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In-country Research and Data Collection on Forced Labor and

Child Labor in the Production of Goods

India

Submitted to:

U.S. Department of Labor

Bureau of International Labor Affairs

Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking

Frances Perkins Building

200 Constitution Ave., NW

Washington, D.C. 20210

Submitted by:

Macro International Inc.

11785 Beltsville Drive, Suite 300

Calverton, MD 20705

Main Telephone: (301) 572-0200

Facsimile: (301) 572-0999

www.macrointernational.com
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Funding for this research was provided by the United States Department of Labor under

Contract number DOLQ059622436. This research does not necessarily reflect the views

or policies of the United States Department of Labor, nor does the mention of trade

names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the United States

Government.
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Table of Contents

Summary of Goods............................................................................................................. 4

Type I Interview Notes ..................................................................................................... 11

Type II Interviews............................................................................................................. 43

Site Visit Notes................................................................................................................. 89

Researcher’sreasonsfornotincludingforcedadultlabor.............................................. 106
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Summary of Goods

India

1. Silk sarees/cloth

Some highlights about silk:

 About 2% of the total textile is silk and China is the largest producer of silk

followed by India.

 90% of the silk in India is mulberry-based.

 Silk weaving in India is all handloom-based.

 India is the biggest consumer of silk in terms of volume and Japan tops the list in

terms value.

Area producing cocoons, silk reeling units where cocoons are boiled to get silk and silk

weaving units were visited in Karnataka, Tamilnadu and Uttar Pradesh.

Some of the common factors for the children being employed are:

 Poverty compels many parents to send their children to work either with them or

alone. Some emergency like illness, accident, police case, and marriage of son or

daughter pushes them into the vicious circle. They have to borrow money and in

lieu of this pledge their services.

 It was also noticed that the children without parents are more prone to this type of

work. Children of widows and divorcee women are equally vulnerable.

All the three stages of silk cloth/saree production listed above will be discussed

separately in the following text.

Silk cocoons

Karnataka is the largest produce of cocoons in India. Kolar district of is traditionally

knows for silk production. Kolar districts has recently been divided into two districts –

Kolar and Chikbalapur. Abud Jeevika Bridge School located in village Baserapatna in

Sidalagata taluka of Chikbarapur district was visited to meet the children who worked as

child labor n recent months.

 Mulberry cultivation and silk worm rearing is one of the major occupations in the

area. Mostly those who own land are engaged in it and most of them belong to

higher castes.

 Labor is required for various activities such as weeding and irrigating the

mulberry crop, cutting it and bringing it to the place where silk worms are being
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reared (mostly the houses or a place close to the house of the farmer/rearer). The

bamboomatslocallycalled‘chandrika’onwhichsilkwormsarerearedneedsto

be cleaned and mulberry leave need to be spread on the chandrikas.

 Most of the silkworm rearers keep labor to take care of the above mentioned

activities. Some employ the adult labors (parents) along with the children.

Generally the labors take advance and work on small wages.

 Children in silkworm rearing are often from the same villages and stay in their

own houses.

 There are a number of children employed in silkworm rearing.

 Those who employ them do not feel that they are doing any bad rather they feel

that they are helping them out from adverse situations. Some of the adults who

were contacted felt that some of the employers take good care of us.

 The area is about 70 km away from the state capital Bangalore and many people

know that employing child labor is against law and they refused to talk on the

issue.

 Bridge school run by a NGO in the area was visited in order to talk to the ex-child

labor, who worked in last six months.

 Silkworm rearing is predominantly done by Hindus and the child labor comes

mainly from Hindu community and some from Muslims.

Silk reeling

Village Mehboobnagar was visited to get information on the child labor in silk reeling.

Here also most reeling unit owners are aware that employing child labor is against the

law. The staff of local NGO and their contact from the village cautioned not to talk to

anyone without permission. We talked to a man whose three children work in a reeling

unit.

 While we were talking to a man whose three children work in silk reeling units,

someothervillagersalsogatheredandawomansaid“Gotoanyhouseinthis

locality and you will find at least one child who works in silk reeling units. This is

whatwearedoingforsomanyyears.”

 A round of some of the streets of the village revealed that there are a large number

of silk reeling units in the area.

 Children both male as well female were working in the units. At couple of place

we were allowed to take a picture without noting down their names and

interviewing them.
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 Adults at the units told that the children go to study in school and work part time

after the school hours only and children shook their heads in agreement. This was

not convincing as it was working hour for the school when we visited the units.

We were finally able to talk to the children and we were told they actually work

full time. Local contact told that these children have been told that whenever

someone from the Labour Dept. or any outsider comes they should tell that they

work only part time after school hours.

 Silk reeling units are owned predominantly by Muslims. Some estimates that

more than 99% silk reeling units in Chikbalapur and Kolar districts are owned by

the Muslims. Almost all child labor in silk reeling units is Muslim.

Silk weaving

Kanchipuram is known for its silk sarees. Silk sarees are woven on handlooms. It is

worth mentioning here that the economic situation of loom owners is also not good. We

went to village Dusi in Thiruvanamali district. This village is located at about 9 km from

Kanchipuarn town, which is a headquarters of Kanchipuram district.

The village has about 100 looms. Many families own 2-4 looms, which are installed in

their houses. They get work from middlemen on contract basis i.e per saree basis. Loom

owner works with his brothers/ wife/children and employer some children. They say that

if they start employing adult laborers that it would not be profitable at all. They hardly

earn 3000 rupees (70 USD) a month (including their own labor) when they employ 2-3

child laborers and pay them Rs 300 (7 USD) per month. If they hire an adult and pay

1500 rupees (35 USD) they will not save enough to run their house.

We met a person who had a handloom and produced sarees. Presently he is working on a

small hand loom of other and producing small cotton towels. He gets Rs 25 (0.58 USD) a

day. When he was asked that why he does not weave sarees when he owns a loom. He

said that he has become old and weaving saree is a hard work, which he cannot undertake

now. His clothe less body was enough of proof of his misery.

These children started working at the age of 6-7 years. It is the parents of the children

who find an employer for them. An advance is taken from the employer by the parents.

Sometimes the children are not aware of that how much amount has been taken as

advance. The advance money is less when the children start working. After a few years

when the children learn the activities, the parents often start looking for another

employer. They get higher advance amount as the child becomes trained. Generally they

keep on changing owners after every 2-4 years.

Although one does not see much of impact of the labor law in this village as one finds

children working on all the looms. Local contact said that some changes have been

witnessed and children of 6-7 years are not employed now. Children of 11-12 years work

now and within a couple of years they are 14 years, the age which is allowed to work as
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per Indian law. Loom owners want children to work but mainly after school or after

dropping out at the age of 13-14 years.

These children have lost their childhood. What we observed at all the looms where we

went that the children spoke very little and all the time they were busy with work and

with full seriousness while talking to us.

2. Embroidery

Embroideryworkusingmachinesand‘arratari’handneedleworkisanothersector

which employs a large number of children One needs to install an embroidery machine in

caseofembroiderybutincaseof‘aratari’oneneedsneedlesandframe(oftenacot).

Mostofthemarewomendressmaterialsandsarees,girls’frocksandskirtsare

embroidered either by machine or with hand needles.

The researcher visited Tonk, a town (also district headquarter for Tonk district) in

Rajasthan state to talk to the parents and children working in embroidery units. Walking

through the streets reveals that children are working on almost all the embroidery units

with a couple of adults.

‘Arratari’workisdoneinmanyhousesandawomen’sgrouporganizerhelpedusin

entering one such house where 6-7 girls of 6-15 years were working. The woman who

owns the unit explained the details and told that her own daughter also works with the

girls.

Girls from neighborhood work in the unit. No machine or infrastructure is required for

this. Middlemen come and give the cloth and the design. The girls do the needle work as

per the design.

Mostly the Muslim community is involved in this work.

3. Beedi making

Beedi rolling is an occupation to about 3 million workers in India. This task is homebased and the view is often taken that the children are just helping their parents at times.

Visit to Tonk showed that children are actually working full-time in beedi rolling.

Parents feel that its home-based nature makes beedi making a suitable employment for

the girls.

NGO representatives and locals told that high incidence of respiratory disease like T.B is

found in Tonk. This is because the beedi workers inhale lot of tobacco daily.

4. Knitwear/hosiery
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Tirupur in Coimbatore district of Tamilnadu state has a large number of hosiery and

knitwear units. It produces undergarments, t-shirts, skits and other items for domestic as

well as export markets.

There is always a demand for labor in Tirupur because of concentration of large number

of units. This has resulted in better wages than many other parts of the state.

People migrate from various parts of the state with families and work in Tirupur.

Agents go to villages located in dry land agriculture areas, where the people are

comparatively poor, to recruit labor, mainly children.

There is a scheme which is operation in Tamilnadu, which is an institutionalized and

legalizedformofemployingchildlabor.Thisschemeisknownas‘sumangli’.Itwas

started by the employers with the claim that they will train the young girls and pay them

Rs. 30,000 (704 USD) at the end of three year contract for their marriage. Girls of 14-20

years age group are employed under this scheme. Most of the girls are between 14 and 18

years age group and knowledgeable sources say that about 10% are even younger than 14

years. There are about 50,000 girls working under this scheme mainly in the textile and

hosiery sectors. Since the scheme is meant for the girls above 14 years age, it has

approval of the state government also. The girls employed under the scheme are

exploited. They are not allowed to go home as staying in the hostels in the factory

premises is mandatory. Cost of food and hostel rent are deducted from their small

monthly payments. They are allowed to (taken to) go to market once in a fortnight but are

accompanied by guards and have to return in a small time of an hour or so. Sexual

exploitation of girls is rampant. Doctors in the area are witness to large number of

teenage termination of pregnancies of these girls. They are made to work hard and had to

work in standing position, which creates health problems.

5. Locks

Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh state is known for its locks. Lock industry has become a

household industry in this town. People from surrounding villages work in the lock units.

Aligarh is about 150 km from Delhi and the wage rate in this area are in the range of Rs

80 (1.87 USD) per day and lock industry does not pay that much so mainly the children

work in lock industry. The owners of the units are experienced artisans and employ

teenage boys, who can learn fast and work long hours at low wages.

Some years back these units were employing very small children (6-7 years old) but

because of the government pressure children of less than 14 years are not employed now.

But this is true for the villages surrounding Aligarh. Knowledgeable sources told us that

in sum parts of Aligarh town the units working in narrow lanes still employ younger

children.
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6. Carpets

Carpets are produced in a number of towns in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. In Rajasthan

it is produced mainly in the districts of Sawai Madhopur and Tonk. We tried to get

information form the carpet units in Tonk of Rajasthan state. By the time we reached a

person who owns looms and also get the work done in looms in 7-8 neighboring villages,

it was 6 pm. The looms weaving carpets work hour is until 5.30 pm. This person told that

children from 13-14 to 18 years work in carpet weaving. He said that after 25 years of

age the person cannot be an effective carpet weaver as tying the knots (on which the

quality and durability of the carpet depends) cannot be done effectively by people who

are older than 25 years because it requires strength.

Most looms are lying closed because of lack of demand from overseas. The owner of a

loom and agent said that the carpet business has seen a declining trend after the attack on

the World Trade Center in America. He is contemplating a change of business. The fact

that the many looms are not operational these days was confirmed by many others as

well.

Varanasi of Uttar Pradesh was also visited to talk to carpet weavers and silk weavers. In

Varanasi also most of the looms are lying closed and the loom owners are working as

daily wage labors either locally or migrate to cities like Delhi and Mumbai to work as

wage laborers for few months and come back. We met boys (18 years old) who are

experts in silk weaving but were harvesting wheat. This boy said that he would prefer to

work on a loom if he can get wages equal to what he is getting in wheat harvesting

because wheat harvesting is done under scorching sun while he can weave a saree sitting

under the roof.

Three villages that we visited all have more than 50 looms each but a total of about 10

looms were operational.

The local NGO contact tried to give an impression that child labor has been stopped

completely in this area but the discussion with the loom owners gave enough of suspicion

that child labor is being used in looms but the number of course is very small.

Knowledgeable sources told that hardly 10% looms are operational in the area and this is

also the reason of significant decline (which is close to negligible) in child labor in carpet

and silk weaving handlooms in Varanasi area. Work by NGOs and pressure of

government has also helped in significant reduction of child labor in handlooms in this

area.

7. Cotton Seed

Cotton, often referred as "White gold" has been in cultivation in India for more than five

thousand years. In India, cotton is grown over an area of about 9 million hectares and the
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average yield is 440 kg lint per hectare. Maharashtra, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh are

the major producing states in India. Cotton provides livelihood for over 4 million farming

families. Various allied activities like ginning, yarn and fabric production, textile

processing, garment manufacture, marketing etc., provide employment to several million

people.

Hybrid cotton seed was introduced in 1970s. Hybrid cotton seed has become a big

business for the both multinational and national seed companies. Production of hybrid

cotton seed requires emasculation, pollen collection and pollination of the cotton flowers.

Large number of labor is required for this activity. Seed companies contract farmers for

producing cotton seed. These farmers hire labor to get the emasculation and pollination

work done on their farms. The seed companies give farmers a fixed amount for per

kilogram of seed produced. Cotton seed production requires almost 10 times more labor

than the normal cotton crop. These contract farmers try to increase their profits by saving

on labor cost. This is the reason that they prefer to hire child labor because the wages

paid to child labor is much less than the adult labor. They also feel that the work of

emasculation and pollination requires bit tender hands and child labor suits this very well.

In terms of work efficiency the children also do as much work as the adult and may be

more.

Extensive work has been done on employment of child labor in cotton seed production in

the states of Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat. Small quantities of cotton seed are also

produced in the states of Karnataka and Maharashtra. Pressure created by the NGOs on

the seed companies has reduced the number of child labor employed in the cotton seed

production but it is estimated that still a large number of child labor are employed in

cotton seed production. This number may be several thousands.

The contract farmers hire labor through labor agents. The labor agents are from the labor

supplying areas, which are poor. The labor agents contact the perspective child labor in

his neighborhood, village and nearby villages and some times the villages where they

have relatives. The competition among the agents is also increasing over time as there is

higher a number of agents. Sometimes there are more than one agent in one village and

each one wants to hire more labor to get his commission.

In case of Gujarat cotton seed farms, the child labor are supplied from the tribal areas of

neighboring Raajsthan state.
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Interview Number __1___

Type I Interview Notes

In-country Research and Data Collection on Forced Labor and/or Child

labor in the Production of Goods

India

Date of Interview: __11 March, 2008_____

Time of Interview: _12.30 PM_____________

Location of Interview: _Delhi_____________ (City, Province)

Interviewer’sname:__Virendar Khatana_____________________________

Interviewee’sNameandOfficialTitle:__Prof. R.S Chaurasia, Chairperson and Mr.

Bhuben Ribhu Avtivist

Organizational Affiliation: _Bachpan Bachao Abhiyan_____________

Brief description of the Organization:

Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) means Save Childhood Movement in English. This

organization is based in Delhi and works for the issue related with child labor. BBA help the

release of child labor and do advocacy work. BBA is official secretariat for Global March Against

Child Labor.

Types of institution: Government ______________ (please specify Federal or State Level)

Local NGO _National NGO_____

International NGO ______

Workers’Union______

Private Business/Company ______

Other ______

1. In what occupations/activities do forced labor victims and/or children work?

There are many occupations in which child labor work like eateries, bakery, papad (thin crunchy bread) making,

slaughterhouses, leather items including shoes, glass work (bangles, decoration pieces, ash trays, paper weights etc),

sport goods (various types like cricket bats, hockey sticks, soccer balls, volleyballs etc) , ornaments (also forced labor),

brassware, locks, mining, handicrafts, carpets, sari (also forced labor), garment embroidery (mainly ladies dress

material including saris), toy making, plastic footwear (also forced labor), lace work, ladies fashion items like purses,

electric goods like light bulbs, printing of clothes mainly bedcovers, jewelry, tea plantation, dairy (also forced labor),

fisheries (also forced labor), cotton breeding, silk weaving, beedi rolling, tendu leaf collection, manhole covers,

knitwear.

2. What good(s) do the roduce ?

As mentioned in 1 above
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3. Are goods for domestic consumption or export?

Both. Carpet, handicrafts, brassware, sari work and silk are exported in large quantities.

4. Who employs them?

By contractors, sub-contractors, trafficked and also directly by the employers. These contractors and subcontractors are

sort of middlemen who charge money from the employer and sometimes they take money from the employer for the

wages of the children and make payments to the children after a heavy cut. Some of them mainly those who are into

trafficking are also criminal in nature.

