 Kalu Bhavar, a 48-year-old travel man from Mukhara in Pulgurd, borrowed money from local MLA's aid to perform his son's last rites. He was forced to work without pay and killed himself after being harassed over a loan of nearly Rs. 500 to buy a coffin for the last rites of his 13-year-old son in November. The accused Ramdas Ambukodre, a close aide of local MLA Sunil Buzara, booked under Bounded Labour Act. As a response to his act, MLA Buzara said, the FIR against Kodre is fake. If such FIRs are registered, then a time will come when no tribal will be called into work in the field. This is not the only instance of Bounded Labour, but there are many instances where either police have not registered the case or the victim themselves due to lack of knowledge and financial resources to not complain. Let's take a look at what is Bounded Labour. Bounded Labour, also known as Death Slavery, is the promise of persons labour as a security until the death is repaid. The term and conditions of repayment are not stated and the person who lends money has control over the labourer. The original Bounded Labour can be traced back to the ancient in the society divided into different caste groups. The marginalized caste was stripped off all means and was forced to rely on dominant caste for their own survival. This gives employers and lenders an unfair edge by snatching away all freedom of poor labourers through death, threat and surveillance. What are the legal safeguards available to prevent these atrocious acts? Under Article 23 of the Indian Constitution, human trafficking and forced labour is prohibited. The Supreme Court in PUCL vs Union of India 1982 construed Article 23 and held any person forced as Bounded Labour and one working at a rate less than the minimum wage is to be treated equally. Article 21 secures the rights to life and personal liberty. The Minimum Wages Act of 1948 sets a minimum wage bar for defined occupations and mandates other provisions to ensure fair compensation. Bounded Labour System of Violation Act 1976 stipulates a maximum sentence of three years in prison and a fine of Rs 2000 against offenders forcing bounded labour. Section 374 of IPC recognize unlawful compulsory labour and stipulates a sentence of imprisonment up to one year, a fine or both. But in spite of legal standards, why does bounded labour still exist? With the enactment of Bounded Labour System of Violation Act, thousands of bounded labourers were identified but they are released loads substantially during the 1990s with officials downplaying the magnitude of bounded labour. A report on bounded labour in South Asia by international human rights organization Anti-Slabry International reveals shocking details which are the drive for change came from grassroots and civil society pressure rather than from government leadership and those released were reportedly denied rehabilitation due to corruption, mismanagement and local political opinions. Training and compensation as part of rehabilitation packages were proving to be insufficient to meet the needs of newly released bounded labourers. State also neglected to recognize family members' bounded status. Women were not given release certificates and were denied state benefits. The labourer-employer contract are usually negotiated with the head of the family that being the husband, the women face double zippity. Let's take a look at why state interventions remain unsustained and incomprehensive. In India, bounded labour results from poverty, social marginalization and the government's unwillingness to address the practice and its underlying causes. The tendency of reducing labour protection to panda-big corporations reflects government intent. The labour protections are weakened, giving employers opportunities to exploit poor workers' freedom through debt, surveillance and threats. Let's take a look at the total budget and expenditure for the rehabilitation of bounded labour. The funds released for bounded labour rehabilitation were Rs.664.5 lakhs in 2017-18. It was decreased by 61% the following year to Rs.253.3 lakhs. Not a single rupee was spent in 2019-20 by the Ministry of Labour and Employment for the rehabilitation of bounded labour. Labour laws emerged out of long struggles and aimed to ensure power parity between employers and employees. Despite various legal safeguards, the specter of bounded labour still plagues our nation. There is an immediate need for the state to work in close tandem with the civil society to combine resources and power and a better understanding of this grave situation.