JD Vance calls Indian workers ‘indentured servants’: What the term means and its history

JD Vance’s use of the term “indentured servants” while discussing foreign workers has brought attention to a colonial-era labour system. Indentured servitude bound people to work for a fixed period in exchange for food, shelter and sometimes freedom dues. The system differed from slavery, which involved forced labour without the same time-limited contractual terms.