ISLAMABAD: A report issued by the Bureau of International Labour Affairs, of the US Department of Labour ‘on worldwide use of child Labour in American imports has noted that “India has the largest number of urban and rural child workers in the world.”
This dubious distinction has come into sharp focus, both internally and externally, with the arrest of a leading ant child Labour activist Kallash Satyarthi, Chairman of the South Asian Coalition Against Child Servitude (SACCS), SACCS has been campaigning to focus attention on 200 million children who (oil in Indian industries.
With the newspaper reports that the arrest was politically motivated the situation has taken an ugly tum, Satyarthi was arrested in Delhi by the Haryana police following a suit filed by Sheena Carpets. The carpet firm is reportedly owned by the brother of the Haryana State Transport Minister, who is a close ally of Bhajan Lal, the Chief Minister of Haryana. The report from the US Department. of Labour, coupled with a SACCS report, both followed by the arrest of Satyarthi have made the issue of child Labour in India a big media event. According to the SACCS estimates there are about 55 million child laborers in India’s three industries, namely the carpet, fireworks and brick kiln industries. The American report titled ‘by the sweat and toil of children: the use of child labour in American imports’, says that while the government of India has acknowledged that there ‘at least 17,5 million working children,” estimates by various nongovernmental organizations, “range from 44 million to over 100 million child industrial workers.”
The report, which was commissioned by the Congress, adds that the exact number of child workers in India’s export industry is not known, but major export industries which utilize child Labour for export to the American market include gemstone polishing, glass and glassware, hand knotted carpets and footwear. Children: are also exploited as bonded laborers and domestic servants. ‘The report says that there are about 100,000 (one hundred thousand) children working in the Indian diamond industry, cutting and polishing diamond chips for export to the US. The Indian diamond industry exported $1 billion worth of gems to the US in 1993, making India the largest exporter of diamond to America. The diamond cutting industry in Gujarat state is reported to have employed “12 and 13 years old boys to polish diamonds, working on the average for nine hours a day, in extremely unhygienic conditions.” The report adds that gem exports from India have jumped to nearly three billion in 1994 and the industry now employs, according to a conservative estimate, over two million bonded slaves. The estimate for 1995 is $5 billion of export in gems alone.
Analyzing the situation from the Indian caste system perspective the report claims that the ills of poverty and ignorance have been aggravated by the caste system, The system enjoys religious sanction and many employers of children see no harm in child labour or bonded child labour.
If the number of children working in Private household is also taken into account the total number can go up to 200 million. A number of organizations are now actively lobbying on the Capital Hill to secure a Congressional ban on the import of diamonds from India which have been polished by children.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 28, 1995