5. How do they come to be involved in these occupations/activities?

Majority are trafficked. (information on the origins and destinations was not provided)

6. If applicable, what type of forced labor is used? (debt bondage, indenture servitude, caste based slavery, etc)

Debt (bondage), caste based, trafficking, enticement and abduction.

7. How is trafficking in persons related to forced persons do they come to be involved in these

occupations/activities?

There is an organized racket, which is involved in trafficking.

8. Are they paid for their work ? If so, how? (i.e. cash, in-kind).

Yes both in cash as well as kind but the amount is negligible.

9. What tasks do they perform?

Manual work. Are also involved in hazardous activities related to production of various products.

10.Whatphysicalandpsychologicalrisksdotheyorfamilymembersface?(Areotherelementsof‘‘menaceof

penalty’’present)?

Physical abuse, shame and mental trauma and sexual abuse in case of boys and girls both. It is done by the employers,

middlemen and the elder co-workers. Children are scolded and beaten and are told that they are learning work.

11. Are they able to leave their workplace at will? (If so, are other elements of coercion present)

They cannot leave at will. Various type of control mechanisms are used like heavy dues, get papers signed (give some

advance amount and get a paper signed as a contract not to leave. The children do not know that this is not a legal

document as they are below 14 years), fear etc. Fraudulent means and mental coercion are used. They are threatened

that if they left they would be beaten and they will be handed over to the police.

12. What are the environments in which they work ?

The work places have very poor environment. Children sleep in small rooms where they work. 12 children share 10X10

ft rooms. They work places are locked from outside both during the day and night. None of the working place has

proper ventilation and sufficient space for the children to work. The cleanliness and the hygienic conditions are very

poor.

13.In what regions of the country do they work ? Do they work in cities or in rural areas ?
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All regions and states and both in rural as well urban areas. There are forced labors from Bihar state in the state of

Kashmir.

Researcher’sNote:Thisorganizationworksonchildlaborissuesandnotonadultbondedlabor.Theymentionedabout

this case only.

14. (For each good), What is the typical age/gender of individuals producing the goods?

In the Sari sector, 6-years old children have been rescued.

Researcher’sNote:TheserespondentsfeltthatIwasaskingtoomuchanddidnotwanttogointothedetailsofageand

sex of the child labor.

15. What specific groups of people are more vulnerable to engagement in forced labor and/or child labor in the

production of each good (e.g boys versus girls, urban versus rural, indigenous/ethnic groups etc.

Rural people are more vulnerable because of lack of awareness. In rural areas castes considred socially low are more

vulnerable. In some products, like zari and slaughter houses muslims are more.

Researcher’sNote:ThisorganizationisbasedinDelhiandmostoftheexampleswerefromDelhi.Igotthetimeto

meet once after calling them number of times. When I called them now they asked me to come after 10th May.

16. What is the estimated number/percentage of adults and/or children engaged in forced labor and/or child

labor in the production of each good?

There are 15,000 to 20,000 children in the Sari Sector alone in Delhi. There are 100,000 children in value addition in

garments. Yes as per this organization.

Interview Number __2___

In-country Research and Data Collection on Forced Labor and/or Child

labor in the Production of Goods

(India)

Date of Interview: __12 March, 2008_____

Time of Interview: _1.30 pm_________

Location of Interview: _CEC office, New Delhi

Interviewer’sname:__Virendar Khatana_____________________________

Interviewee’sNameandOfficialTitle: __Mr. Ramnath Nayak, Programme Manager, Labour

and Society ______

Organizational Affiliation: _ Center for Education and Communication __________
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Brief description of the Organization:

Center for Education and Communication (CEC) is a NGO working nationally. CEC was the

nodal organization for India for the AntiSlaveryInternational’sSouthAsiaProgrammeon

Bonded Labour. The Secretariat for South Asia is in Katmandu, Nepal. CEC conducted studies on

bonded labour in seven states. They conducted these studies more as an academic exercise. They

bring out a monthly journal names as Labour File, through which they raise various issues related

to labour including forced/child labour. They are working towards complete abolition of bonded

labour system by he year 2015. Education of children of bonded labours is also their concern.

Types of institution: Government ______________ (please specify Federal or State Level)

Local NGO _NGO_____

International NGO ______

Workers’Union______

Private Business/Company ______

Other ______

1. In what occupations/activities do forced labor victims and/or children work?

The system of boned labor still exists but the bondage is now taking new shapes. Labor from a poor state like Bihar

may be in bondage in an agriculturally rich state like Punjab. Forced labor is engaged mainly in agricultural work, brick

kilns and mines. These are the places where they are not easily noticed.

2. What good(s) do the roduce ?

Bricks, crops, other items also. Do not know more details on it. We coordinated the studies in different states and were

not part of these studies.

3. Are goods for domestic consumption or export?

N.A

4. Who employs them?

Landlords (the employers), brick kiln owners.

5. How do they come to be invloved in these occupations/activities ?

Poverty is the major reason, which makes them go into bondage. They know that it makes them bonded labor but they

still do it as this seems to be the only source of living for them.

6. If applicable, what type of forced labor is used ? (debt bondage, indenture servitude, caste based salavery, etc)

Mainly debt bondage The debt is taken from the employer. The amount varies greatly and it may range from Rs. 5,000

to 20,000 (My guess)
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7. How is trafficking in persons related to forced persons do they come to be invloved in these

occupations/activities ?

N.A.

8. Are they paid for their work ? If so, how ? (i.e. cash, in-kind).

They are paid as advance.

9. What tasks do they perform ?

All the tasks, which the master asks them to do.

10. What physical and psychological risks do they or family members face ?(Areotherelementsof‘‘menaceof

penalty’’present)?

It fills them with low social esteem.

11. Are they able to leave their workplace at will ? (If so, are other elements of coersion present)

No,theycan’t.

12. What are the environments in which they work ?

N.A

13.In what regions of the country do they work ? Do they work in cities or in rural areas ?

They are from low caste poor families and mainly work in rural areas.

14. (For each good), What is the typical age/gender of individuals producing the goods ?

N.A

15. What specific groups of people are more vulnerable to engagement in forced labor and/or child labor in the

production of each good (e.g boys versus girls, urban versus rural, indigenous/ethnic groups etc.

N.A

16. What is the estimated number/percentage of adults and/or children engaged in forced labor and/or child

labor in the production of each good ?

N.A
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Interview Number __3___

In-country Research and Data Collection on Forced Labor and/or Child

labor in the Production of Goods

(India)

Date of Interview: __27 and 28 2008_____

Time of Interview: 11.00 am on 27 Mar with Mr Bhaskar, & 7.30 pm on 28 Mar with Mr.

Nambi

Location of Interview: _CSED office, Avinashi, Tamilnadu and with Mr. Nambi at Hotel

Royal, Bangalore _______ (City, Province)

Interviewer’sname:__Virendar Khatana_____________________________

Interviewee’sNameand OfficialTitle:__Mr. Bhaskar, Coordinator and Mr. Nambi,

Director. Mr Nambi was State Convener, Campaign Against Child Labour (CACL) and is now

Convener, Campaign Against Child Trafficking (CACT)___

Organizational Affiliation: _ Centre for Social Education and Development

(CSED)____________

Brief description of the Organization: _

___________________________________________________________________________

Types of institution: Government ______________ (please specify Federal or State Level)

Local NGO _NGO_____

International NGO ______

Workers’Union______

Private Business/Company ______

Other ______

1. In what occupations/activities do forced labor victims and/or children work?

Child labor :

In this area it is mainly knitwear, hosiery and textile. Dying and printing also but the number is very small.

2. What good(s) do the roduce ?

Garments and cotton textile

3. Are goods for domestic consumption or export?
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Both.

4. Who employs them?

In the 1990s every production was employed but now export oriented units have stopped. The factories that produce

for domestic consumption employ child labor. Small units doing some job work (work on number of piece basis for the

big factories) for the export oriented units also employ child labor. Thus it is difficult to differentiate between domestic

and export oriented units. The order (work) is carried out by many different units located in various places (within

Tirupur town) and there is no direct control of the export oriented units. In the last 3-4 years there has been an increased

numberofinvolvementofgirlsbetween15to18yearsageafterthe‘Sumangali’scheme(detailsaboutthescheme

have been provided in the summary of goods) has been launched. Sumangli scheme is for the girls above 14 years age,

but 10% of them are of less than 14 years age but are reported as 14 years or older.

5. How do they come to be involved in these occupations/activities ?

Through middlemen, who go to the villages and recruit them. Most child labor comes from the dryland districts, which

are poor. Families and children also come on their own in search of work. Tsunami and the reduction of beedi rolling

work have also increased the number of child labor in Tirupur hosiery and knitwear industry.

6. If applicable, what type of forced labor is used ? (debt bondage, indenture servitude, caste based salavery, etc)

They may not fall under official definition of forced labor but those recruited under Sumangli scheme are guarded and

not allowed to go home for more than once a year. They have to work for a minimum of three years to get the payment,

which they are supposed to get as lump sum (cumulative payment) after working for three years.

7. How is trafficking in persons related to forced persons do they come to be invloved in these

occupations/activities ?

N.A no information was given.

8. Are they paid for their work ? If so, how ? (i.e. cash, in-kind).

Yes, they are paid in cash. Under sumangli scheme a small amount (about Rs. 200) is paid per month after deducting

the cost of food and hostel. Rs. 30,000 to 35,000 are paid to those who has work for three years. Many girls find it

difficult to work for three years as they have to work 10-12 hours a day standing. It especially becomes difficult for

them during the 4-5 days of menstrual cycle. Employers also try to find one fault or the other so that the girls leave

before completing 3 years so that they do not have to pay the term-end amount of Rs. 30,000 to 35,000.

9. What tasks do they perform ?

Cutting extra thread from the garments, putting tags, packing and assisting the tailors.

10. What physical and psychological risks do they or family members face ?(Areotherelementsof‘‘menaceof

penalty’’present)?

They have to work very long hours i.e. 8.30 am to 8.30 pm. During peak season they have to work until mid-night.

11. Are they able to leave their workplace at will ? (If so, are other elements of coersion present)

No they can not, particularly those working under sumangali scheme.

12. What are the environments in which they work ?
18

Unhealthy (congested places) Long working hours and no facilities (recreation, food, transport facilities) of any kind.

13. In what regions of the country do they work ? Do they work in cities or in rural areas ?

We are talking in the context of Tamilnadu state. They come mainly from the Tirunelvelli, Anuradhapurm, Shringeri,

Theini, Madurai, North and South Arcot district. After the tsunami from Nagapattanm and Thanjavur districts also.

14. (For each good), What is the typical age/gender of individuals producing the goods ?

Children of 7-8 years also work in smaller units (units employing less number of labor and producing small quantities)

but for children under the Sumangli Scheme they work in organized large units (those which employ large numbers of

labors and produce large quantities) and they are of ages14 to about 20 years age (most of them are below 18 years of

age). Some children (about 14%) of these are below 14 years (say 13-14 years)

15. What specific groups of people are more vulnerable to engagement in forced labor and/or child labor in the

production of each good (e.g boys versus girls, urban versus rural, indigenous/ethnic groups etc.

Belonging to poor families and also low social strata of the society.

16. What is the estimated number/percentage of adults and/or children engaged in forced labor and/or child

labor in the production of each good ?

Between 5,000 to 10,000 children work in smaller units and most of them are under 14 years.

Under sumangali scheme almost all large units employ about 100 children. In total about 50,000 children work in

Coimbatore textile industry and 30,000 in Tirupur hosiery and knitwear industry.
19

Interview Number __4___

In-country Research and Data Collection on Forced Labor and/or Child

labor in the Production of Goods

(India)

Date of Interview: __29 March, 2008_____

Time of Interview: _9.30 am____________

Location of Interview: _Jeeta Vimukti office, Bangalore, Karnataka _______ (City,

Province)

Interviewer’sname:__Virendar Khatana_____________________________

Interviewee’sNameandOfficialTitle:__Mr.Kiran Kamal Prasad. Director ______

Organizational Affiliation: _ Jeeta Vimukti___________

Brief description of the Organization:

Jeeta Vimukti is working in the field of bonded labor for last more than 10 years. Jeevitha creates

awareness in the villages; help government in identifying and rehabilitating forced/bonded labor.

They run schools for the child labor. Compilation and publication of various works related to

forced labor is also undertaken by Jeevitha. They have translated the bonded labor act of 1976 in

local language (Kannada).

Types of institution: Government ______________ (please specify Federal or State Level)

Local NGO _NGO_____

International NGO ______

Workers’Union______

Private Business/Company ______

Other ______

1. In what occupations/activities do forced labor victims and/or children work?

Bonded/forced labor in Agriculture, grazing cattle, brick kilns

Child labor in sericulture, beedi making.

2. What good(s) do the roduce ?

Crops, bricks, silk and beedis.

3. Are goods for domestic consumption or export?

Silk is for export as well as domestic. Some beedis are also exported.
20

4. Who employs them?

Landlords, brick kiln owners, farmers producing silk, silk reeling units.

5. How do they come to be invloved in these occupations/activities ?

Poverty and illiteracy are the main reasons. Children work through their parents. Parents take advances and send the

children to work.

6. If applicable, what type of forced labor is used ? (debt bondage, indenture servitude, caste based salavery, etc)

Smalladvancesequaltooneyear’swagesaretakenbythebondedlaborbutthesituationisnotlikeearlierdays.Now

the terms are renewed every year. In some cases when there is some serious illness large amounts are also borrowed.

Most come willingly as they do not have options.

7. How is trafficking in persons related to forced persons do they come to be invloved in these

occupations/activities ?

Trafficking is more in case of domestic labor but not in case of sericulture.

8. Are they paid for their work ? If so, how ? (i.e. cash, in-kind).

Yes, they are paid on yearly basis. In addition to wages two pairs of clothes and food is also provided to the forced

laborer.

In case of child labor a small amount is paid on monthly basis.

9. What tasks do they perform ?

Forced laborers do all types of agricultural work, taking care of the livestock, and domestic work. They also do brick

making in the case of brick kilns.

Child laboreres help their parents in making brick kilns. In sericulture they cut and gather mulberry leaves from the

field, irrigate fields, clean the place and chandrikas (bamboo mats where cocoons are reared). In silk reeling units they

work in almost all stages from boiling water to separating silk from cocoons.

10. What physical and psychological risks do they or family members face ?(Areotherelementsof‘‘menaceof

penalty’’present)?

In majority of cases there is no real threat. Most masters are benevolent and help the laborers in hard times and are

always supportive. Laborers work with full devotion to their masters. In rare cases if the forced laborer runs away, he

will be brought back and beaten.

In case of child labor, they are deprived of education and they have to work for long hours in poor conditions and have

health hazards.

11. Are they able to leave their workplace at will ? (If so, are other elements of coersion present)

No. If they want to go for some reason, they have to arrange for a substitute.

12. What are the environments in which they work ?
21

Unhealthy, particularly in case of silk reeling. Small rooms with no proper ventilation.

13. In what regions of the country do they work ? Do they work in cities or in rural areas ?

We are talking in context of Karnataka. They are found in all parts of the state.

14. (For each good), What is the typical age/gender of individuals producing the goods ?

Mainly boys work in silk rearing and both boys and girls in the case of silk reeling. In these days, most child laborers

are 14 years or older.

15. What specific groups of people are more vulnerable to engagement in forced labor and/or child labor in the

production of each good (e.g boys versus girls, urban versus rural, indigenous/ethnic groups etc.

Poor dalits are more vulnerable for forced labor.

Child labor comes from poor families of dalits and Muslims in most cases.

Most cocoon producing work is done by Hindus and child labor also mainly Hindus but belong to a lower caste. In case

of silk reeling the employers as well as the child laborers are mainly Muslims.

16. What is the estimated number/percentage of adults and/or children engaged in forced labor and/or child

labor in the production of each good ?

N.A
22

Interview Number __5___

In-country Research and Data Collection on Forced Labor and/or Child

labor in the Production of Goods

(India)

Date of Interview: __25 March, 2008_____

Time of Interview: _12.00 noon ____________

Location of Interview: _SAM office, Kachivaram, Tamilnadu _______ (City, Province)

Interviewer’sname:__Virendar Khatana_____________________________

Interviewee’sNameandOfficialTitle:__Mr. Raj, Project Coordinator ______

Organizational Affiliation: _ Social Action Movements (SAM)____________

Brief description of the Organization: _

Social Action Movement (SAM) is an organization with Chennai as its HQ and regional office in

Kanchipuram. SAM works for child labor and forced labor issues. SAM got a forced child labor

released in 2007 with the help of BBC News team. They work on child issues and run schools for

child education. SAM also runs vocational courses for the young girls and women.

