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 the 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 dramatisation 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 KP 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 the inhumanly treatment being meted out 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 dramatisation and spreading 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.

Each episode on  bonded labour will have a new story of such labourers, Sharma said adding a team of six community reporters, three each in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, have done extensive field work to locate the families of the bonded labourers and interviewed them for their stories before dramatising them.

The programme has been produced by the World Service
Trust of the BBC, he said.
  
Yvonne MacPherson, country director, BBC World Service Trust in India and the programme's project manager Ashish Singh, who were scheduled to visit the state capital here for the launch of the programme, could not make it due to the cancellation of their flight.

The programme on bonded labour will be aired Friday at different times in 11 towns of Uttar Pradesh and six towns of Bihar.