development and do not facilitate the elevation of oppressed people, our big talks on development will hold no real meaning.
According to the global slavery index 2016, 45.8 million people around the world are being subjected to slavery. India ranks the list with an estimated 18 million people subjected to modern slavery. From forced to bonded labor, human trafficking for slavery and prostitution, and sale and abuse of child brides in the name of marriage, people are being crushed against their will to do something they wouldn't if given a choice.
Now, this doesn't take into account what appears to be 'normal labor', but exploited silently and gradually, in the form of extended hours of labor with no further scope of development. The waiter in a restaurant remains so for ages until he retires, or he may just raise up to the level of a supervisor after decades. A coolie remains a coolie, for the rest of his life. A conservancy worker remains so, with members of his family continuing the same menial job of dealing with human wastes.
Like these, there are many forms of labor, which neither provide the worker a scope for future, nor sufficient remuneration. Many unskilled laborers still consider scaling from daily wage to a monthly salary, a remarkable achievement of their lives. But in all, while they toil for the same hours or more of labor in a day, they earn far less than someone working in a sophisticated working condition with lesser physical toil and hours. When we can earn sumptuously with specific hours of labor why not them? Don't their families and children deserve proper food, health, and education? Even as we celebrate the independence day, earning a paid holiday for the 15th of August, they would lose a day's wage.
The poetic enumeration of kingdoms of the past, even the rosy picture of today's industrial democratic world, is an image built upon the hard toil of millions of such people, who indeed are the real creators. It is regrettable that freedom for them still remains a dream. Either they must break out of the shackles of oppression or we should be noble enough to not subject them to slavery.
Eras have gone past, yet their dreams remain. When the flag flies high, we believe disparity goes forever and every human is set free to labor by will and not spend the rest of his life as a shackled being.