Mr. Raj was a bit hesitant in giving the interview and wanted that it should not be shared with any

one here. He said that after the BBC news last year which brought the issue of forced child labor

in Kanchipuram, where government claims that there is no child labor, he was threatened by the

employer as well as the then District Collector.

___________________________________________________________________________

Types of institution: Government ______________ (please specify Federal or State Level)

Local NGO _NGO_____

International NGO ______

Workers’Union______

Private Business/Company ______

Other ______

1. In what occupations/activities do forced labor victims and/or children work?

Silk weaving and papad making. The number of child labor has reduced from about 30,000 about 9 years ago to 1,000

to 1,500 at present in silk weaving in Kanchipuram district. The reason is that those who were children at that time

have become adults by now. There has not been much of fresh recruitment of children has taken place. Now, children

work more in papad making units, which does not attract as much attention as silk weaving.

Use of child labor is still prevalent in Silk weaving in the bordering villages of neighboring district of Thiruvanmalai.

Everyone’sattentionisonKanchipuram(becauseKanchipuramisknown all over the country for its silk sarees and a

large production for domestics and export market takes place here. Media and NGOs highlighted the issue of child
23

labor in silk weaving in Kanchipurm) and also the employers have become aware that they may be in trouble if they

employ child laborers. The awareness level in the other districts is low but they also do job work for the businessmen

based in Kanchipuram. Some of these villages are only 7-8 km from Kanchipuran but are part of another district and

are using child labor. These are small loom owners, who work with family labor and employ 1-4 children. The

earnings for them also are not high and they earn their living with difficulty. They earn some profits because of the very

low payment to the child labor and also get their family members to work. Many households in some villages have 1-2

looms in their houses.

Children also work in construction work and brick kilns.

2. What good(s) do the produce ?

Silk saree.

Break stones in small pieces in construction work. Make bricks or help their parents make bricks at brick kilns

3. Are goods for domestic consumption or export?

Silk sarees are for both.

4. Who employs them?

Small home based loom owners. Contractors for construction, Brick kiln owners. The middlemen also operate in case

of construction work and brick kilns

5. How do they come to be invloved in these occupations/activities ?

Parents take advance payments and ask their children to work at hand looms. The advance may be met by some

exigency or they could pay the amount of the previous employer if one wants to change the employer. Normally the

employer is changed to get higher advance amount so that the advance of the pervious employer is returned and some

may be kept for own use.

It is not important for them what occupation they work in, but working is their compulsion. Some children feel bad

about the departmental raids on the employers. The say that the labor dept snatches away their job from them. Children

in Kanchipuran who worked in silk weaving that were asked to leave are now working in other occupations like tea

shops, hotels, mechanic shops etc.

6. If applicable, what type of forced labor is used ? (debt bondage, indenture servitude, caste based salavery, etc)

Mainly debt, but nobody considers them as bonded labor.

7. How is trafficking in persons related to forced persons do they come to be invloved in these

occupations/activities ?

N.A The respondent did not give any information.

8. Are they paid for their work ? If so, how ? (i.e. cash, in-kind).

Yes, they are paid in cash on a monthly basis. The amount paid is just Rs. 200 to 300.

9. What tasks do they perform ?
24

In the beginning when they start learning, they work as helpers to the weavers. After 5-6 months they start doing all

typesofworkdoneathandlooms.(chrakha,weaving,and.......)

10. What physical and psychological risks do they or family members face ?(Areotherelementsof‘‘menaceof

penalty’’present)?

They have very long hours, i.e. 7.00 am to 7.00 in the evening. They come to work and return home to their villages by

walking, which sometimes can take up to 5 km.

11. Are they able to leave their workplace at will ? (If so, are other elements of coersion present)

No, they cannot. They have to return the advance amount before leaving and it is possible for them only when they find

another employer.

12. What are the environments in which they work ?

N.A

13.In what regions of the country do they work ? Do they work in cities or in rural areas ?

They work in rural as well urban areas Kanchipuram is in Southern India and this respondent talked about Kanchipuram

area). They are mainly from the same village or the neighboring village.

.

14. (For each good), What is the typical age/gender of individuals producing the goods ?

Boys work in silk weaving. The age group is 7-8 years to 13-14 years

15. What specific groups of people are more vulnerable to engagement in forced labor and/or child labor in the

production of each good (e.g boys versus girls, urban versus rural, indigenous/ethnic groups etc.

Children from poor families and orphans.

16. What is the estimated number/percentage of adults and/or children engaged in forced labor and/or child

labor in the production of each good ?

Can’tbe assessed but more than 1000.
25

Interview Number __6___

In-country Research and Data Collection on Forced Labor and/or Child

labor in the Production of Goods

(India)

Date of Interview: __14 March, 2008_____

Time of Interview: _12.00 noon_____________

Location of Interview: _SCF office, New Delhi_____________ (City, Province)

Interviewer’sname:__Virendar Khatana_____________________________

Interviewee’sNameandOfficialTitle:__Ms. Nupur Pande, Programme Coordinator ______

Organizational Affiliation: _ Save the Children ____________

Brief description of the Organization:

Types of institution: Government ______________ (please specify Federal or State Level)

Local NGO _INGO_____

International NGO ______

Workers’Union______

Private Business/Company ______

Other ______

1. In what occupations/activities do forced labor victims and/or children work?

Zari, brassware, paper cones (used in liud speakers), beedi, carpets, germ cutting and polishing. Besides a large number

in domestic work. Child prostitution is also on the increase.

2. What good(s) do the roduce ?

Clothes with zari work, loud speakers, beedis, gems, brass utensils and decorative items, carpets

3. Are goods for domestic consumption or export?

Both, but do not know the exact proportion and to which countries.

4. Who employs them?

Agents, contractors an producers directly.

Small producers. Children are not employed by the large production houses but in case of most of the products the
26

production is done by small units and many times family units through agents. Finally all this production is often

marketed by the large business houses and exporters.

5. How do they come to be involved in these occupations/activities ?

By force (the interviewee did not elaborate how), trafficking, circumstances (poverty and illiteracy), family business.

Many children work in the units run by relatives or neighours. In some cases they are hired through the agents.

6. If applicable, what type of forced labor is used ? (debt bondage, indenture servitude, caste based salavery, etc)

Not much information.

7. How is trafficking in persons related to forced persons do they come to be invloved in these

occupations/activities ?

Trafficked children are more in drug peddeling and not that much in production of goods.

8. Are they paid for their work ? If so, how ? (i.e. cash, in-kind).

Yes but sometimes not (in the begining when the children start working, they are considered trainees and not paid

wages). Also, how much they are paid and when they are paid is a question. They are being employed saying that they

are being trained and not paid in the beginning.

9. What tasks do they perform ?

Cleaning, goods production, raw material cleaning, various pre-production and production activities. They do not have

direct interface with the market.

10. What physical and psychological risks do they or family members face ?(Areotherelementsof‘‘menaceof

penalty’’present)?

Physical abuse, sexual abuse and mental abuse.

11. Are they able to leave their workplace at will ? (If so, are other elements of coersion present)

They are not allowed to go out.

12. What are the environments in which they work ?

Environment is not good nor healthy and can be abusive in many cases.

13.In what regions of the country do they work ? Do they work in cities or in rural areas ?

More in cities (this is true for all parts of the country). More girls than boys; this however is product specific.

14. (For each good), What is the typical age/gender of individuals producing the goods ?

5 years to 13-14 years

15. What specific groups of people are more vulnerable to engagement in forced labor and/or child labor in the

production of each good (e.g boys versus girls, urban versus rural, indigenous/ethnic groups etc.

Mainly lower caste among the poor. Orphans from poor families are easy pray.
27

16. What is the estimated number/percentage of adults and/or children engaged in forced labor and/or child

labor in the production of each good ?

N.A.
28

Interview Number __7___

In-country Research and Data Collection on Forced Labor and/or Child

labor in the Production of Goods

(India)

Date of Interview: __5 March, 2008_____

Time of Interview: _2.30 PM_____________

Location of Interview: _Delhi_____________ (City, Province)

Interviewer’sname:__Virendar Khatana_____________________________

Interviewee’sNameandOfficialTitle:__Mr. Prem Bahukhandi, Director____________

Organizational Affiliation: _Bandhua Mukti Morcha_____________

Brief description of the Organization:

Bandhua Mukti Morcha (BMM) is more than 20 years old organization formed by Swami

Agnivesh. Swami Agnivesh has also served as member of Parliament and is member of various

high level committees on bonded labor and labor issues. BMM has identified and got released a

number of forced labors from brick kilns and stone queries. They filed PILs (Public Interest

Litigations) in Supreme Court of India for demanding proactive government action in identifying

and rehabilitating forced labor and also demanded better rehabilitation package.

Types of institution: Government ______________ (please specify Federal or State Level)

Local NGO _National NGO_____

International NGO ______

Workers’Union______

Private Business/Company ______

Other ______

1. In what occupations/activities do forced labor victims and/or children work?

The dynamics are changing over time and incidence of forced adult labour has decreased significantly. Brick kilns used

to have lot of forced adult labour in the areas around Delhi and other states as well. The boom in construction industry

has increased the demand and labour in such a high demand that the advances they demand are at par with the existing

wage rate, no interests are paid on these advances and increased number of agents have increased the bargaining power

of the labor. This has almost eliminated the existance of adult forced labor at least in the areas around Delhi.

Zari, leather and ornaments prodicing units in Delhi have forced child labor. Child labor is found in various other

occupations like domestic work, mechanics garages, tea shops, small hotels. garbage collection. This organisation is
29

based in Delhi and he could not provide more list.

2. What good(s) do the roduce ?

Zari garments, various leather products (mainly ladies hand begs, begs, wallets) and ornaments.

3. Are goods for domestic consumption or export?

Mainly domestict consumption. Some Zari items are exported also, mainly to Gulf countries.

4. Who employs them?

Small units in unorganised sector.

5. How do they come to be invloved in these occupations/activities ?

They are manly hired through relatives who run the units or where the relatives work as labor. Agents also bring them

and some times they convince and lure them and their families by telling so many positive things about working.

6. If applicable, what type of forced labor is use ? (debt bondage, indenture servitude, caste based salavery, etc)

None of the above. Children come with the full knowledge of their parents. Parents themselves send them. They come

to learn and normally open thed labor/or child labor in the production of goods, if at all.

They open their own units of zari by the time they attain the age of 17-18 years. But the children in some cases are also

kept under watch and not allowed to go out. This owners say is done to protect them as they are children from known

families.

There is lack of serious research related to bonded labor. Supreme Court judgement is used by different people in

different ways. A systematic survey and research is yet be cnducted on the issue of bonded labor.

7. How is trafficking in persons related to forced persons do they come to be invloved in these

occupations/activities ?

The agents of the production unit owners bring childen and at tmes it is on false promises, but once they come and start

working they are threatened also so that they may not leave. The children are from India. In some cases they are the

children of illigal Bangaldeshi migrants living in Delhi slums.

8. Are they paid for their work ? If so, how ? (i.e. cash, in-kind).

Yes they are paid but small amounts raning from Rs 50-100/month. After the get trained better they are paid on piece

rate basis.

9. What tasks do they perform ?

Manual work. Assisting the trained workers in the beginning.

10. What physical and psychological risks do they or family members face ?(Areotherelementsof‘‘menaceof

penalty’’present)?

At time they are slapped, particularly in the learining stage. Not much psychological problem as the come from poor

families and the environment in their houses is not better than in the production unit.

11. Are they able to leave their workplace at will ? (If so, are other elements of coersion present)

They can not leave on their will. The sleep on floor in the production units and are not allowed to go out.
30

12. What are the environments in which they work ?

It is not a good environment, it is very bad. They do not have any facility (like toilet, bathroom etc) in the production

unit and 10-12 children share the small room to sleep on its floor.

13.In what regions of the country do they work ? Do they work in cities or in rural areas ?

I am talking about Delhi, which means urban area.

14. (For each good), What is the typical age/gender of individuals producing the goods ?

In all the three goods (Zari, garments and leather products) it is boys mainly in the age group of 7-14 years.

15. What specific groups of people are more vulnerable to engagement in forced labor and/or child labor in the

production of each good (e.g boys versus girls, urban versus rural, indigenous/ethnic groups etc.

The units of zari and leather are mainly run by the Muslims and the child labor is also muslim.

As for the ornaments perhaps it is manily Hindus.

16. What is the estimated number/percentage of adults and/or children engaged in forced labor and/or child

labor in the production of each good ?

There are about 40,000 child labor in Zari industry alone. Do not know the total workforce in Zari but children should

be about 70% of total labor in Zari. Do not ahev estimates for other goods.
31

Interview Number __8___

In-country Research and Data Collection on Forced Labor and/or Child

labor in the Production of Goods

(India)

Date of Interview: __10 April, 2008_____

Time of Interview: _9.30 am____________

Location of Interview: _CECONDECON office, Jaipur, Rajasthan _______ (City, Province)

Interviewer’sname:__Virendar Khatana_____________________________

Interviewee’sName and Official Title: __Ms. Neema Pant, Deputy Director and Mr.B.N Jat,

Pogramme Coordinator, Child Development ______

Organizational Affiliation: _ CECONDECON___________

Brief description of the Organization:

____________________________________________________________________________

Types of institution: Government ______________ (please specify Federal or State Level)

Local NGO _NGO_____

International NGO ______

Workers’Union______

Private Business/Company ______

Other ______

1. In what occupations/activities do forced labor victims and/or children work?

In te context of child labor

Carpets, gem cutting and polishing, speaker cones, beedi making, stone mines, tie and die (cloth printing), ara tari hand

needle work on clothes, embroidery,

2. What good(s) do the produce ?

As mentioned in 1 above.

3. Are goods for domestic consumption or export?

Both, domestic as well as export.

4. Who employs them?

They work with their parents in their own house and some children work in neighborhood. Most of the children

working in thee places also go to school.
32

Muslim community which produces paper cones feels that it is only they who know this technique and it is kept as a

closely guarded secret so much so that they do not marry their daughters outside the paper cone producing community.

Only family, neighbors and relatives work in these units.

The units (carpet weaving units and gem cutting units) are small family owned and the job work is given by the

contractor. These units employ their own family labor and neighbors and children from the same village. Migrants

from Uttar Pradesh (who came here 20-30 years ago) provide lot of child labor. There are some units, which employ

10-15 children and use cheap means to make them work long hours and extract work.

5. How do they come to be invloved in these occupations/activities ?

Poverty and the opportunity to work in own home or in own village. Parents send their children to work. Most families,

particularly Muslims have 5- 8 children and they consider them assets for working and earning.

6. If applicable, what type of forced labor is used ? (debt bondage, indenture servitude, caste based salavery, etc)

We do not feel there is forced labor these days in Rajasthan.

Researcher’sNote:TheyworkinRajasthan and do not want to talk about other states.

7. How is trafficking in persons related to forced persons do they come to be invloved in these

occupations/activities ?

N.A.

8. Are they paid for their work ? If so, how ? (i.e. cash, in-kind).

Yes. Wages are based on piece work basis. In carpet children get up to Rs. 40/day (0.94 USD/day). Some children in

the carpet industry become so experts at the age of 12-14 years that they earn up to Rs. 7,000 (164/USD) a month.

9. What tasks do they perform ?

Almost all the tasks, which elders perform in these production units.

10. What physical and psychological risks do they or family members face ?(Areotherelementsof‘‘menaceof

penalty’’present)?

The work is tedious. They have to keep sitting on their knees for long hours and it creates pain in the knees. Children

working in beedi making suffer from respiratory diseases. Large size families, poor diets and long hours of wok make

most girls anemic.

Digestive disorders, eyesight problem and reproductive health problem (in case of girls) are some of the common

problems.

In carpets a knife is used to cut the thread and they often cut their fingers. They keep on working with their cut fingers.

These days carpet work has reduced a lot. When there was more work, employers used to give cigarettes and tobacco to

make them work for longer periods. Some used to show them blue films to lure and retain them and also to make them

work for long hours.

11. Are they able to leave their workplace at will ? (If so, are other elements of coersion present)
33

There is not much force of the employers these days but they are not provided leaves when work is more. They are not

given any off days and working hours are increased from about 10 to 12-14 hours a day.

12. What are the environments in which they work ?

Physical environment is not good.

13.In what regions of the country do they work ? Do they work in cities or in rural areas ?

