Dang, March 3 -- Tin roofs of the ageing huts at the freed Kamaiya (indentured labourer) camp in Sani Ambapur are coated in dust from the unfinished Ghorahi-Tulsipur road. Children play beside mounds of gravel and sand that have lain for road construction, while women sit outside sorting leafy greens for the evening meal. Beyond the bustle of election season, the promise made repeatedly remains unfulfilled-land ownership certificates.

Fifty-three households in the settlement, around five kilometres from Ghorahi, have been living without land titles since 2004. The camp lies in Dang Constituency No 2, where candidates in every election over the past two decades have pledged to distribute land title yet none has delivered.

"We have been w...