Question

Write a short note on "Vietnamese indentured labour".

ANURAG.

Answer 1

Indentured labour is a form of labour widely used in the plantations from the mid-nineteenth century. Labourers worked on the basis of contracts that did not specify any rights of labourers but gave immense power to employers. Employers could bring criminal charges against labourers and punish and jail them for non-fulfilment of contracts.

In Vietnam, indentured labour was widely used in the rubber plantations and cultivation in Mekong river delta region. The vast system of irrigation works –canals and earthworks – built mainly with forced labour, increased rice production and allowed the export of rice to the international mark.