The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Kathmandu

In the 1940s Sita Bishwokarma's grandfather took out a loan worth 120 dollars, and since then his family has lived in virtual slavery, victims of a practice that Nepal has now vowed to end.

Under the "Haliya" (land tiller) system that remains active in Nepal's far west, children inherit debt accrued by their parents and grandparents and have to work for moneylenders and landlords to pay it off.

"My grandfather worked as a Haliya because of the loan he took from a landlord," Sita Bishwokarma, 37, a Haliya visiting Kathmandu to lobby the government, told AFP.

"He could not pay it back, neither could my parents, so I have had to follow the same tradition," she said.

Bishwokarma has had to plough fields, collect animal feed, prepare food and look after the landlord's children-all for no salary. "It is endless work with no pay at all. All we get is a tiny place to live and minimal food," said Bishwokarma, from Doti district, 440 kilometres (275 miles) west of Kathmandu.

Nepal's Maoist-led government has vowed to end the practice that has seen around 150,000 bonded labourers living in virtual slavery as they struggle hopelessly to pay off the debt.