India is the second largest sugar producer in the world; a large proportion of sugarcane is grown in the state of Maharashtra. Millions of people in India work in the sugarcane harvest year after year, many of them migrate from poorer villages with their families to the sugar growing areas for the harvest season.

Sugarcane cultivation in the Indian state of Maharashtra – a system of exploitation
Sugarcane cutters in Maharashtra usually do not receive a wage, but an advance at the beginning of the harvest, which they must pay off by working for their creditor. However, this often does not succeed due to the exploitative agreements and the excessive interest rates, so that many families are forced into a vicious cycle of debt bondage. It is an internationally recognised human rights violation, banned under Indian law and by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), but still a common practice. There has been a series of articles about the abuses in the New York Times and official bodies such as the ILAB (Bureau of International Labor Affairs of the US Department of Labor) have already documented the exploitation of sugar cane cutters in Maharashtra; however, there has been little improvement so far.

Round Table of AK EUROPA and EESC
Chandan Kumar is a labour rights activist from the city of Pune in Maharashtra. He is involved in the Working Peoples Charter (WPC), a network of grassroots organisations that supports workers in informal sectors. He also recently co-founded the Indian Sugar Workers Association (ISWA), an association of organisations with the goal of ending the inhuman exploitation of sugarcane cutters.

During the round table event jointly organised by AK EUROPA and the EESC on 8 April 2025, Chandan Kumar reported that India has strong labour laws, but protection is often completely undermined in practice. The sugarcane cutters, for example, are not employed by the sugarcane mills, but by middlemen (mukadam), who pay the advances. The fate of many women is particularly shocking: In order to be able to work continuously, many are urged to undergo hysterectomy.

After not only the New York Times, but also the Indian newspaper “The Hindu” reported on the exploitation of the sugarcane cutters in Maharashtra, the Bombay Supreme Court opened an investigation on its own initiative (“suo motu”) in 2023. Human rights lawyer Mihir Desai was tasked with drafting a report. Chandan Kumar took part in a fact-finding mission for the report. The report documented not only the appalling exploitation of sugarcane workers, but also included recommendations for future improvements. On March 17, 2025, the Bombay Supreme Court ruled on the basis of the report that the state of Maharashtra must implement improvements for sugarcane cutters from the 2025/26 harvest season onwards. From Chandan Kumar's point of view, this is a great success, but it remains yet to be seen to what extent it will be put into practice. He announced that ISWA will engage in putting concrete improvements into practice.

What needs to change?
Around 25 people took part in the round table event of AK EUROPA and EESC. Besides the hosts, the EU Commission, the EU Parliament, the ILO Office for the EU and Benelux, trade unions and NGOs were represented. Following Chandan Kumar's key note, the EU's contribution to the fight against forced labour worldwide was discussed. Thomas Wagnsonner (Chamber of Labour Lower Austria and EESC rapporteur on the EU Forced Labour Regulation) stressed that while the Forced Labour Regulation, which will apply from the end of 2027, is a step forward, it is not enough.

Chandan Kumar made a strong call to policy makers at EU level: The planned database in the EU Forced Labour Regulation must correctly reflect the reality on the ground. More support and solidarity with workers in the Global South is necessary instead of empty promises. Human rights should no longer lag behind corporate interests. He stressed that the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) gives hope to many workers in the Global South. He called for it to remain in place instead of being watered down by the Omnibus proposal.

The approach of companies´ voluntary corporate social responsibility (CSR) has so far not worked due to the lack of assertiveness. ISWA will use the “Worker-driven Social Responsibility (WSR)”  approach to help improve the working conditions of sugarcane workers in Maharasthra. In this approach, the workers themselves monitor the observance of their rights. They develop, control and implement programs and conclude legally binding contracts with companies. The concept has already been successfully applied by farm workers in the city of Immokalee in Florida by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.

Further information:
AK EUROPA: No to Omnibus
AK EUROPA: Forced labour. How the EU will combat it  
AK EUROPA Position Paper: Prohibition of products made with forced labour on the Union market
Fair Food Program: Fair Food Program to consult in adaptation of FFP’s proven protections to prevent brutal labor abuses exposed in Mumbai High Court, Indian press, and hard-hitting New York Times series
Business & Human Rights Resource Center: Fair Food Program consulting on worker-driven responsibility model in high-risk sugar cane industry
EESC: Opinion on the EU-India Strategic Partnership