Annual Report 2008-2009 • offences for contravention of provisions of the Act are punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and also with fine which may extend to two thousand rupees; • powers of Judicial Magistrates are required to be conferred on Executive Magistrates for trial of offences under the Act. Offences under the Act may be tried summarily; • every offence under the Act shall be cognizable and bailable. 7.3 The Supreme Court of India has also given a meaningful interpretation to the definition of the bonded labour system through its various judgements by retaining its essential spirit. Despite this, the process of identification of bonded labour system is fraught with problems and difficulties. Further, as per the directions of the Supreme Court, a survey was conducted by all the States/Union Territories during 1996. The outcome of this survey revealed that seven States alone had identified 28,916 bonded labourers. The names of these States are Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The remaining States/Union Territories had filed affidavits in the Supreme Court stating that no incidences of bonded labour were found during the survey. 7.4 It has been observed that the bonded labour system is a constant problem as it can occur and recur at any point of time in agriculture or its allied activities or non-agricultural activities. The identification of the bonded labour system, therefore, should be a continuous process which requires continuous vigilance and surveillance on the part of the Chairperson and Members of the Vigilance Committees at the District and Sub-Divisional level. Some of the problems encountered in identification of bonded labourers are: • for fear of reprisals and loss of employment, the bonded labourers, mostly belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes do not come forward to lodge any complaint against the perpetrators of the crime themselves; • the aggressive environment created by the masters for maintenance or restoration of status quo, does not make filing of complaint possible; • lack of alternative employment opportunities further compounds this problem ; and • malfunctioning of Vigilance Committees, insensitivity and lack of awareness of local officials of the peculiarities and complexities of the bonded labour system and its issues, paucity of voluntary agencies to identify bonded labourers and to prevent cases of fraudulent identification. 7.5 The problem of bonded labour system has drawn the attention of the NHRC as well, ever since it came into existence in the year 1993. In order to tackle the problem, the NHRC has been undertaking State-wise reviews and conducting workshops for sensitizing and creating awareness among all stakeholders on issues concerning bonded labour system in the country. 94