ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the links between bonded labour and structural inequality in South Asia. It provides a short overview of the history of slavery and debt bondage in the region, arguing that bonded labour in South Asia is closely connected to caste- and ethnic-based discrimination. The chapter analyses the variety of slavery practices that existed on the territory of the Indian subcontinent and puts a special focus on the role of the British colonial policies in the crystallisation of new types of slavery in the region. The analysis of widespread patterns of debt bondage in the region will show that bonded labour should be seen as a manifestation of exclusivist social forces embedded in certain socioeconomic and political practices, especially in the caste system and ethnic-based discrimination of indigenous peoples and other minority groups.
