Authorities in western India are taking steps to improve labor conditions for sugar cane cutters after a court ruling and an investigation by The New York Times and The Fuller Project highlighted serious abuses of workers.
Journalists revealed last year that women in the Indian state of Maharashtra were pushed to get unnecessary hysterectomies as a way to keep them working in sweltering sugar fields, unencumbered by menstruation or gynecological ailments. The sugar cane-cutting system also has used child labor, pushes young girls into marriage and locks families into debt bondage.
The sugar industry is overwhelmingly controlled by the state’s political leadership. And major Western brands like Coca-Cola and Pepsico have profited from the system. Government officials, regulators and companies have for years done little or nothing to address these abuses. Politicians say that changing the labor system would cut into sugar profits and make it impossible for factories to compete.
The Bombay High Court ruled in March that government must address these problems. And though the court has no direct enforcement power in this case, labor-rights groups say the ruling is important because it is the first official acknowledgment that the system in Maharashtra must change.
The court ruled that migrant workers and the middleman contractors who hire them must be registered as a standard employee-employer relationship. That would close a loophole that has allowed sugar companies to deny any responsibility for the workers who cut their cane.
The court also called for the abolition of a system known as koyta, in which husband-and-wife teams cut sugar cane, with the men frequently receiving and controlling all the pay for each family unit.
If implemented, the changes could make sugar cane cutters eligible for a minimum wage, time off and other protections under Indian labor laws. Currently, the workers receive a loan at the beginning of each season, which they pay off through work. They have no days off and must pay a fee to leave work to see a doctor.
For women, seeking routine gynecological care can mean falling deeper into debt to their contractors. Many postpone doctor visits or get hysterectomies as a drastic form of preventative care.
The court also said that workers should have access to clean drinking water, electricity, cooking gas and sanitation facilities. Typically, workers live for months in the fields beneath makeshift shelters with no access to toilets or running water.
Since the ruling, representatives from several state government bodies have begun consulting with labor leaders on a plan to improve working conditions. Pepsi declined to comment, and Coca-Cola did not respond to a request for comment.
Mihir Desai, a human rights lawyer whom the court appointed to report on the issue, said he would be satisfied if even 20 percent of the ruling were put into place.
“It’s a very, very significant ruling,” he said. “The only problem is the implementation. The government won’t move an inch unless they are pushed, and that has to be done at the ground level.”
The authorities must put new measures in place by the sugar cutting season that starts this fall, and government bodies are expected to issue a compliance report in November.
The Bombay High Court took up the case of its own accord, which is permitted under Indian law.
Chandan Kumar, a labor leader with the India Sugar Industry Workers Association who has been liaising with government authorities on the new measures, said the state’s sugar regulator was likely to form a committee to oversee changes.
“This is a historic moment, a historic opportunity where the court has pushed to make substantial changes,” Mr. Kumar said. “The legal system has legitimized all of our demands.”
Mr. Kumar is among the activists who have worked for years to weed out labor abuses in Maharashtra. It’s unlikely the court ruling will be enough to create systemic change, he said, but he saw it as a rare rebuke to the politically powerful sugar mills.
He and other labor leaders are also pressuring multinational companies to join a labor-standards program modeled after the Fair Food Program, which has improved conditions for American agricultural workers. He said he hoped the companies would join the program ahead of the compliance report in November.
“We told them if you don’t come correct by November, we will report about all your lies and wrongdoing,” he said.
Megha Rajagopalan is an international investigative reporter based in London.
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