India: Failure of state social programmes leads to bonded labour of 600 Chenchu tribals and the death of a Chenchu woman, Mahabubnagar, Andhra Pradesh.

In February 2006, Katraju Lakshmi, a Chenchu tribal woman working as a bonded labourer died due to ill health resulting from lack of food. Six hundred Chenchu tribals from Marredmandinne village of Mahabubnagar district of Andhra Pradesh work as bonded labourers on construction sites in the state of Meghalaya. Violations of their right to food and to feed themselves forced them into migration and bonded labour. The situation of bonded women is worse than that of men as they face wage discrimination and threats to their physical security.

An international action is urgently needed to protest the death of Katraju Lakshmi, to prevent further malnutrition-related deaths and to urge the government of Andhra Pradesh and Meghalaya to protect and fulfil the right to food of the 600 Chenchu tribal bonded labourers. Please write polite letters to the chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Meghalaya with a copy to the Prime Minister of India and the National Commission of Human Rights, requesting them to meet their obligations under the human right to food.