Housing and Unfree Labour: A Village Case Study from Rajasthan, India

The phenomenon of unfree labour relations in the Indian countryside continues to remain a matter of concern. While multiple factors contribute to attachment and unfreedom of labour dependency on employers for housing, it is an understudied issue in the existing literature. Drawing on a detailed field study of an agriculturally advanced village in Sri Ganganagar district of north-western state of Rajasthan, this study discusses the role of housing in labour relations and contracts. It has been argued that when the proximate cause of unfree labour relations in this village is the lack of access to housing and homestead among the local landless Dalit labourers, the nature of overall dependence derives from multiple socio-economic factors rooted in unequal caste and class relations, inequality in land ownership and limited employment opportunities within the capital-intensive local agrarian production system. This article also discusses the nature, mechanisms and types of long-term labour contracts and labour services prevalent in the village and how all these are closely intertwined with caste relations. The study explores labour dependency in relation to labour contracts, wage negotiations, freedom and mobility, and working and living conditions.