Child Slaves in Modern India
Child Slaves in Modern India
.
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HUMAN RIGHTSQUARTERLY
I. INTRODUCTION
ChildSlaves in ModernIndia
1997
573
estimated fifteen million bonded child laborers, and possibly more.3 The
debt that binds them to their employer is usually incurred by a parent, and
ranges on average from 500 rupees to 7,500 rupees,4 depending on the
industry and the age and skill of the child. The creditors turned employers
offer these "loans" to destitute parents in order to secure the child's labor at
an extremely low rate of pay. Typically,the parents accept the loans in order
to meet subsistence needs, pay for funeral or marriage costs, or replace
income lost due to illness or death.
Children sold into bondage work long hours over many years in an
attempt to pay off the debts that bind them. Due to the astronomically high
rates of interest charged and the abysmally low wages paid, they are usually
unsuccessful. As they reach maturity,some of them may be released by the
employer in favor of a newly-indebted and younger child. Many others will
pass the debt on, intact or even higher, to a younger sibling, back to a
parent, or to their own children.
As much as 85 percent of Indian bonded child labor is in agriculture.5
The balance is found in domestic and export industries and in the informal
service sector. Industries with significant child bondage include silk, beedi
(hand-rolled cigarettes), silver jewelry, synthetic gemstones, leather products (including footwear and sporting goods), handwoven wool carpets, and
precious gemstones and diamonds. Services where bonded child labor is
prevalent include prostitution, hotel, truck stop and tea shop services, and
domestic servitude.
Poverty,while significant, is only one of many factors that contributes to
bonded labor in India. Other elements include: an ancient tradition of
slavery and debt bondage; the lack of small-scale loans for the rural and
urban poor; the lack of a concerted social welfare scheme to safeguard
against hunger and illness; a noncompulsory and grossly inadequate
educational system; the lack of employment opportunities and living wages
3.
See
ANTI-SLAVERYINTERNATIONAL,
CHILDRENIN BONDAGE: SLAVESOF THESUBCONTINENT
30
(1991)
(reporting that in 1991 India had fifteen million bonded child laborers working in
OF LABOUR
ANDWORK3 (1995)
(INDIA),CHILDREN
agriculture alone); see also MINISTRY
(containing a statistic from the Indian government that 84.98 percent of all child labor
is in agriculture). Given that agriculture accounts for up to 85 percent of all bonded
child laborers, this figure indicates a total bonded child labor population of approximately eighteen million. Social scientists estimate the total number of India's working
children to be between 60 and 115 million. See CAMPAIGN
CHILD
AGAINST
LABOUR
(CACL),
KIT ON CHILD LABOURFORMEDIA PERSONS(1995)
REFERENCE
4.
5.
[hereinafter CACL].
This equals between fifteen and 220 US dollars, calculated at the late 1995 exchange
rate of thirty-four rupees to the US dollar.
Telephone Interview by Human Rights Watch with Mike Dottridge, Anti-Slavery
OFLABOUR
International (14 Aug. 1996); see also, MINISTRY
(INDIA),supra note 3. These
figures are estimates, as no comprehensive study of child bonded labor has been
undertaken to date.
HUMAN RIGHTSQUARTERLY
574
Vol. 19
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Child Labour(Prohibition and Regulation) Act, No. 61 (1986) (India), reprinted in HUMAN
RIGHTS WATCH CHILDREN'S RIGHTS PROJECT & HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH/ASIA,
supra note 6, at 169
[hereinafter Child Labour Act].
Id. pts. II, III.
Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, No. 19 (1976) (India), reprinted in HUMANRIGHTS
WATCH CHILDREN'SRIGHTS PROJECT& HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH/ASIA, supranote 6, at 151
[hereinafter Bonded Labour Act].
Id. ?4.
11. Id.
12.
1997
575
13.
14.
15.
16.
1 7.
18.
19.
See U.N. Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, supra note 2, art. I. A
slave is defined as someone "over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right
of ownership are exercised." Id. art. V(lla). A bondmaster owns the labor of the bonded
worker. The worker cannot seek employment elsewhere, cannot refuse to work, cannot
move away from the town, may be subject to the master's demands twenty-four hours
a day, and may be sold to another master. A worker who resists this control is subject
to severe mistreatment, including beatings and torture. See Reports on Child Labour of
TOTHEEMPLOYMENT
OFCHILDREN
160, 160-63 (1985); Y. R.
Mirzapur, in LAWRELATING
HARAGOPALREDDY, BONDED LABOURSYSTEMIN INDIA 82 (1995); AJOY KUMAR, FROM SLAVERYTO
BONDED LABOURERS
8 (Indian Social Institute, 1986).
FREEDOM:THE TALEOF CHATTISGARH
See generally Uma Chakravarti, Of Dasas and Karmakaras:Servile Labour in Ancient
ANDSLAVERY
ININDIA
OFSERVITUDE:
BONDAGE
35 (Utsa Patnaik & Manjari
India, in CHAINS
CHAINS
OF SERVITUDE].
Dingwaneyeds., New Delhi:SangamBooks1985) [hereinafter
See Citizen's Body on Bonded Labour,TIMES
OF INDIA, 18 Nov. 1994.
OF SERVITUDE,
See Tanika Sarkar, Bondage in the Colonial Context, in CHAINS
supra note
14, at 96, 111-12.