They are mainly local from Rajasthan and some are migrants from Uttar Pradesh. These people came some 20-30 years

ago and have started living here.

14. (For each good), What is the typical age/gender of individuals producing the goods ?

Children start working from the age of 7-8 but these days reduced work in carpet and increased awwareness has

reduced the number of of children of less than 14 years age. In other occupations like arat tari and beedi workers which

are mainly home-based activities smaller children also work.

15. What specific groups of people are more vulnerable to engagement in forced labor and/or child labor in the

production of each good (e.g boys versus girls, urban versus rural, indigenous/ethnic groups etc.

Children from poor families.

16. What is the estimated number/percentage of adults and/or children engaged in forced labor and/or child

labor in the production of each good ?

N.A
34

Interview Number __9___

In-country Research and Data Collection on Forced Labor and/or Child

labor in the Production of Goods

(India)

Date of Interview: __12 April, 2008_____

Time of Interview: _11.30 am_________

Location of Interview: _HWA office, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh

Interviewer’sname:__Virendar Khatana_____________________________

Interviewee’sNameandOfficialTitle:__Dr. Rajnikant, General Secretary, HWA and State

Convener, Campaign Against Child Labour, since 2005 ______

Organizational Affiliation: _ Human Welfare Association (HWA)__________

Brief description of the Organization:

HWA was registered in 1991 and is in the field since 1993. It is working on the issues of child

labor and women development. Work in more than 100 villages of Banaras districts and slum

areas of Varanasi. Focus is only action development and not research and documentation.

Children working in Silk sari and carpet weaving have been the main concern. Believes that good

quality education can help in reducing child labor and therefore open schools and work towards

improvement of education in existing government and religious schools like madarsas of

Muslims. Community participation is encouraged in education.

Dr Ravikant says that all children who are not going to school re child labor. They either work in

their houses or in others houses or business. Government does not accept that there are child

labor. He very rightly agues that there are schools for child labor in 40 districts, which s an clear

indicator of the existence of child labor. How can there be a child in child labor school if there are

no child labor?

Types of institution: Government ______________ (please specify Federal or State Level)

Local NGO _NGO_____

International NGO ______

Workers’Union______

Private Business/Company ______

Other ______

1. In what occupations/activities do forced labor victims and/or children work?

Children work as laborers in many activities in Uttar Pradesh. Some of the production activities in which child labor is
35

involved are carpet weaving, dari (mat) weaving, silk weaving, cotton saris, artificial jewelry, bangle making, brass

ware, locks, beedi rolling, artificial beads, stone queries, statue carving, marble stone carving

2. What good(s) do the roduce ?

As mentioned in 1 above.

3. Are goods for domestic consumption or export?

Both, domestic as well as export.

4. Who employs them?

Some are employed through agent and rest directly by employers. About 65% children work in home-based units and

35% work in the factories..

5. How do they come to be invloved in these occupations/activities ?

Poverty and the lack of good schools in their localities.

6. If applicable, what type of forced labor is used ? (debt bondage, indenture servitude, caste based salavery, etc)

N.A

7. How is trafficking in persons related to forced persons do they come to be invloved in these

occupations/activities ?

N.A.

8. Are they paid for their work ? If so, how ? (i.e. cash, in-kind).

Yes. They work almost as much as an adult but are paid less than adults. They are also paid much less than the

minimum wages fixed by the government. Globalization has brought a lot of silk from China, which is of poor quality.

But because of its cheap price this has rendered many loom owners to be jobless and vulnerable to work on less wages.

9. What tasks do they perform ?

Almost all the tasks, which elders perform in these production units. Working on the charkha and weaving

10. What physical and psychological risks do they or family members face ?(Areotherelementsof‘‘menaceof

penalty’’present)?

Children working at an age when they should be in schools is in itself a psychological risk.

11. Are they able to leave their workplace at will ? (If so, are other elements of coersion present)

Yes, if they have not taken the advance. Some times the labors take advance payment and they are required to return the

advance amount before leaving the work.

12. What are the environments in which they work ?
36

Physical environment is not good. Small rooms with low heights. No proper ventilation and lighting facilities.

13.In what regions of the country do they work ? Do they work in cities or in rural areas ?

They are mainly locals from Rajasthan and some are migrants from Uttar Pradesh. These people came some 20-30

years ago and have started living here.

14. (For each good), What is the typical age/gender of individuals producing the goods ?

Children of 7-8 to 16 years work in the ocupation mentioned in question 1.

Of the total workers, 20% are children and 80% are adult. Girls constitute 70% of children and 30% are boys.

15. What specific groups of people are more vulnerable to engagement in forced labor and/or child labor in the

production of each good (e.g boys versus girls, urban versus rural, indigenous/ethnic groups etc.

Poor families of Scheduled castes and other Backward Classes and also Muslims of low social strata among them like

Julaha (Ansari, who are traditional handloom weavers) are more vulnerable simply because they are poor.

16. What is the estimated number/percentage of adults and/or children engaged in forced labor and/or child

labor in the production of each good ?

N.A
37

Interview Number __10__

In-country Research and Data Collection on Forced Labor and/or Child

labor in the Production of Goods

(India)

Date of Interview: __19 March, 2008_____

Time of Interview: _12.00 noon_____________

Location of Interview: _MV Foundation, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh______ (City,

Province)

Interviewer’sname:__Virendar Khatana_____________________________

Interviewee’sNameandOfficialTitle:__Mr. R. Venkat Reddy, National Convener ______

Organizational Affiliation: _ M.V. Foundation ____________

Types of institution: Government ______________ (please specify Federal or State Level)

Local NGO _NGO_____

International NGO ______

Workers’Union______

Private Business/Company ______

Other ______

1. In what occupations/activities do forced labor victims and/or children work?

Victims work in many trade areas like agriculture, brick kilns, as cattle herds, carpet weaving, and glass bangle making

units, way side restaurants, bars, petty shops, mechanic sheds, red light areas etc. as well at Handloom industries, Brass

industries, Lock industries, Silk industries, Slate mines and Manufacturing Units, Match and fireworks, Making shoes,

garments, Beedi-rolling, Synthetic Gemstone & Diamond polishing, and many other home based industries. Many other

occupations involving children are Rug picking, Shoe-shining, Hawkers, vendors, news-paper sellers, Coolies etc. India

also has children working in urban pockets as domestic child laborers.

2. What good(s) do the roduce ?

Agriculture products, Handloom products, carpets, bangles and other glassware products, Brass, Beedies, shoes and

other domestic services

3. Are goods for domestic consumption or export?

Both.
38

4. Who employs them?

Farmers (rural areas). Money lenders (urband and rural areas), Factory/Industry owners (urban and rural areas), MNCs

andinurbanareasasdomesticservants’crosssectionsofpeopleemploythem

5. How do they come to be invloved in these occupations/activities ?

Through middlemen. Many children are bonded and enslaved to work against advances taken by their families from

their employers.

6. If applicable, what type of forced labor is used ? (debt bondage, indenture servitude, caste based salavery, etc)

All those mentioned are applicable

7. How is trafficking in persons related to forced persons do they come to be invloved in these

occupations/activities ?

In the example of Hybrid Cottonseed cultivation farmers prefer employing young girls to any others for various

reasons. In the areas where child labour is not sufficient, (the cultivation of cottonseed is concentrated in some areas

and during the season a large number of labor is required, which is not available in these areas and has to be brought for

distant places.) farmers try to get them from places far off (as far as 150 kms also). In such areas where child labour is

abundant, there are middlemen available. Farmers arrive into an agreement with them (always oral, no written) to get

the children. Middlemen lure parents by offering huge amounts of money as wages. Poor parents agree to send their

children by taking one or two thousand rupees (23-47 USD) as advancements and send their children off to work with

them.Around15%oftheparentsdon’tknow where the child(ren) is/are being sent.

8. Are they paid for their work ? If so, how ? (i.e. cash, in-kind).

Most of the time they are paid in cash only and payment in kind is also there.

9. What tasks do they perform ?

Sibling care, Service at hotels, restaurants, canteens, tea stalls, shops and way-side establishments, cleaning utensils at

theemployers’homes,washingclothes,harvest,transplantation,cattleherding,fetchingwaters,crosspollinationin

hybrid cottonseed farms, Sowing, removing weeds and harvesting, carpet weaving, bangles making, Beedi making,

Shoe making, Gemstone polishing, Silk weaving, undergarments making. Children and forced laborers are involved in

variety of works that vary from region to region. Yes some work is more abundant in a particular area. Rural and area

also depends on what product. Agricultural work is in rural areas while other work is more in urban and semi-urban

areas.

10. What physical and psychological risks do they or family members face ? (Are otherelementsof‘‘menaceof

penalty’’present)?

Physicalabuse(beating)andoralabusearenotuncommon.Ifsomethinglikethefttakesplaceinthemasters’homes

both the workers and their family members also face the wrath (scolding). In cases where the job assigned is not up to

the expectations a cut in the payment also takes place. Children who work long hours on farms under scorching bright

sun without any rest while inhaling pesticides and other chemicals in production of agricultural goods are certainly

subject to health hazards. Apart from that many girls are subject to hazards of physical and sexual abuse even at a

young age of 10 to 12 years.

11. Are they able to leave their workplace at will ? (If so, are other elements of coersion present)
39

Aslongastheirdebtisnotyetclearedtheycan’tleaveattheirwill.Ifanyonetriestofleeawaytheirfamilymembers

get victimized –they may be made to work forcibly and may beaten.

12. What are the environments in which they work ?

The environment is not safe at all. A bonded labor boy may be taking care of some 50 animals. He takes them for

grazing in the grazing yards. In the case of the carpet industry, Match & Fire works factories, bangle & glassware

industry, lime kilns, brick kilns –no where can any one expect better humane conditions (The labor has live in small

rooms with very low roof and no ventilation, no toilets). The middle class and elite groups in the urban pockets hire

domestic servants who are supposed to do all house chores against no or meager payment. These children are also

subject to inhumane behavior from the employers.

Apartfromtheabove,childlabourhampersthechild’sdevelopmentandthechild.

13. In what regions of the country do they work ? Do they work in cities or in rural areas ?

Across the length and breadth of the country- no rural urban divide -- in all the states of India.

14. (For each good), What is the typical age/gender of individuals producing the goods ?

From 8 years old kids to 70 year old (wo)men also work. However, young children from 8 years to 18 years always

preferred as child workers are always cheap laborers.

15. What specific groups of people are more vulnerable to engagement in forced labor and/or child labor in the

production of each good (e.g boys versus girls, urban versus rural, indigenous/ethnic groups etc.

Based on the nature of work boys and girls are preferred. For example in the Hybrid Cottonseed production, especially

for cross pollination of the seeds, young girls are preferred. There is no urban rural divide here also. However, children

from dalit groups are always vulnerable.

16. What is the estimated number/percentage of adults and/or children engaged in forced labor and/or child

labor in the production of each good ?

As far as statistics are concerned, according to census data of India in 2001, it is calculated that in the production of

agricultural goods 38% are children, 11% of children work in manufacturing units, 6% of children work for allied

activities, 34% of children who work for cultivation were engaged in India. In the state of Andhra Pradesh, it is

calculated that 57% of children work in producing agricultural produce, 15% of children work for cultivation, 9% work

in manufacturing unit, 6% work in allied activities and 6% of children are engaged for producing industrial goods.
40

Interview Number __11__

In-country Research and Data Collection on Forced Labor and/or Child

labor in the Production of Goods

(India)

Date of Interview: __27 March, 2008_____

Time of Interview: _4.30 pm ____________

Location of Interview: _SAVE office, Tirupur, Tamilnadu_______ (City, Province)

Interviewer’sname:__Virendar Khatana_____________________________

Interviewee’sNameandOfficialTitle:__Mr. K.M. Rajendran, Coordinator, Child Rights cell

Organizational Affiliation: _ SAVE (Social Awareness Voluntary Education)___________

Brief description of the Organization:

The organization works for the welfare of child labor. They do advocacy, awareness creation and

run schools for child labor. SAVE also works on the issues of HIV/AIDS, trafficking and rights

bases approaches. They have residential school and give psychological support to the children

who run away from their homes. They have posted a staff at a bus stand to take care of the

children who come to Tirupur after fighting with their parents and save them from the clutches of

the agents who are looking for children at the bus stand.

Types of institution: Government ______________ (please specify Federal or State Level)

Local NGO _NGO_____

International NGO ______

Workers’Union______

Private Business/Company ______

Other ______

1. In what occupations/activities do forced labor victims and/or children work?

Garment units, printing, dying, construction and brick kilns.

2. What good(s) do the produce ?

Garments

3. Are goods for domestic consumption or export?

Both.

4. Who employs them?

Smallunitsinthesupplychain.Exportunitsdonotemploychildlabor.Theyhaveaboarddisplaying‘Nochildlabor’.

The export units do not employ child labor directly. Sub-contractors in the supply chain engage child labor. If we

consider international definition of child than most of the children working under sumangali scheme are also children
41

as they are between 14 to 19/20 years old. As per Indian Factories Act children above 14 years are allowed to work

5. How do they come to be invloved in these occupations/activities ?

Through middlemen and advertisements. Agents are always looking for children at bus stands and as soon as a child

gets off a bus s/he is offered a job. The wage rate in Tirupur is much better than other parts of the state. The mobility of

labor is not that much therefore he compared it within the state. In other parts of the country it better in some places and

less in others.Many children come after failures in examinations, after having fights with their parents and whole

families (children come with the family and start working) also come. Last year (2007) 467 children were rescued from

the bus stand of Tirupur. These days some girls of fewer than 18 years being brought from Assam states (one of the

states in Northeast India). This is quite recent and about 20 girls have come from Assam.

6. If applicable, what type of forced labor is used ? (debt bondage, indenture servitude, caste based salavery, etc)

In knitwear factories there is no forced labor but some units have child labor. Forced labor may exist on brick kilns to

some extent. The labor on brick kilns take advance and are not allowed to leave the kilns till the amount is repaid back.

7. How is trafficking in persons related to forced persons do they come to be invloved in these

occupations/activities ?

N.A

8. Are they paid for their work ? If so, how ? (i.e. cash, in-kind).

Yes, they are paid and even though the amount is better compared to what they would have earned in the places they

are from, but here the amount is much less than what the adults earn.

9. What tasks do they perform ?

Various. In knitwear production line there are three main stages and at each stage one adult is supported by one child.

Like arranging the lining cloth over the main cloth, cleaning the garment (removing unwanted threads etc.) putting tags

(about half a dozen tags are put on each garment), folding the garments. Cleaning the floor and cleaning the machines is

also done by the children.

10. What physical and psychological risks do they or family members face ?(Areotherelementsof‘‘menaceof

penalty’’present)?

Children working in printing and dying suffer from skin disease and poor eye problem. In knitwear they suffer from

asthma/TB and most girls are anemic. Working hours are from 8.30 am to 8.30 pm and in peak season they work

double shift at times three shifts (peak season is normally around November). One shift is of 8 hours and they get Rs

30/shift. As a routine they work for 12 hours a day.

12 hrs work = Rs 45/day

16 hrs work = Rs 60/day

24 hrs work = Rs 90/day.

During peak season they have to work till mid-night.

11. Are they able to leave their workplace at will ? (If so, are other elements of coersion present)

Depends on the employer. Those working under sumangali scheme are not allowed to leave. They are taken to the

market once in a week and sometimes in a fortnight. Factory guards accompany them on all market visits. The girls are

taken in a group and are given a fixed time of 1-2 hours in the market. An eye is kept on them in the market.
42

12. What are the environments in which they work ?

Unhealthy. Long working hours and no facilities of any kind.

13. In what regions of the country do they work ? Do they work in cities or in rural areas ?

Mainly from the southern districts of Tamilnadu. These districts have remained farming areas and the people are very

poor.

14. (For each good), What is the typical age/gender of individuals producing the goods ?

Both boys and girls. Sumangli scheme is only for the girls of 14-20 years age group. More than 80% of them are less

than 18 years. In local units children above 10 years work and in some cases one can find 8-year old children also.

There are more boys than girls in these units.

15. What specific groups of people are more vulnerable to engagement in forced labor and/or child labor in the

production of each good (e.g boys versus girls, urban versus rural, indigenous/ethnic groups etc.

Belonging to poor families and also low social strata of the society. Roughly about 60% of the child labor are from

scheduled castes and 40% from backward castes. Only a negligible number may be from general category or forward

castes.

16. What is the estimated number/percentage of adults and/or children engaged in forced labor and/or child

labor in the production of each good ?

