The Contours of NGO Activism against Sumangali Bonded Labour in Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract

Sumangali Bonded Labour arrangement in the textile mills of Tamil Nadu has caught the public attention due to the continuous activism of different NGOs in the state. The NGO activism is largely characterized by an approach aimed at raising public awareness and putting pressure on the state and industry through lobbying rather than any form of mobilization of the workers. This paper shows that the limited forms of engagement is further circumscribed by the social character of the NGOs. Also the civil society engagement in its initial phase was characterized by human rights and labour rights discourses in tandem with coordination with mainstream leftist trade unions and political parties. However, the discourse as this paper argues has recently taken a turn towards stressing corporate social responsibility over co-ordination with left political actors. This paper attempts to bring into picture the nature of the day to day NGO activism in the anti-sumangali campaign and chart the contours of the NGO-Trade union interaction in the campaign.