Chennai: For scores of bonded labourers who have struggled to establish their identity after being freed, a document certifying their release is set to act as an identity document and become a gateway to welfare schemes.Commissioner of revenue administration and disaster management N Muruganandam has issued an order recognising ‘rescue-release certificates’ issued to bonded labourers as valid identity proof for availing govt services through e-Sevai centres.The move is expected to end a long-standing struggle for released bonded labourers, many of whom lack identity documents such as ration cards and voter IDs, leaving them unable to access welfare schemes and other govt services.Tamil Nadu has recorded around 178 bonded labourers rescued or rehabilitated a year, under Centre’s rehabilitation scheme between 2022-23 and 2025-26. The figures were 297 in 2022-23, 176 in 2023-24, 196 in 2024-25 and 41 in 2025-26 (up to Nov 2025).Released bonded labourer-turned-community leader Kuppammal said the decision to recognise release certificates as proof of identity was taken because of sustained efforts by Released Bonded Labourers Association (RBLA).“It took five years for me to get a ration card. It was my first form of proof of identity. I don’t want anyone who is in a similar situation to suffer to get govt identity proof the way I did,” said Kuppammal, who was rescued from a rice mill at Kosapalayam in Tiruvallur district, in 2006.Activists involved in the rehabilitation of released bonded labourers said revenue and labour department officials must ensure that survivors are able to open bank accounts to receive the ₹30,000 financial assistance provided under the central sector scheme.“Most survivors have no ID proof as they were either STs or semi-nomadic, migrating frequently. We found it difficult to get them govt ID proof. In fact, it took 16 months for us to get an ID to open bank accounts for four bonded labourers rescued from a duck-rearing unit at Peddapalli in Telangana in 2024. This delay either pushes them towards re-bondage or delays their rehabilitation,” said National Adivasi Solidarity Council convener K Krishnan.