There are a total of 350,000 laborers in garment factories in Tirupur of which 10,000 are children. 75% of the children

working in Tirupur are migrants from southern districts of the state.

As per government data 46,908 girls are working under sumangali scheme. Girls of age group 14-20 are taken under

this scheme and at least 80% of them are below 18 years.
43

Type II Interviews

In-country Research and Data Collection on Forced Labor and/or Child

labor in the Production of Goods

(India)

Interview with child labor/families of child labor

Date of Interview: __10 April, 2008_____

Time of Interview: _1.30 pm____________

Location of Interview: House cum work place

Place/Locality: Kali paltan, Sadat Ganj, Tonk District: Tonk State: Rajasthan

Interviewer’sname:__Virendar Khatana_____

Interviewee’sName:__Ms. Krishna (Child laborer)

Good(s) produced: Beedi

A brief background of the family of the child labor:

The family consists for eight members –father, mother, five sisters (excluding one married) and

one brother (8 member family). Father is a drunkard (he work as a wage laborer now and then)

and mother is patient of TB. She has been rolling beedi for last many years.

Mother cuts leaves for beedi making and three sisters aged 5, 13 and 11 roll beedi. Brother is 8

years old and does not do anything. They jointly earn Rs 60/day (1.4 USD/day). All the sisters are

illiterate.

1. In what occupations/activities do/did you/the child victim(s) work?

Beedi making

2. What good(s) do you/they produce?

Beedi

3. What tasks do you/they perform?

Beedi rolling

4. Who is your/their employer?
44

Home-based. Work is given by beedi agent.

5. How did you/they come to be involved in these occupations/activities?

Mother is rolling beedi for many years.

6. Are you/they paid for their work? If so, how? (i.e. cash, in-kind).

Yes, based on piece work.

7. Do you/the child owe a debt to your employer that you work to pay back?

No

8. If so, how was this debt incurred?

N.A

9. What are your/their working conditions? Are there dangerous tools, machinery,

fumes, or other physical risks?

N.A (home based work)

10. Are you/the child beaten/abused by the employer?

N.A

11. Are you/they threatened by the employer if certain job tasks are not performed?

What kind of threats?

N.A

12. Does your employer provide food and shelter? If so, do you/they have enough to

eat?

N.A. Home based work

13. Are you/they able to leave your/their workplaces at will?

N.A

14. Howfarawayisyour/thechild’shome?Howdidyou/theygethere(tothisplaceof

employment)?

Work from home.

15. How old are you?

15 years old.

16. What is your education level?
45

Never went to school.

17. Whether the person is male/female

Female

18. How long has the person been working in the situation/circumstance?

For more than five years. Her sisters aged 13 and 11 also roll beedi the whole day.
46

In-country Research and Data Collection on Forced Labor and/or Child

labor in the Production of Goods

(India)

Interview with child labor/families of child labor

Date of Interview: __8 April, 2008_____

Time of Interview: _1.30 pm______

Location of Interview: Neighbour’shouse

Village: Sada. Block: Kotra District: Udiapur State: Rajasthan

Interviewer’sname:__Virendar Khatana

Interviewee’sName:__Ms. Rekha (Child laborer)

Good(s) produced: Hybrid cotton seed

A brief background of the family of the child labor:

The family consists for ten members –father, mother, four sisters and four brothers.

The farm where the girl worked: There were 18 boys and 1 girl on the farm where this girl went

to work last year.

1. In what occupations/activities do/did you/the child victim(s) work?

Cotton breeding.

2. What good(s) do you/they produce?

Hybrid cotton seeds,

3. What tasks do you/they perform?

Collection of pollen, emasculation, pollination and other agricultural work asked by the

landlord.

4. Who is your/their employer?

A landlord (the owner of the cotton farm) in the village Rampur, Block, Edar, District

Himmatnagar, Gujarat.

5. How did you/they come to be involved in these occupations/activities?
47

Her elder brother, who is 18 years old went to work there. She also went with him for the last

two years.

6. Are you/they paid for their work? If so, how? (i.e. cash, in-kind).

Yes, Rs 50 (1.18 USD)/day in 2007 and Rs 40 (0.94 USD)/day during 2006.

7. Do you/the child owe a debt to your employer that you work to pay back?

No

8. If so, how was this debt incurred?

N.A

9. What are your/their working conditions? Are there dangerous tools, machinery,

fumes, or other physical risks?

I worked from 4 am until 8 am, 9.00 am to 1.00 pm and again 2.30 pm till 7 pm. The job was

to collect pollen, emasculate and pollinate the flower. Sometimes I did some other farm work

like weeding maize field.

10. Are you/the child beaten/abused by the employer?

No

11. Are you/they threatened by the employer if certain job tasks are not performed?

What kind of threats?

Scolded

12. Does your employer provide food and shelter? If so, do you/they have enough to

eat?

No, we have to cook our own food after the work. We cook in group.

13. Are you/they able to leave your/their workplaces at will?

Not during the crop season. We can go to a different place next year if we want.

The owner does not leave for the season, which lasts for 2.5 months.

14. Howfarawayisyour/thechild’shome?Howdidyou/theygethere(tothisplaceof

employment)?

About 90 km.

Researcher’sNote:Theyaretakeninajeepsbythecontractor/Agent

15. How old are you?

14 years old
48

16. What is your education level?

Illiterate

17. Whether the person is male/female

Female

18. How long has the person been working in the situation/circumstance?

Worked during last two crop seasons (2006 and 2007). Will do this year also.
49

In-country Research and Data Collection on Forced Labor and/or Child

labor in the Production of Goods

(India)

Interview with child labor/families of child labor

Date of Interview: __8 April, 2008_____

Time of Interview: _2.30 pm____________

Location of Interview: House of the child labor

Village: Sada. Block: Kotra District: Udiapur State: Rajasthan

Interviewer’sname:__Virendar Khatana_______

Interviewee’sName:__Ms. Kali D/o Mr Fatha (Child laborer)

Good(s) produced: Hybrid cotton seed

A brief background of the family of the child labor:

The family consists for ten members –father, mother, four sisters and four brothers

Cottonseed farm where the girl worked: 25 children worked at the farm where I worked. 7 of us

were girls and 18 boys. Most children who work on cottonseed farms are younger than 18 years

age.

1. In what occupations/activities do/did you/the child victim(s) work?

Cotton breeding.

2. What good(s) do you/they produce?

Hybrid cotton seeds,

3. What tasks do you/they perform?

Collection of pollen, emasculation, pollination. Also asked to collect fodder and feed cattle

some times. When there is rain or pollinations work is over, they are asked to work in the

maize field.

4. Who is your/their employer?

A landlord (owner of the cottonseed farm) in the village laluda, Block, Edar, District

Himmatnagar, Gujarat.
50

5. How did you/they come to be involved in these occupations/activities?

Through my elder brother who is an agent.

6. Are you/they paid for their work? If so, how? (i.e. cash, in-kind).

Yes, Rs 1200 (283 USD)/month and Rs 300 (7.09 USD)/ month are deducted for food.

7. Do you/the child owe a debt to your employer that you work to pay back?

No

8. If so, how was this debt incurred?

N.A

9. What are your/their working conditions? Are there dangerous tools, machinery,

fumes, or other physical risks?

Work from 4 am till 10 am, 10.30 am to 1.00pm and again 2.30 pm till 6.30/7 pm. Pollen

collection, emasculation and pollination and sometimes other agricultural work like weeding

irrigating.

10. Are you/the child beaten/abused by the employer?

No

11. Are you/they threatened by the employer if certain job tasks are not performed?

What kind of threats?

Scolded

12. Does your employer provide food and shelter? If so, do you/they have enough to

eat?

No, we have to cook our own food after the work. We cook in group.

13. Are you/they able to leave your/their workplaces at will?

Not during the crop season. We can go to a different place next year if we want.

Owner does not leave for the season, which lasts for 2 to 2.5 months.

14. Howfarawayisyour/thechild’shome?Howdidyou/theygethere(tothisplaceof

employment)?

About 80 km.

15. How old are you?

15 years old
51

16. What is your education level?

Illiterate

17. Whether the person is male/female

Female

18. How long has the person been working in the situation/circumstance?

Worked during last two crop seasons (2006 and 2007).
52

In-country Research and Data Collection on Forced Labor and/or Child

labor in the Production of Goods

(India)

Interview with Agent

Date of Interview: __8 April, 2008_____

Time of Interview: _4.30 pm____________

Location of Interview: Neighbor’shouse

Village: Dehri, Block: Kotra District: Udiapur State: Rajasthan

Interviewer’sname:__Virendar Khatana_____________________________

Interviewee’sName:__Mr. Lala ram S/o mr. Bheemaji.

Good(s) produced: Hybrid cotton seed

A brief background of the family of the child labor:

The family consists for five members –father, mothers and three brothers. Two sisters are

married.

They own about 2 acres of land and the father is cultivator.

Elder brother works as an agent (locally called mat) and younger brother studies in class VIII. He

himself works as an agent.

He is 16 years and studied up to class V. He worked as a laborer for two years (2004 and 2005)

and developed good relations with the farm owner and became an agent since 2006.

He gets Rs 100 (2.36 USD)/day while the labor gets Rs. 50 (1.18 USD)/day. His work is to spray

pesticides on the cotton crop, irrigate the crop, manage the group of children working there and

sometimes tending to other work asked by the owner.

Apart from the duties assigned by the farm owner, he has some moral duties also. The agents take

due care of the children in case of any illness and protect them from sexual exploitation. All the

children hired are from his own or neighboring village and safety of these children is his

responsibility. Any bad happening like physical abuse will spoil his work as no one would like to

sendtheirchildrentoworkwithhim.Inmostcasesitisthechildren’sandtheparents’joint

decision. Some children like to go work there as there they would live with their friends in a

group and like it. Some children, however, are shown rosy picture by the agents and are taken

without the knowledge of the parents. The parents come to know after the child has left.
53

1. In what occupations/activities do/did you/the child victim(s) work?

Cotton breeding.

2. What good(s) do you/they produce?

Hybrid cotton seeds,

3. What tasks do you/they perform?

Spraying chemicals on the crop, irrigating the crop.

4. Who is your/their employer?

A landlord in the village Gadu District Himmatnagar, Gujarat.

5. How did you/they come to be involved in these occupations/activities?

Initially he worked through his brother who is also an agent. Anyone who can develop a good

relation with the farm owner and can promise the farm owner to bring children can become

an agent. This person worked as a laborer for two years and convinced the farm owner about

his organizing skills. The children go to work every year for so many years. These agents

mainly take children from their neighborhood or from the villages of their relatives. Parents

also like to send the children with a known person.

6. Are you/they paid for their work? If so, how? (i.e. cash, in-kind).

Yes, Rs 100 (1.36 USD)/day.

7. Do you/the child owe a debt to your employer that you work to pay back?

No

8. If so, how was this debt incurred?

N.A

9. What are your/their working conditions? Are there dangerous tools, machinery,

fumes, or other physical risks?

Work from 4 am till 12 noon (12 noon to 2 pm rest) 2 .00 pm till 7.00 pm.

10. Are you/the child beaten/abused by the employer?

No

11. Are you/they threatened by the employer if certain job tasks are not performed?

What kind of threats?

Scolded
54

12. Does your employer provide food and shelter? If so, do you/they have enough to

eat?

No, he eats with the group.

13. Are you/they able to leave your/their workplaces at will?

Not during the crop season. We can go to a different place next year if we want.

Owner does not leave for the season, which lasts for 2 months.

14. How far away is your/the child’shome?Howdidyou/theygethere(tothisplaceof

employment)?

About 60 km.

15. How old are you?

16 years old

16. What is your education level?

Up to 5th class

17. Whether the person is male/female

Male

18. How long has the person been working in the situation/circumstance?

Four years. Two years as as a laborer and two years as an agent. Will go again this year.
55

In-country Research and Data Collection on Forced Labor and/or Child

labor in the Production of Goods

(India)

Interview with child labor/families of child labor

Date of Interview: __27 March, 2008_____

Time of Interview: _2.30 pm____________

Location of Interview: Place :Covai class- a specail school run by NGO SAVE

Village: Rakiya Palayam, Tirupur District: Coimbatore State: Tamilnadu

Interviewer’sname:__Virendar Khatana_____________________________

Interviewee’sName:__Miss M. laxmi (ex-Child labor)

Good(s) produced: Hosiery unit

A brief background of the family of the child labor:

The family consists for six members - mother, father, three brothers and self. The family has

migrated here from Madurai district. Her Parents sell flowers and one elder brother (17 years old)

also sells flower. One younger brother who is 11 years old was also selling flowers but the NGO

(SAVE) brought him to the school. One elder brother who is 14 years old works in the hosiery

company. She was working in the company and left in September 2007 after the NGO convinced

her parents.

The girl told that about 15 children of less than 18 years age work in that factory and they are still

working there.

1. In what occupations/activities do/did you/the child victim(s) work?

Hosiery factory

2. What good(s) do you/they produce?

Hosiery items

3. What tasks do you/they perform?

Helper to the tailor. Cutting extra threads from the garments.

4. Who is your/their employer?
56

Hosiery company (the girl told the name of the company but the NGO asked not to mention

the name of the company)

5. How did you/they come to be involved in these occupations/activities?

Children from the neighborhood where we live work there. I and my brother also went.

Parents also said that the wages are good. Those children are still working there as they do

not want to study but want to work.

Researcher’sNote:Therespondents want to study.

6. Are you/they paid for their work? If so, how? (i.e. cash, in-kind).

Got Rs 40 (0.94 USD)/day for working from 8 am to 8 pm..

7. Do you/the child owe a debt to your employer that you work to pay back?

No

8. If so, how was this debt incurred?

N.A

9. What are your/their working conditions? Are there dangerous tools, machinery,

fumes, or other physical risks?

Work from 8 am to 8 pm and some times asked to do over time also.

10. Are you/the child beaten/abused by the employer?

No

11. Are you/they threatened by the employer if certain job tasks are not performed?

What kind of threats?

No threats but have to be attentive in their work.

12. Does your employer provide food and shelter? If so, do you/they have enough to

eat?

No we have to carry own food.

13. Are you/they able to leave your/their workplaces at will?

Perhaps yes. They never tried but felt that perhaps they may be able to leave.

14. Howfarawayisyour/thechild’shome?Howdidyou/theygethere(tothisplaceof

employment)?

About one km.
57

15. How old are you?

12 years old

16. What is your education level?

Left school in class 6th.

17. Whether the person is male/female

Female.

18. How long has the person been working in the situation/circumstance?

Worked only for three months before the NGO approached her parents to send her to school

run for child labor. The family came to Tirupur from Madurai district in April/May last year
58

In-country Research and Data Collection on Forced Labor and/or Child

labor in the Production of Goods

(India)

Interview with child labor/families of child labor

Date of Interview: __27 March, 2008_____

Time of Interview: _2.30 pm____________

Location of Interview: Place :Covai class- a specail school run by NGO SAVE

Village: Rakiya Palayam, Tirupur District: Coimbatore State: Tamilnadu

Interviewer’sname:__Virendar Khatana_____________________________

Interviewee’sName:__Mr. Tirupathi S/o Mr Gopinath (ex-Child labor)

Good(s) produced: Hosiery unit

A brief background of the family of the child labor:

The family consists for five members - mother, father, two sisters and self. The family has

migrated here from Thiruvanmalai district, which is about 9 hours journey by bus. His father

works as a tailor in factory and mother works in checking standard center of that factory. His

elder sister, who is 15 years old, also works in the checking center of the factory where her

mother works. His younger sister goes to school. He worked for about four months before his

parents were approached by the NGO (SAVE) in January 2008.

Ten children of less than 18 years were working in the factory where Mr. Tirupathi worked and

he says that they are still working there.

1. In what occupations/activities do/did you/the child victim(s) work?

Hosiery factory

2. What good(s) do you/they produce?

Hosiery items

3. What tasks do you/they perform?

Worked in the checking center. His job was to check the garment and cut the extra threads

etc.

4. Who is your/their employer?
59

Hosiery company. This is a different company from the previous interview. The children

were telling the name but the local contact asked not to give the names of the company.

5. How did you/they come to be involved in these occupations/activities?

.My parents and sister work in that factory and they helped me to get work there

6. Are you/they paid for their work? If so, how? (i.e. cash, in-kind).

Got Rs 20 (0.47 USD)/day for working in 8 am to 8 pm shift.

7. Do you/the child owe a debt to your employer that you work to pay back?

No

8. If so, how was this debt incurred?

N.A

9. What are your/their working conditions? Are there dangerous tools, machinery,

fumes, or other physical risks?

