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Article 23

Article 23 of the Indian Constitution prohibits trafficking, begging, and forced labor. It gives Parliament the power to pass laws against these exploitative practices. Some key laws include the Suppression of Immoral Traffic in Women and Girls Act (1956) and the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act (1976). Forced labor is considered exploitation if wages are less than the minimum wage. The courts have interpreted Article 23 broadly to include various forms of economic coercion and held that workers must be paid fairly. However, exploitation continues to exist in India with millions of children still engaged in labor.

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57 views3 pages

Article 23

Article 23 of the Indian Constitution prohibits trafficking, begging, and forced labor. It gives Parliament the power to pass laws against these exploitative practices. Some key laws include the Suppression of Immoral Traffic in Women and Girls Act (1956) and the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act (1976). Forced labor is considered exploitation if wages are less than the minimum wage. The courts have interpreted Article 23 broadly to include various forms of economic coercion and held that workers must be paid fairly. However, exploitation continues to exist in India with millions of children still engaged in labor.

Uploaded by

Tushar Gund
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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MEANING: EXPLOITATION

Exploitation is a word borrowed from French. ‘Exploitation’ means depriving a


person of his due through force or fraud. When a person is denied his share,
reward or remuneration for his contribution of labour and service for producing
the wealth then it is known as exploitation. Marx links exploitation with that of
surplus-value. It is a phenomenon where one enjoys the fruits of labour without
performing any of the tasks of labour.

Article 23: Prohibition of Trafficking of Human Being and Forced Labour


Article 23(1) prohibits 3 aspects of exploitation-
1. Trafficking
2. Beggar
3. Forced Labour
and mandates that any contravention of such prohibition shall be an offence.
The parliament has power under Article 35 to make a law prescribing
punishment for all those acts which are prohibited under part III of the
constitution.
In pursuance of such power, parliament has enacted several laws prohibiting
forced labour, begar and trafficking. Laws passed by the Parliament in
pursuance of Article 23:
A. Suppression of Immoral Traffic in Women and Girls Act, 1956
B. Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976.

Human Trafficking
It means the sale and purchase of human beings mostly for sexual slavery,
forced prostitution, or forced labour. Slavery is not expressly mentioned under
Article 23 but it is included within the meaning of ‘traffic in human beings.’

Beggar
It means forcing a person to work for no remuneration. A person is compelled
to work against his will.

Other forms of forced labour


It is considered forced labour if the less-than-minimum wage is paid. This
article also makes ‘bonded labour’ unconstitutional. Bonded labour is when a
person is forced to offer services out of a loan/debt that cannot be repaid.
The Calcutta High Court in Dulal Samanta vs Dist. Magistrate interpreting the
expression -other similar forms of forced labour held that the expression is to be
interpreted ejusdem generis and it has to be something like either traffic in
human beings or beggar.
Exception
Ban against traffic in a human being is absolute but ban against forced labour is
subject to one exception as mentioned in Article 23(2).

ARTICLE 23(2)
The state can impose compulsory services for a public purpose like national
defence, removal of illiteracy or the smooth running of public utility service like
water, electricity, postage, rail, and air services.
In making any such provision compulsory for public purposes, the state cannot
discriminate on the grounds of religion, race, caste or class or any of them. Sex
is not a prohibited ground of discrimination which indicates that women could
be exempted from compulsory public service. Term class is used in pure
economic sense.
However, no such law at the central level is made in India so far in its history.
For a brief period in Nagaland, there was a law that said that in case of
impeding blood able-bodied person can be called to join the army.

Important Judgments on Rights against exploitation (Article 23)

1. People’s Union for Democratic Rights v. Union of India AIR 1983 SC


1473.
The Supreme Court interpreted the scope of Article 23. The petitioner
scrutinized the working conditions of various people employed in Asiad
projects. It was discovered that the labourers were subject to great exploitation,
they were not given minimum wages, subjected to an inhumane working
environment. PIL was filed.
J. PN Bhagwati observed that the scope of Article 23 is vast and unlimited. It is
not merely ‘beggar’ which is prohibited but this Article strikes at forced labour
in whichever form it may exist. Every form of forced labour is prohibited.
No person shall be forced to provide labour or services against his will even if it
is mentioned under a contract of service.
The word ‘force’ has a very wide meaning under Article 23. It not only includes
physical or legal force but also recognizes economic circumstances which
compel a person to work against his will on less than minimum wage.

2. Sanjit Roy vs State of Rajasthan AIR 1983 SC 328.


In this case, the state had employed people for the construction of roads. Their
work was allowed under the famine relief act. These workers were paid way
less than the minimum wages.  It was contended that this payment of wages
lower than minimum wages was violative of Article 23. 
Court held that the state is not allowed to take undue advantage of the
helplessness of people with an excuse of helping them to meet the situation of
famine or drought.
The court observed that they must be paid fairly for the work into which they
put in effort and sweat, and which provides benefits to the state.

3. Bandhua Mukti Morcha v. Union of India, AIR 1984 SC 802.


Bandhua Mukti Morcha is an organization that works against the prevalent
system of bonded labours in India.
This case is special in the sense that the court for the first time accepted and
treated a letter written to J. Bhagwati as a petition for PIL. The letter described
the ordeal of a large number of workers in the Faridabad district of UP who
were working in inhuman and intolerable conditions.
The court laid down guidelines for the determination of bonded labourers and
pointed out that it was the duty of the state government to identify, release, and
rehabilitate the bonded labourers.

Conclusion
The existence of practices like exploitation and child labour is a blot on a
civilised society. The truth remains that despite numerous laws made in
pursuance of article 23 we are still far from achieving a status of zero
exploitation. Instead, India is home to 10 million child labourers and more than
42.7 million children are out of school.
The exploitation of the weak by the stronger continues unabated. Forced labour,
bonded labour, trafficking continues to exist. The thrust needs to be on
education, awareness, concerted efforts on part of concerned authorities,
generation of funds, creating employment opportunities in curbing the evil.

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