How Punjab s Dalit Labourers Are Trapped to Live a Bonded Life
A survey revealed that big peasants, who were among the top lenders to the labourers, gave them loans in the garb of paying low daily wages.
A labourer drinks water while harvesting wheat crop at a field in Jhanpur village of the northern Indian state of Punjab April 18, 2012. Photo: Reuters/Ajay Verma
Rights9 hours ago
Mansa, Patiala (Punjab):Â A narrow dirt road alongside a filthy pond enters Neelamâs one room house at Aklia village of Punjabâs Mansa district. The house is just a pile of bricks. The floor is muddy and uneven.
How Punjab s Rural Women, Neck-Deep in Debt, Are Trapped in Microloan Cycles
RBI regulations to check over-borrowing or ghost borrowers have failed to deliver, catching women in a cruel cycle of taking loans to repay loans.
A group of women in Mansa s Joga village in Punjab say most of them are in extreme mental distress due to loan overburden and inability to repay. Photo: Vivek Gupta
Reportage18/Feb/2021
Mansa/Sangrur/Barnala: âI feel like ending my life but who will look after my kids,â says Sukhdeep Kaur, from Joga village in Mansa district. She took her first micro group loan of Rs 30,000 in 2016 to open a cosmetic shop.