Work from 8 am to 8 pm and some times asked to do over time also. They are paid for the

overtime.

10. Are you/the child beaten/abused by the employer?

No

11. Are you/they threatened by the employer if certain job tasks are not performed?

What kind of threats?

No threats but have to be attentive in their work.

12. Does your employer provide food and shelter? If so, do you/they have enough to

eat?

No, we have to carry own food.

13. Are you/they able to leave your/their workplaces at will?

Yes we can.

14. Howfarawayisyour/thechild’shome?Howdidyou/theygethere(tothisplaceof

employment)?

About one km.

15. How old are you?
60

12 years old

16. What is your education level?

Left school in class 6th.

17. Whether the person is male/female

Male

18. How long has the person been working in the situation/circumstance?

Worked only for four months before the NGO approached his parents to send him to the

school run by NGO for child laborers.
61

In-country Research and Data Collection on Forced Labor and/or Child

labor in the Production of Goods

(India)

Interview with child labor/families of child labor

Date of Interview: __10 April, 2008_____

Time of Interview: _2.45 pm____________

Location of Interview: House cum work place

Place/Locality: Kali paltan, Sadat Ganj, Tonk District: Tonk State: Rajasthan

Interviewer’sname:__Virendar Khatana_____________________________

Interviewee’sName:__Ms. Rahat (Child labor) D/o Mr. Zahid

Two other sisters of Rahat (Ms. Sufina, 10 years old and ms. Gulistan, 8 years old), her mother,

the owner of the unit and other girls working in the unit were also present and participated in the

discussion.

Good(s) produced: Sarees and clothes like blouses decorated with needle work

A brief background of the family of the child labor:

The family consists for eight members –father, mother, three sisters (excluding one sister who is

married) and three brothers. Father works as a driver and mother rolls beedi. Brothers, who are 19

and 16 years old, worked and learned embroidery work by working on embroidery units and now

have installed their own embroidery machine in a room in their home. They earn Rs. 70-80/day.

Three sisters aged 13, 10 and 8 work in this unit in the neighborhood, where they work with 4

more girls with hand needle to do needle work on the clothes

Ms. Rafat is the boss. She is the daughter of the owner. She is 13 years old and studied upto 7th

class and is working for last four years. She is an expert in design. This work is done at the house

of Ms Rafat. The brothers run embroidery unit in a separate place. The respondents are neighbor

of Ms. Rafat.

1. In what occupations/activities do/did you/the child victim(s) work?

Needle work on saree and other clothes like clothe for blouses, pillow covers, etc.

2. What good(s) do you/they produce?

Value added clothes after needle work
62

3. What tasks do you/they perform?

Needle work and put beads and small shining stars on the clothes/sarees as per the given

design. Design is given by the businessmen who give the job work. They do not own any of

these units. The businessmen trade the embroidered and hand needle worked clothes. There

are agents who bring clothes and design to the mother of Ms Rafat. Ms. Rafat’smother deals

with the agents for fixing the price of the work. The agents get the work done for the

businessmen and sometimes the businessmen directly give it to those who do needle work.

4. Who is your/their employer?

Needle work unit in the neighborhood.

5. How did you/they come to be involved in these occupations/activities?

They are our neighbors. My mother arranged the work.

6. Are you/they paid for their work? If so, how? (i.e. cash, in-kind).

Yes. (declined to tell directly).

Researcher’sNote:Theownersaidthattheygetpaidforpieceworkandhechildrenarealso

paid accordingly. She cited an example of the saree on which seven girls were working. She

told that she will get Rs. 250 (5.9 USD) for this saree and will distribute 60% i.e Rs 150 (3.5

USD) among the girls based on based on their experience and work. This saree will be

completed in one day. This means the girls will get Rs. 10 to 30 (0.23-0.70 USD)/day for this.

7. Do you/the child owe a debt to your employer that you work to pay back?

No

8. If so, how was this debt incurred?

N.A

9. What are your/their working conditions? Are there dangerous tools, machinery,

fumes, or other physical risks?

Sameaswhat’sinourhome.

10. Are you/the child beaten/abused by the employer?

N.A

11. Are you/they threatened by the employer if certain job tasks are not performed?

What kind of threats?

N.A

12. Does your employer provide food and shelter? If so, do you/they have enough to

eat?
63

No

13. Are you/they able to leave your/their workplaces at will?

N.A

14. Howfarawayisyour/thechild’shome?Howdidyou/theygethere(tothisplaceof

employment)?

Close by in the neighborhood.

15. How old are you?

13 years old. The sisters who also work are 10 and 8 years old.

16. What is your education level?

Illiterate

17. Whether the person is male/female

Female

18. How long has the person been working in the situation/circumstance?

For the last two years. (Mother added that Sufina, who is 10 years old is working for last six

months and Gulistan, who is 8 years old is working for the last two months. It is better to put

the child at work early so that she perfects the art, she added).
64

In-country Research and Data Collection on Forced Labor and/or Child

labor in the Production of Goods

(India)

Interview with child labor/families of child labor

Date of Interview: __28 March, 2008_____

Time of Interview: _2.30 pm____________

Location of Interview: Jeevika Bridge School,

Village: Basuapatnar District: Chikbalapur State: Karnataka

Interviewer’sname:__Virendar Khatana_____________________________

Interviewee’sName:__Mr. Chandrappa (ex-child laborer)

Good(s) produced: Silk cocoons

A brief background of the family of the child labor:

The family consists for five members –father, mother, two brothers and self. His parents work at

the same farmers fields where he worked. His younger brother also worked there before both of

them left working and joined the bridge school. The elder brother, who is 18 years old has left

home without telling two years ago.

He the landlord scolded the Jeevika staff for convincing my parents to send us to bridge school.

1. In what occupations/activities do/did you/the child victim(s) work?

Silk cocoon rearing.

2. What good(s) do you/they produce?

Silk cocoons

3. What tasks do you/they perform?

Separating cocoons, putting mulberry leaves to the silk worms, brining mulberry leaves from

the field. Irrigating mulberry plants. Cleaning cocoons and chandrikas (the mats on which

cocoons are reared)

4. Who is your/their employer?

A landlord (Mr. Murijappa) in the village
65

5. How did you/they come to be involved in these occupations/activities?

Parents work there and they took us.

6. Are you/they paid for their work? If so, how? (i.e. cash, in-kind).

Yes, Rs 25/day

7. Do you/the child owe a debt to your employer that you work to pay back?

Yes. My father has taken an advance of Rs. 10,000.

8. If so, how was this debt incurred?

For constructing the foundation of the house.

9. What are your/their working conditions? Are there dangerous tools, machinery,

fumes, or other physical risks?

Work from 6.30 am to 9.30 pm.

10. Are you/the child beaten/abused by the employer?

Yes, if you work slow.

11. Are you/they threatened by the employer if certain job tasks are not performed?

What kind of threats?

Scolded

12. Does your employer provide food and shelter? If so, do you/they have enough to

eat?

Yes, food twice a day (once in the morning and once in the evening)

13. Are you/they able to leave your/their workplaces at will?

My parents are still working there but I and my brother left because of the NGO.

14. Howfarawayisyour/thechild’shome?Howdidyou/theygethere(tothisplaceof

employment)?

Within the village, about 0.5 km.

15. How old are you?

13 years old

16. What is your education level?

6

th class
66

17. Whether the person is male/female

Male.

18. How long has the person been working in the situation/circumstance?

Two years. Left in September 2007.
67

In-country Research and Data Collection on Forced Labor and/or Child

labor in the Production of Goods

(India)

Interview with child labor/families of child labor

Date of Interview: __28 March, 2008_____

Time of Interview: _3.15 pm____________

Location of Interview: Jeevika Bridge School,

Village: Basuapatnar District: Chikbalapur State: Karnataka

Interviewer’sname:__Virendar Khatana_____________________________

Interviewee’sName:__Mr. Venktesh (ex-Child labor)

Good(s) produced: Silk cocoons

A brief background of the family of the child labor:

The family consists for five members –mother, two brothers, one sister and self. He lost his

father some years ago. His mother is a housewife. His two elder sisters who are 20 and 18 years

are married. One elder brother (15 years old) work in silk rearing and one (14 years old is

studying. His elder sister who is 17 years old is into sheep rearing.

1. In what occupations/activities do/did you/the child victim(s) work?

Silk cocoon rearing.

2. What good(s) do you/they produce?

Silk cocoons

3. What tasks do you/they perform?

Separating cocoons, putting mulberry leaves to the silk worms, brining mulberry leaves from

the field. Irrigating mulberry plants. Cleaning cocoons and chandrikas (the mats on which

cocoons are reared)

4. Who is your/their employer?

A landlord in the village.

5. How did you/they come to be involved in these occupations/activities?
68

His elder brother works there and he went with him.

6. Are you/they paid for their work? If so, how? (i.e. cash, in-kind).

Yes, Rs 35 (0.82 USD)/day

7. Do you/the child owe a debt to your employer that you work to pay back?

No

8. If so, how was this debt incurred?

N.A

9. What are your/their working conditions? Are there dangerous tools, machinery,

fumes, or other physical risks?

Work from 9.00 am to 8.00pm.

10. Are you/the child beaten/abused by the employer?

No

11. Are you/they threatened by the employer if certain job tasks are not performed?

What kind of threats?

Scolded

12. Does your employer provide food and shelter? If so, do you/they have enough to

eat?

Yes food twice a day (once in the morning and once in the evening)

13. Are you/they able to leave your/their workplaces at will?

Notheycan’tleaveduringthedayiftheywishtoleave.NGO convinced the

landlord to let him go to bride school.

14. Howfarawayisyour/thechild’shome?Howdidyou/theygethere(tothisplaceof

employment)?

Within the village, about 0.5 km.

15. How old are you?

13 years old

16. What is your education level?

6

th class
69

17. Whether the person is male/female

Male.

18. How long has the person been working in the situation/circumstance?

Worked for one year. Left in August 2007.
70

In-country Research and Data Collection on Forced Labor and/or Child

labor in the Production of Goods

(India)

Interview with child labor/families of child labor

Date of Interview: __25 March, 2008_____

Time of Interview: _2.00 pm____________

Location of Interview: Place: Hand loom of the owner

Village: Dusi District: Thiruvanmalai State: Tamilnadu .

Interviewer’sname:__Virendar Khatana_____________________________

Interviewee’sName:__Mr. Kesvan, child labor

Good(s) produced: Silk sarees

A brief background of the family of the child labor:

The family consists for five members - mother, father, one elder brother and one younger sister.

Father distributes newspaper in the house and mother is a housewife. Elder brother who is 24

years old is working at the same loom. He studied up to class IV and is working for last 12 years

and earn Rs 500 (11.82 USD) a month. Younger sister is going to school in class II.

This child (Mr. Kesvan) was working earlier in a near by village Abdullapur. He had to walk 2

km to go to work there. His father took an advance of Rs 7,000 (165 USD) from the loom owner

in Abdullapur village(theamountwastakenfromrespondent’semployer).HisRs.7,000have

been returned from the advance of Rs. 10,000 (236 USD) that is father took from his present

employer. Parents take some advances form the employers where they ask to find work for their

children. In the beginning when the child is not skilled the advance money is less. Parents keep

on searching for a new employer after 2-3 years and take an higher amount as advance from the

new employer. Each time the amount of the first employer is returned and the remaining is used

for own requirements.

1. In what occupations/activities do/did you/the child victim(s) work?

Silk weaving. handloom

2. What good(s) do you/they produce?

Silk sarees

3. What tasks do you/they perform?
71

All work required for weaving at a handloom

4. Who is your/their employer?

A person who owns two looms and I work from his house.

Researcher’sNote:Mostoftheloomareinstalledinhousesandtherearenofactoriesandthe

children work in these houses.

5. How did you/they come to be involved in these occupations/activities?

Father took advance of Rs. 10,000 from the loom owner.

6. Are you/they paid for their work? If so, how? (i.e. cash, in-kind).

Get Rs. 300 (7.04 USD) per month.

7. Do you/the child owe a debt to your employer that you work to pay back?

The advance of Rs. 10,000 (234 USD) needs to be returned to the loom owner

when the work will be left from here.

8. If so, how was this debt incurred?

The advance amount was used to construct a new house (hut).

9. What are your/their working conditions? Are there dangerous tools, machinery,

fumes, or other physical risks?

Work from 8 am till 6.30 pm. About half an hour break to eat food.

10. Are you/the child beaten/abused by the employer?

No

11. Are you/they threatened by the employer if certain job tasks are not performed?

What kind of threats?

No threats but have to work very seriously. The children do not take chance to shirk work if

they do so they may be beaten by the employer and by the parents. If the employer asks them

to leave they have to arrange the advance amount and getting another employer for a child

who is not sincere is not easy.

12. Does your employer provide food and shelter? If so, do you/they have enough to

eat?

No we eat our own food.

13. Are you/they able to leave your/their workplaces at will?
72

No,can’tgooutduringworkhours.Ifwewanttoleavethejob,wehaveto

return the advance amount.

14. Howfarawayisyour/thechild’shome?Howdidyou/theygethere(tothisplaceof

employment)?

Close by just some households away.

15. How old are you?

12-13 years old. (he was not sure about his age and said may be 12-13).

16. What is your education level?

Studied upto class 3rd.

17. Whether the person is male/female

Male.

18. How long has the person been working in the situation/circumstance?

One year at present employer and two years at pervious employer.
73

In-country Research and Data Collection on Forced Labor and/or Child

labor in the Production of Goods

(India)

Interview with child labor/families of child labor

Date of Interview: __25 March, 2008_____

Time of Interview: _3.00 pm____________

Location of Interview: Place :Hand loom of the owner

Village: Dusi District: Thiruvanmalai State: Tamilnadu .

Interviewer’sname:__Virendar Khatana_____________________________

Interviewee’sName:__Mr. Ponmudi, child labor

Good(s) produced: Silk sarees

A brief background of the family of the child labor:

The family consists for six members - mother, father, three sisters and self. Father is a weaver in

some other place and gets Rs. 1500 (35 USD) per month. Mother works as a construction laborer.

He is the eldest in the siblings. Two sisters do not do any paid work but do household work in

own house. The youngest and one sister help the mother. Elder brother who is 24 years old is

working. He being the eldest is working for last 7 years. Presently he is getting Rs. 300 (7.09) per

month. Was getting Rs 125/per month about two years ago when he was working with a different

employer.

The loom owner:

The loom owner has two looms. He and his wife work on the loom. His daughter who has studied

up to the 9th class is also working on the loom for the past 4 years. The loom owner gets Rs. 1,000

(23.64 USD) for a saree, which is prepared by an adult and a child in about 10 days. The loom

owner gets less money for the sarees which can be prepared in less time and more for those which

require more time.

1. In what occupations/activities do/did you/the child victim(s) work?

Silk weaving. handloom

2. What good(s) do you/they produce?

Silk sarees

3. What tasks do you/they perform?
74

All work required for weaving at a handloom

4. Who is your/their employer?

A person who owns two looms and work from his house.

5. How did you/they come to be involved in these occupations/activities?

My father arranged the work. He took advance of Rs. 7,500 (177 USD) from the loom owner.

6. Are you/they paid for their work? If so, how? (i.e. cash, in-kind).

Get Rs. 300 (7.09 USD) per month.

7. Do you/the child owe a debt to your employer that you work to pay back?

The advance money needs to be returned to the loom owner when the work will

be left from here. The advance amount needs to be returned in full.

8. If so, how was this debt incurred?

The advance amount was used for the funeral of the grand father.

9. What are your/their working conditions? Are there dangerous tools, machinery,

fumes, or other physical risks?

Work from 9 am till 6.30 pm. About half an hour break to eat food.

10. Are you/the child beaten/abused by the employer?

No

11. Are you/they threatened by the employer if certain job tasks are not performed?

What kind of threats?

No threats but have to work very seriously.

12. Does your employer provide food and shelter? If so, do you/they have enough to

eat?

No we eat our own food.

13. Are you/they able to leave your/their workplaces at will?

No,can’tgooutduringworkhours.Ifwewanttoleavethejob,wehaveto

return the advance amount.

14. Howfarawayisyour/thechild’shome?Howdidyou/theygethere(tothisplaceof

employment)?

Come from village named Nagai, which is about 3 km from here. Come by walk.
75

15. How old are you?

15 years old

16. What is your education level?

Studied up to class 3rd.

17. Whether the person is male/female

Male.

