WAYANAD: Tribal workers from Wayanad are undergoing massive exploitation in the coffee plantations and ginger fields of Kodagu district in Karnataka. Many are being forced to do labour work like slaves without getting decent wages. Torture, rape, murder... some tribals who went to work haven't returned home.

According to RTI figures, ten tribals from Wayanad died in plantations in Kodagu from January 2019 to 2023. Four people have died mysteriously since February 17. Relatives who go searching for the missing ones do not get any information. Even dead bodies are not found. Neither political parties nor trade union leaders in the district have any reply regarding this.

The coffee harvest is only months away. Tribals from Wayanad have to come to the plantations for work. Not everyone who goes to the plantation will return. They say they face flagrant torture if they ask for a wage raise.

According to the Inter-State Migrant Workers Act, of 1979, governments must keep records of those who go to work in other states. However, the state government has no such figure.