When A Worker Leads To Unshackle Chains

When 56-year-old S Selvam, a daily wager laborer belonging to the Irular community, asked his employer for permission to visit his newly-born grandson, he was met with a resounding ‘No.’

- RAJALAKSHMI SAMPATH

The oppressed are made to believe that their condition is natural, that it has always been this way and will always be this way—until they wake up.

- Malcolm X

When he insisted, Selvam was abused with caste-based slurs. For even the slightest slip-ups, he and his fellow workers would be brutally beaten up. The dooming reality dawned on him. He was seen as less than human, enslaved by bonded labor.

For five grueling years, Selvam and his wife S Kannammal toiled day and night, loading piles and breaking rocks for just ₹600 per week and a handful of ration rice.

“It was a life of misery and helplessness,” he recounts. Now, Selvam, a native of Tiruvannamalai, has become a backbone for his community, tirelessly helping rescued laborers reintegrate into society by obtaining essential documents like community certificates, birth certificates, Aadhaar cards, and ration cards.

“These documents are crucial for accessing government welfare schemes and rebuilding lives with dignity,” he emphasized.