18. How long has the person been working in the situation/circumstance?

Working for the last seven years. Working with the present employer for about two years.
76

In-country Research and Data Collection on Forced Labor and/or Child

labor in the Production of Goods

(India)

Interview with child labor/families of child labor

Date of Interview: __25 March, 2008_____

Time of Interview: _4.00 pm____________

Location of Interview: Place :Hand loom of the owner

Village: Dusi District: Thiruvanmalai State: Tamilnadu .

Interviewer’sname:__Virendar Khatana_____________________________

Interviewee’sName:__Mr.Balaji (Child labor) s/o Mr . Elu malai

Good(s) produced: Silk sarees

A brief background of the family of the child labor:

The family consists for five members - mother, father, one sisters and one brother. He is the

eldest. Father is a wage laborer and a drunkard; he does not work regularly. Mother works as a

domestic help, the sister studies in class VI and the brother in class VIII.

Being the eldest he left school in class IV and started working since then. His parents did not

want him to study. He has changed employers. The present employer is the fourth one. The first

employer was when he did not know that work gave an advance of Rs. 2000 (47 USD) and the

present one gave Rs. 10,000 (236 USD) as an advance; out of this Rs. 7,000 (165 USD) was

returned to the pervious (third) employer. Advance amount is also known as a holding amount

here. It is his father, who chooses the employer and tells him where to work. The advance was

taken by his father but against his services.

There is no weekly off. We get one day off in one month. Salary is deducted if we fall sick.

“OnceIfelldownatreeandhadbackpainsodidnotcomeforworkfor3days.Mysalarywas

deducted.”

1. In what occupations/activities do/did you/the child victim(s) work?

Silk weaving. handloom

2. What good(s) do you/they produce?

Silk sarees

3. What tasks do you/they perform?
77

All work required for weaving at a handloom

4. Who is your/their employer?

A person who owns two looms and I work from his house.

5. How did you/they come to be involved in these occupations/activities?

My father arranged the work. He took advance of Rs. 10,000 from the loom owner.

6. Are you/they paid for their work? If so, how? (i.e. cash, in-kind).

Get Rs. 300 (7.09) per month.

7. Do you/the child owe a debt to your employer that you work to pay back?

The advance money needs to be returned to the loom owner when we leave the

work.

8. If so, how was this debt incurred?

My father is a drunkard and broke his leg. Money was used for his treatment in the hospital.

9. What are your/their working conditions? Are there dangerous tools, machinery,

fumes, or other physical risks?

Work from 8 am till 6.30 pm. 20 minutes break for eating food. Earlier I used to work from

6.30 am to 8 pm.

10. Are you/the child beaten/abused by the employer?

No

11. Are you/they threatened by the employer if certain job tasks are not performed?

What kind of threats?

No threats but have to work very seriously.

12. Does your employer provide food and shelter? If so, do you/they have enough to

eat?

No we eat our own food.

13. Are you/they able to leave your/their workplaces at will?

No,wecan’tgooutduringworkhours.Ifwewanttoleavethejob,wehaveto

return the advance amount.

14. Howfarawayisyour/thechild’shome?Howdidyou/theygethere(tothisplaceof

employment)?
78

My village is 2 km away and I come by foot. Start at 7.30 and return back at 7.15. Before

(when working with other employers) I used to go alone by walking.

15. How old are you?

14-15 years old

(He is not sure.)

16. What is your education level?

Left school in class 4th.

17. Whether the person is male/female

Male.

18. How long has the person been working in the situation/circumstance?

Working for the last 6-7 years. Working with the present employer for about two years.
79

In-country Research and Data Collection on Forced Labor and/or Child

labor in the Production of Goods

(India)

Interview with child labor/families of child labor

Date of Interview: __28 March, 2008_____

Time of Interview: _1.00 pm____________

Location of Interview: House of the Interviewee.

Village: Mehbubnagar District: Chikbalapur State: Karnataka

Interviewer’sname:Virendar Khatana

Interviewee’sName:__Mr. Feroz (father of the child laborer)

Good(s) produced: Silk

A brief background of the family of the child labor:

The family consists for five members –self, wife, two sons and one daughter. He works as labor

at a silk reeling unit. All his three children work in the same silk reeling unit where he works and

wife is housewife.

He studied up to class 7th and is working at a silk reeling unit for the last 10 years and get Rs. 80

(1.87 USD) per day. His daughter who is 11 years old boils cocoons in the silk reeling unit and

gets Rs. 40 (1.87 USD)/day. His elder son who is 11 years old work on the spinning wheel to roll

the silk and get Rs. 30 (0.70 USD)/day

His second son who is 7 years old cleans the wastage at the silk reeling unit and get Rs. 10 (0.23

USD)/day.

1. In what occupations/activities do/did you/the child victim(s) work?

Silk reeling

2. What good(s) do you/they produce?

Silk

3. What tasks do you/they perform?

Work at a boiler to boil the cocoons
80

4. Who is your/their employer?

Silk reeling unit in the village

5. How did you/they come to be involved in these occupations/activities?

I have been working there for the last 10 years. I needed more advance for building house so

asked my children also to work there.

6. Are you/they paid for their work? If so, how? (i.e. cash, in-kind).

Depending on age.

11 year girl gets Rs 40 (1.87 USD)/day

9 year boy gets Rs. 30 (0.70 USD)/day

7 year boy gets Rs 10 (0.23 USD)/day.

7. Do you/the child owe a debt to your employer that you work to pay back?

Yes. I took Rs. 10,000 (234 USD) four year ago.

8. If so, how was this debt incurred?

Took it for house building

9. What are your/their working conditions? Are there dangerous tools, machinery,

fumes, or other physical risks?

Work from 6 am to 4-5 pm, some times asked to do over time also.

10. Are you/the child beaten/abused by the employer?

No

11. Are you/they threatened by the employer if certain job tasks are not performed?

What kind of threats?

No, I take care that they work nicely.

12. Does your employer provide food and shelter? If so, do you/they have enough to

eat?

No, we have to carry own food.

13. Are you/they able to leave your/their workplaces at will?

Yes but after repaying the advance.

14. Howfarawayisyour/thechild’shome?Howdidyou/theygethere(tothisplaceof

employment)?
81

Within the village, about 0.5 km.

15. How old are you?

30 years old

16. What is your education level?

Left school in class 7th. Children were not sent to formal school but to madrasa (Islamic

school) for some time.

17. Whether the person is male/female

Male. His children working in the same unit are: one female and two males.

18. How long has the person been working in the situation/circumstance?

He is working for the last 10 years. His daughter is working for the last 4 years and his son

for the last 2 years.
82

In-country Research and Data Collection on Forced Labor and/or Child

labor in the Production of Goods

(India)

Interview with child labor/families of child labor

Date of Interview: __12 April, 2008_____

Time of Interview: _3.00 pm____________

Location of Interview: House cum work place

Village: Shivjasa District: Varanasi State: Uttar Pradesh

Interviewer’sname:__Virendar Khatana_____________________________

Interviewee’sName:__Ms. Roshan Mishra (ex-Child laborer)

Good(s) produced: Carpets

A brief background of the family of the child labor:

The family consists for eight members –father, mother, five brothers and one sister.

The loom in their house is closed for last 3-4 months. Father works at a handloom in a nearby

village and get Rs. 1,500 (35 USD)/month. Mother is a housewife. He and his elder brother, his

two uncles and father used to work on loom but now it has not remained profitable. He used to

study along with work.

1. In what occupations/activities do/did you/the child victim(s) work?

Carpet weaving . (This is not a good case as involvement of children in this sector has

reduced a lot). Some children still work in this sector but we could not talk to them).

2. What good(s) do you/they produce?

Carpets

3. What tasks do you/they perform?

Assisting the uncle in weaving carpet.

4. Who is your/their employer?

Hand loom run by the father

5. How did you/they come to be involved in these occupations/activities?
83

Family occupation for earning the living.

6. Are you/they paid for their work? If so, how? (i.e. cash, in-kind).

Yes, based on job work (piece work).

7. Do you/the child owe a debt to your employer that you work to pay back?

No

8. If so, how was this debt incurred?

N.A

9. What are your/their working conditions? Are there dangerous tools, machinery,

fumes, or other physical risks?

Worked after school hours and on holidays.

10. Are you/the child beaten/abused by the employer?

N.A

11. Are you/they threatened by the employer if certain job tasks are not performed?

What kind of threats?

N.A

12. Does your employer provide food and shelter? If so, do you/they have enough to

eat?

N.A. Home-based work

13. Are you/they able to leave your/their workplaces at will?

N.A

14. Howfarawayisyour/thechild’shome?Howdidyou/they get here (to this place of

employment)?

Work from home.

15. How old are you?

13 years old.

16. What is your education level?

Study in class IX
84

17. Whether the person is male/female

Male

18. How long has the person been working in the situation/circumstance?

For the last four years but has left now after the HWA, has created awareness in the village
85

In-country Research and Data Collection on Forced Labor and/or Child

labor in the Production of Goods

(India)

Interview with child labor/families of child labor

Date of Interview: __1 April, 2008_____

Time of Interview: _2.30 pm____________

Location of Interview: House of child laborer

Village: Nangla Asha District: Aligarh State: Uttar Pradesh

Interviewer’sname:__Virendar Khatana_____________________________

Interviewee’sName:__Mr. Amit Kumar

Good(s) produced: Locks

1. In what occupations/activities do/did you/the child victim(s) work?

Lock company

2. What good(s) do you/they produce?

Locks

3. What tasks do you/they perform?

Packing of locks

4. Who is your/their employer?

A lock company

5. How did you/they come to be involved in these occupations/activities?

Through other from the village who work there.

6. Are you/they paid for their work? If so, how? (i.e. cash, in-kind).

Yes (declined to tell the amount). But other told that he gets Rs 600 (14 USD)/ month.

7. Do you/the child owe a debt to your employer that you work to pay back?

No

8. If so, how was this debt incurred?
86

N.A

9. What are your/their working conditions? Are there dangerous tools, machinery,

fumes, or other physical risks?

Work from 9 am till 5.30 pm. Work from a small place where many workers work.

10. Are you/the child beaten/abused by the employer?

No

11. Are you/they threatened by the employer if certain job tasks are not performed?

What kind of threats?

Scolded

12. Does your employer provide food and shelter? If so, do you/they have enough to

eat?

No.

13. Are you/they able to leave your/their workplaces at will?

Yes, but how will we learn work if we will leave like this.

14. Howfarawayisyour/thechild’shome?Howdidyou/theygethere(tothisplaceof

employment)?

13 km.

15. How old are you?

13 years old

16. What is your education level?

Studied up to V class

17. Whether the person is male/female

Male

18. How long has the person been working in the situation/circumstance?

For the last six months.
87

In-country Research and Data Collection on Forced Labor and/or Child

labor in the Production of Goods

(India)

Interview with child labor/families of child labor

Date of Interview: __1 April, 2008_____

Time of Interview: _2.30 pm____________

Location of Interview: House of child labor

Village: Nangla Asha District: Aligarh State: Uttar Pradesh

Interviewer’sname:__Virendar Khatana_____________________________

Interviewee’sName:__Mr. Yogesh Singh

Good(s) produced: Locks

1. In what occupations/activities do/did you/the child victim(s) work?

Lock company

2. What good(s) do you/they produce?

Locks

3. What tasks do you/they perform?

Assembling the lock

4. Who is your/their employer?

A lock company

5. How did you/they come to be involved in these occupations/activities?

Family condition is poor and my father requested one person from my village, who works

there and he helped me to get the job.

6. Are you/they paid for their work? If so, how? (i.e. cash, in-kind).

Yes (he hesitantly said about Rs 1000 or 23 USD)/month)

7. Do you/the child owe a debt to your employer that you work to pay back?
88

No

8. If so, how was this debt incurred?

N.A

9. What are your/their working conditions? Are there dangerous tools, machinery,

fumes, or other physical risks?

Work from 9 am till 5.30 pm. Work from a small place where many workers work.

10. Are you/the child beaten/abused by the employer?

No

11. Are you/they threatened by the employer if certain job tasks are not performed?

What kind of threats?

No, I am experienced now.

12. Does your employer provide food and shelter? If so, do you/they have enough to

eat?

No.

13. Are you/they able to leave your/their workplaces at will?

Yes, but how will we learn work if we will leave like this.

14. Howfarawayisyour/thechild’shome?Howdidyou/theygethere(tothisplaceof

employment)?

13 km.

15. How old are you?

16 years old

16. What is your education level?

Studied up to IV class

17. Whether the person is male/female

Male

18. How long has the person been working in the situation/circumstance?

For the last two years.
89

Site Visit Notes

India

1. Karnataka

Initially planned: Kolar –Silk Rearing (Child labor)

Finally visited: Chikbalapur –Silk Rearing/cocoon production

Chikbalapur –Silk reeling

Type of labor: Child labor

Reasons for change in location: Kolar district which is adjacent to Bangalore district has been

divided in two districts namely Kolar and Chikbalapur. Mulberry based cocoon production and

silk reeling is a widely spread activities in these tow districts. Chikbalaur being closer to

Bangalore, the state capital was visited and children and parents of child labor working in silk

reeling and ex-child labor from silk rearing farms were interviewed.

Some details about the sites visited

Brief on Silk In India and Karnataka: India is the second largest producer of Silk after China.

China produces 69,000 tones of silk and India about 16,000 tons. Karnataka state is the leading

silk producing state in India, which accounts for more than half of the silk produced in India. Silk

production and reeling is done in this state while the silk goes for weaving to various states and

including a large quantity to Kancheepuranm area in Tamilnadu. Silk producing area was

therefore selected to visit to meet the children working in silk rearing and silk reeling.

As per 2005-06 data area under mulberry was 179,000 hectare in India, while it was 220,000

hectare during 2000-01. The area under mulberry declined because of imports from China. Indian

imported 9,258 tons of silk from China and this resulted in significant fall in silk prices and

farmers in Karnataka state uprooted nearly 49,000 hectares of mulberry crop. About 75% of the

mulberry cultivation in Karnataka in rainfed and suffer due to drought conditions.

Silk sector provides employment to 5.65 million people. Of the total about 82% (4.7 million) are

agriculturists who grow mulberry and produce cocoons and rest about 18% (about 1 million) are

reelers and weavers.

According to the estimates total output value of silk sarees is distributed as under:

Cocoon growers : 56.8 %

Reelers : 6.8%

Twister : 9.1%

Weaver : 10.7%

Traders : 16.6%
90

During 2005-06, the total production of mulberry based raw silk was 15,445 tons (about 13% of

the world production). About 90% of the total silk produced in India is mulberry based.

The value of the exports was 31942 million rupees during 2005-06. Export of silk sarees has

declined to more than 95% during last decade. Export data shows that 4,25,177 sq metres of

sarees were exported in 1998-99 while only 6,273 sq metres sarees were exported in 2005-06 but

the export of stoles has increased from 38,161 sq metres in 1998-99 to 19,0915 sq metres during

2005-06.

1. Cocoon production:

A large number of 4.6 million people are dependent on mulberry cultivation and cocoon

production in India and large proportion of them are in the area visited for this research. Kolar

and Chikbalapur are the districts where silkworm rearing is done at small scale by a large number

of farmers. Farmers of all size class of holding i.e. small to large are engaged in mulberry

cultivation and silkworm rearing. Smaller ones do it in the part of their house while the larger

ones have separate place to keep silkworms. Mulberry is cultivated on 179,000 hectares and area

and a total of 126,261 tons of cocoons are produced in India.

Various activities are required in production of silkworms like:

 cultivation of mulberry,

 cutting mulberry leave and bringing them to the place where silkworms are being kept.

 Feeding the silkworms

 Cleaning the chandrikas (mats) on which silkworms are kept.

 Collecting cocoons.

Larger farmers require labor to carryout various activities. Some do not want to use the labor of

their family members and some need more labor in addition to the family members. Most villages

have landless families and wage labor is the main source of earnings for them. Those who need

labor prefer to go for an annual contract with the labor because if the labor leave in between there

is a possibility of suffering sever loss. Landlessness and lack of job opportunities works in favor

of those who are looking for cheap labor. An advance is paid depending on the number of family

members who offer them to work. Often the parents who work as labor take their children as well

to work with them and this the employers like families with children as they do not have to pay

only small amount to the children. These chidden are dropouts from primary school.

The local contact who are running child labor bridge school told that it will not be possible to talk

to the employers as they are not being liked them because they are convincing the parents of the

children who are working as labor to stop working and join the school. When we asked the

children in the bridge school to raise hands who worked in cocoon production during last six

months, most of them raised their hands (see picture)

Age group: Children of 8-9 to 14-15 years work with their parents in cocoon production.

Working conditions: The work is not confined to one place. They work at farms and at

homes/places where silkworms are reared. They have to start work by 9 am and work till 9-9.30

pm. The work is not hazardous.
91

Ex- child labors in a bridge school run by local NGO named Jeevika

2. Silk reeling

Silk reeling is done mainly in the areas where cocoon production is done. Since a large quantity

of cocoons are produced in this area, a large number of reeling units are also located here.

Silk reeling is done in small units employing 4-6 persons. Almost each unit has 2-3 children (both

male and female). The employers have told the children that whenever anyone from outside asks

them about their work, they should tell them that they go to school and work part time in the

reeling units but this is not true. The fact is that 90% of the children working in the reeling units

do not go to school and are either drop outs or never been to the school.

The place that was visited village Mehboobnagar in Sidalgata taluka of Chikbalapur district has

almost 100 silk reeling units. Child labor is employed by almost all units. We could talk to a man

whose three children (one daughter and two sons) work in a reeling unit but it was not possible to

talk to children. A walk through the filthy and stinking (cocoon boiling creates a foul smell)

narrow lanes, revealed that children were working all over. Some photographs were taken (could

not take more photos as I was asked not to do so). The photos given below show children

working in silk reeling units.

Age group: Children of 7-8 to 17-18 years work in silk reeling units.
92

Two reeling units showing child labor (both male and female)

These photographs do not have the permission of the owners/workers to use the photographs

Working conditions: The working conditions in the reeling units are not good. The units are

operated from small rooms, which look so unhygienic. The places stink because of the cocoons

are boiled. Workers have to put their hands in the water to take out the cocoon and wash the silk.

Sometimes the water remains too hot. The have to keep their hands in water almost full day. Most

people who work in reeling units suffer from some skin disease; they have swollen hands during

rainy seasons.
93

2. Tamilnadu

Initially planned: Kanchipuram –Silk Sarees (Child labor)

Tirpur –Knitwear (Child labor)

Shivakasi –Fireworks and Match Box (Child labor)

Finally visited: Kanchipuram –Silk sarees

Tirpur –Knitwear

Type of labor: Child labor and forced child labor

Reasons for not visiting Shivakasi - Fireworks and Match Boxes: Could not get a contact to go

there and have interviews with the present and/or ex-child labor. Knowledgeable sources told

that the issue of child labor in fireworks and match box factories in Shivakasi was raised more

than two decades ago. The factory owners and even the child labor avoid talking to any outsiders.

It is difficult there to talk about the issues with out a good local contact.

Some details about the sites visited

Kacheepuram is traditionally known for silk weaving. A lot has been written in the press both

national and international about engaging child labor in the silk weaving units in Kacheepuram.

INDUS project has also worked there. Officials claim that there is no child labor in silk weaving

in Kancheepuram.

1. Kancheepuram –Silk sarees

Kancheepuram silk sarees are quite famous and are used during weddings. These sarees cost up to

more than one lakh rupees (about USD 2,500). The cost varies depending on the type of zari work

in which gold and silver are used. More the quantity of gold zaari more is the cost of saree. It is

estimated that 13,500 kg raw silk and 8,000 marcs gold are used every month in Kancheepuram

area. Silk weaving is considered a hard work in comparison to the cotton weaving. People start

working in cotton weaving after they get older.

Village Dusi about 8 km frs of. Kancheepuram was visited. The village has about 100 handlooms.

Visit to four units revealed that all the units employ child labor (photographs given below)

Child labor working on the loom
94

Loomowner’swifeanddaughterworking

on their loom

Child labor working on the loom

Child labor working on the loom

Loom owner working on his loom

Loom owner working on his loom
95

Estimates show that there are about 10,000 child laborers working in the silk weaving in villages

of Kancheepuram and Thirunamalai districts. Interview with the children working on the looms

revealed that they fall under the category of forced labor. Parents of these

children have taken advance from the employers. They have to work there till the advance

amount is paid. The advance amount is paid normally after the parents find another employer

from whom they take an advance, which is slightly more than the pervious advance.

Age group: Children of 13-14 to 18 years work in silk saree weaving. Earlier much younger (6-7

years) children were also working but the government pressure has reduced the new employment

of 6-7 years old children and most of children working are those who started working 3-5 years

ago.

Working hours and working conditions: The children work for more about 12 hours a day and

only one day off in a month. The looms are installed in a room in the house itself. They sit on the

bench while working on the loom and on the floor while doing other activities. There is no place

to rest. They sit on the ground during the 20 minutes lunch break. In some cases they have to

walk on foot for 2-3 kms in the morning and evening to reach the place of work in some cases

they are from the same village.

Payment: They are paid a small amount of Rs 200 to 300 per month (USD 5 to 8). Children of 6-7

years age is not hired these days (atleast that is what people say) but those who started working at

the age of 6-7 years few years ago are still working. In case of leave due to illness amount for the

number of leave-days is deducted.

2. Tirupur - Knitwear

Tirupur is an industrial town located in Coimbatore district of Tamilnadu state. A large number of

textile, hosiery and knitwear industries are located here. A large workforce is required by these

industries and people from all over the states and some even from other states come here to work

as the wages are comparatively better. There are some jobs which can be carried out efficiently

by the children and these companies employ children for those jobs because it is cheaper to hire

them and the companies remain free of labor union issues. The number of child labor in the

knitwear and hosiery industries of Tirupur has reduced significantly over last decade but

according to the estimates of the NGOs working in the area about 10,000 child laborers are still

working there. The wage rates paid to child here are at par and in some cases even higher than the

wages paid to the adult labor in some parts of the states, and that is the reason that many parents

send their children to work in the units there. The units are enclosed buildings and outsiders are

not allowed to enter there. The discussion was held with the ex-child laborer who worked in last

six months in a bridge school run by a local NGO named SAVE.

Age group: children of 8-9 to 18 years work in small knitwear units.

Payment: The wages paid to children cases are much better than other places (Rs 30 to 60 a day

for 12 hours as against Rs 7-10 per day for a 12 hours day in silk weaving) almost equal to the

wages paid to the adults in some areas of the state children.

Working conditions: It was not possible to get inside the factories and see the working conditions

but the discussions with the knowledgeable persons revealed that most of the work is done

standing and this becomes quite painful particularly for the girls during the periods of menses for

the girls above 12 years. Working hours are increased to 18 hours a day during peak season.
96

Though they are paid for 18 hours but they have to go walking for 1-3 kms at mid night as no

transport facility is provided.

Some of the children who were working in the hosiery/knitwear units. Photograph was taken in

the child labor school run by NGO named SAVE.
97

3. Rajasthan

Initially planned: Banswara/Udaipur –Hybrid Cotton, Ginning mills

Jaipur –Gem cutting industry (was not sure??)

Finally visited: Udaipur –Hybrid Cotton

Tonk –Gem cutting, beedi rolling, embroidery work,

Type of labor: Child labor

Reasons for change in location: Kotra block of Udaipur district was visited in order to talk to

the child labor/parents of child labor who worked in hybrid cottonseed production farms and

Ginning mills in Gujarat.

It was planned (tentatively) to visit Jaipur for talking to children working in gem cutting industry.

The person from Save the Children Fund who worked in Rajasthan suggested that Tonk should be

visited in place of Jaipur because Jaipur being state capital, it may be difficult to talk to children.

The local contact also suggested this and told that in Tonk we can talk to children working in

beedi rolling, carpet and embroidery units also in addition to gem cutting. Tonk is also in

Rajasthan and it is adjacent district to Jaipur. Tonk town is about 70 km from Jaipur.

Some details about the sites visited

1. Udaipur –Hybrid Cotton Seed

The cotton breeding work takes place during July to September and the farms were not visited.

The children were interviewed in their houses. These children are from families who own small

piece of agricultural land. The area being rain-fed and dry only rainy season crop is taken. Most

adults and children migrate to work as wage labor. Adults migrate during summer months when

there is no agricultural work on their fields.
98

Photograph showing the households and the fields without crops, Village Sada, Udaipur District

Two of these girls went for working in cotton breeding farms in 2007. the photograph also shows

the poor condition of the house. Village Sada, Udaipur District. The girl in red saree is dressed

like a married lady but she is not married. It was told that she just saw the married ladies dressed

like this when she went out to work and has just tried to dress like her. She does not even know

that the sindur on her forehead (a red clour mark put by married women) is the sign of being

married.

Age group: The age group of those who work in cotton breeding farms is 9-10 to 15-16 years.
99

Working conditions: The working conditions could not be seen and as these children belong to

the poor families so they do not have any complains about the working conditions except the long

work hours. They work from early morning at 4.30 to 5 am till evening 7 pm with two breaks of 1

to 1.5 hours each. They have to cook their own food and live in a group in a room on the farm or

close to the farm. Those who are working for the issues related to child labor tell that cases of

sexual exploitation of the girls do take place on these farms. They also told that working for long

hours in the fields sprayed with pesticides is not good for health.

2. Tonk –Gem cutting, beedi making, Embroidery work and hand needle work

Interactions were done with the children and parents of children working in embroidery units,

gem cutting units and beedi rolling in their houses.

Gem cutting

Interview could not be conducted with children working in gem cutting because the employer did

not allow for it. However, he allowed taking photograph (please see below). The children of 12-

13 to 18 years work in gem cutting and polishing units.

Children working in a gem cutting unit in Tonk, Rajasthan state.

Beedi rolling

A large number of households are engaged in beedi making from the homes. All such homes

involve children in beedi making. In many families children work in beedi making as full time

activities and some of these children have never been to the school.

Age group: Childrern of 6-7 to 18 years work in beedi working. This activity is done

from home and children start participating from very young age. The age of the children

who work almost full time for beedi making is from 12-13 to 18 years.
100

Health Hazard: Those who work for beedi rolling suffer from respiratory diseases including the

tuberculosis. Local people told that the number of people suffering from respiratory diseases is

very high in Tonk and it is because of beedi making.

The four girls sitting in front are sisters and three of them are engaged full time in beedi making.

The local contact organized a group meeting in a meeting hall in the locality. The girls came with

their beedi making baskets with them as they do not want to waste time.

Embroidery. While walking through the narrow streets number of small embroidery units could

be seen where children were working but the local contact cautioned against talking to them.

Ara tari units (hand needle work)

Ara tari work is done in many households. This activity is done by girls only. Girls from the

family and neighborhood work in such units. The work is done on job basis and the agents of the

businessmen come with the design and cloth and the women in whose house this activity is done

is the contact person. Payment is decided for each piece of work separately. These women engage

children of neighborhood and normally get the work done in about half the cost she gets. The

amount is distributed according to age, number of years of experience and the expertise of the

girl. Parents send their children willingly to work. They consider it a good training, which every

girl should have. Needle work is done on various types of clothes and garments used by women

suchas,saree,blouse,kurta(womens’longshirt),skirtsetc.

Age group: Girls of 6-7 years to 16-17 years work in needle work. Most of these girls get married

by the age of 15-18 years.

Health hazards: The only problem considered in thie work is the eye sight. Working long hours

with small needle and doing this fine work weakens the eye sight. One of the girls working on the

unit visited was wearing specs.
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Girls doing ara tari work on a saree.

Ara tari work is also done on ladies tops and kurtas.
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4. Uttar Pradesh

Initially planned: Khurja –Pottery

Aligarh –Locks

Agra –Ghunghru

Lucknow (Districts near Lucknow) –Carpets

Finally visited: Khurja –Pottery (Could not talk to any child labor/ex-child labor or

their parents)

Aligarh –Locks

Agra –Ghunghroo (Could not talk to any child labor/ex-child labor or

their parents)

Varanasi –Silk textile and sarees, Carpets

Type of labor: Child labor

Reasons for change in location/not getting child labor/ex-child labor or their parents to talk: It

was suggested by some researchers that it will be good to visit areas near Lucknow for carpet

weaving so it was included in the travel plan while suggesting the travel plan and budget. Later

Lucknow was replaced with Varanasi because the State Coordinator for Campaign Against Child

labor (CALC) is based in Varanasi and he told that lot of silk weaving and carpet weaving work

is done in that area.

Reliable local contacts could not be found in Khurja and Agra and interviews with children

working in pottery and ghunghroo could not be held. It took time in getting contacts and when the

contact was established they were traveling and not available.

Some details about the sites visited

1. Aligarh - Locks

There are so many lock manufacturing units in Aligarh city but it was not possible to talk to the

workers there. A round of the narrow lanes where small lock units are based showed that there are

a number family owned small units. Any outsider is observed with suspicion and people do not

like to talk about any child labor issue.

A village named Nangla Asha, which is about 7 km from Aligarh, was visited on the suggestion

of the local contact and interview was conducted with the children working in lock factories. The

job is normally found with the help of someone who is already working in the factory. School

dropout children work in these factories. The children who go to work from the near by villages

areoftenabove14yearsofage(IndianFactories’Actallowstheemploymentofchildrenabove

14 years of age). These children told that smaller units employ children of less than 14 years age

also but they are from the neighborhood only.
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Different types of activities are carried out by the children. Unskilled children work in packing

units and cleaning units those with skills work in sheet cutting and lock making units.

The smaller family units operate from the house or a small room nearby. The workers sit on the

floor and work. The places are totally unattractive and unhygienic.

Age group: Children of 13-14 to 18 years are working in the lock industry

Health hazards: The work places could be seen form outside while walking in the narrow streets

in Aligarh town. There are very small (2-3 workers) to large mechanized units in Aligarh. The

working place of the small units is not hygienic and the laborers have to sit on the ground and

work. The workers working in smaller units and in the sections of the bigger units where metal

dust is created during work suffer from respiratory diseases and skin problems. Those working in

packaging sections do not have any health problems. These are the opinions of the workers

interviewed and a detailed study of the working environment is required before commenting on

this.

2. Varanasi –Silk Sarees/Textile

Most of the silk saree/textile weaving looms and carpet weaving looms are not functioning in this

area. Only about 10% looms in the villages visited are operational. The local contacts said that

now there are no child labors in silk saree and carpet weaving because of the closer of looms and

awareness generation by the government and NGOs and opening of schools in villages. One of

the loom owners, however, said that a small number of children still work in looms.

There were loom owners who are now working as labors on others looms.

These two brothers have 3-5 years experience of carpet weaving. They used to work with their

father after school hours in the loom owned by their farther. They now go to the school and their
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father works at a loom in a neighboring village and earn Rs 1500 per month. The loom which is

not being used these days is seen in the background.

Age group: Only ex-child laborers could be contacted in this area. The age of the ex-child

laborers varied from 14 to 18 years.

Health hazards: Those who worked and are working on the looms told that back pain is one of the

problems and in case of carpet weaving the problem of respiratory diseases has also been noticed.
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5. Andhra Pradesh

Initially planned: Markapur –Slate (was not determined)

Finally visited: No site visit

Reasons not visiting site: I had meetings with two NGOs (1. M.V.

Foundation and 2. Divya Disha) working on child labor issues in

Hydrabad/Secandrabad, the state capital of Andhra Praadesh. The

possibilities of a site visit to Markapur were discussed with these NGOs and

they suggested not to visit this location because without local contact it will

not be possible to meet or talk to child labor as it is not being used so openly

these days.

6. Gujarat

Initially planned: Cotton growing areas bordering Rajasthan –Cotton ginning

Finally visited: No site visit

Reasons not visiting site: Discussions with local contacts in Udaipur told

that labor for the ginning mills in Gujarat goes from Rajasthan and the

pressure by NGOs over last 3-4 years has created some fear among the

employers. They told that longer stay is required to talk to the child labor

working in these mills. We tried to find child laborers (who may have

worked in ginning mills) in the villages which we visited but we met only

adults (19-25 years) who were working or who have worked in the ginning

mills.
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Researcher’sreasonsfornotincludingforcedadultlabor

in the data collection efforts

Forced labor is reported from brick kilns, stone crashers, households and agricultural

work on farms, etc. Some of the child labor also includes forced child labor but getting

the details for forced child labor requires much more time than the period allowed in the

contract.

Adult forced labor is often found in the isolated places and /or is not hired in groups like

child labor. Some attempts were made to meet with the adult forced labor in Bangalore

rural areas and in Chikbalapur district. However, only some of these victims who were

released at least five years ago were available. They were, therefore, not included in this

study. The employers know very well the repercussion of employing forced labor and

therefore they do not let others know easily that the laborers working in their place are

forced to work. Often the adult forced laborers are brought from other states and/or far

away places. Therefore, it has become very difficult to contact them after they have been

released.