See Rita Panicker, Reckoning with Child Labour: Present Day Strategies and Future
July 1995, at 19. "Scheduled castes" and "scheduled tribes" refer to
Direction, 5 MOLAKE
those castes and tribes enumerated in an attachment to the Indian Constitution as
entitled to special consideration, including some quotas for educational and career
opportunities, in recognition of their historically oppressed status. "Other backward
castes" and "other backward tribes" refer to nonscheduled low-caste groups. See id.
See also Sarkar,supra note 16, at 102 ("Thesystem [of slavery] ... was a product of the
absolute control of peasant and upper castes over the untouchables .... [Almong the
untouchables, whole sub-castes were collectively designated as slaves. In fact, the name
of such a caste and the local term for slaves could be interchangeably used in certain
cases."). See, e.g., REDDY, supra note 13. Reddy continues that "[t]he hereditary
association of a caste with an occupation has been so striking that it has occasionally
been argued that caste is nothing more than the systematization of occupational
Id.at 37 (citingM. N. SRINIVAS,
INDIAN
STRUCTURE
SOCIAL
differentiation."
(1986); P. M. Baxi,
REP.65 (1985)).
Caste and the Law: Some Recent Explorations, in ALLINDIA
See HUMAN RIGHTSWATCH CHILDREN'SRIGHTSPROJECT& HUMAN RIGHTSWATCH/ASIA, supra note
6, at 140-41.
576
HUMANRIGHTSQUARTERLY
Vol. 19
20.
See In Search of a Strategy for Elimination of Child Labour, 3 NAT'L LAB. INST. NEWSL.13
(1995) (quoting a statement made by Myron Weiner). See generally MYRON WEINER, THE
CHILD AND THE STATE IN INDIA (1991)
(providing a comparative analysis of the relationship
between national education policies and the high incidence of child labor).
21.
INDIACONST.
22.
23.
24.
25.
1997
577
One reason commonly offered for the low rate of school attendance is
the poor quality of India's primarypublic school system. By all accounts, the
system is grossly underfunded and inadequate, marked by absent teachers,
huge classes, outdated teaching methods, and severe material defects in the
schools and school supplies. A 1995 study by a government-appointed
commission concluded that "[t]he state of elementary education in India is
simply pathetic."26
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
instance, 40% of the schools have no black boards, 80% have no benches, 72% have
no books, and 90% have no buildings."); see also CACL, supra note 3, ch. VII (stating
that government policy, which is rarely enforced, stipulates a student-teacher ratio of
40:1).
See e.g., WEINER,supra note 20, at 161 (comparing data on thirty-one low income
countries, including: Sri Lanka, spending 3.5 percent GNP on education, with 86
percent adult literacy; China, 2.7 percent spending, 73 percent literacy; Burma, 1.6
percent spending, 79 percent literacy; Indonesia, 2 percent spending, 74 percent
literacy; Peru, 2.9 percent spending, 87 percent literacy). Thus, the percentage of India's
GNP currently going to education, 3 to 6 percent, compares favorably with education
expenditures of other developing countries. This includes many with similar economic
conditions but much higher literacy rates.
See id. at 93, 96, 106. As of 1985, only 35.9 percent of educational expenditures were
earmarked for elementary education.
Id. at 160.
See id. at 189-90. With few exceptions, it is higher caste and relatively wealthy children
who make it in to the government subsidized system of secondary and higher
education. In order to get there, they go to private primaryschools, where the drop-out
rate is nearly zero. The drop-out rate for public schools, in contrast, is approximately
75 percent. See id.
578
HUMAN RIGHTSQUARTERLY
Vol. 19
defense of middle-class employment territory.It is also an implicit reaffirmation of the notion that certain occupations are appropriatefor certain social/
caste groups but not others. "The Indian position rests on deeply held beliefs
that there is a division between people who work with their minds and rule
and people who work with their hands and are ruled, and that education
should reinforce rather than break down this division."31
Instead of bringing all children into primaryschools, government efforts
are focusing on expanding the nonformal education system for working
children. This system, already implemented in more than one hundred
villages,32 enables the child laborer to continue working full-time. It is
intended to provide three hours of education a day (although the author saw
children receiving only about an hour of instruction), focusing on basic and
"nonformal"skills.
Children's rights proponents criticize the government's choice of
nonformal training over meaningful universal education, alleging that the
primary goal of nonformal education is to "provide a system of child
education which does not interferewith child labour."33They point to three
problematic aspects of this "tracking"system. First, students attempting to
study after a full day of work must battle severe exhaustion and fatigue. This
natural barrier to learning is exacerbated by the low levels of preparation
and training offered to the teachers, who are paid minimal wages. Second,
critics contend that vocational training, which comprises much of the
nonformal education curriculum, is irrelevant to children aged five to
fourteen.34Finally, children's rights activists value formal schooling because
it instills in children the possibility of occupational choice.
Thatan educatedchild of a labourerdecides not to do agriculturallabourhas
to be seen as an expressionof individualityratherthanas suppressionof skillby
the educationsystem.No societycan be builton the logic thatan illiteratechild
laboureris betterthan a literateunemployed.35
31.
Id. at 5-6.
32.
33.
NATIONAL
CONSULTATION
21-23 Nov. 100, 103 (Kalyani Menon Sen & G. Balagopal eds.,
OFTHECHILD].
1994) [hereinafter RIGHTS
34.
See id.
The argument that it is at this stage that an individual is most receptive to skill development has
nowhere been borne out by facts.... In fact, master craftsmen themselves often ensure that their
children are educated to at least a minimum level before being put through training, usually after
the age of fourteen years.
Id. at 105.
35.
Id. at 106.
1997
ChildSlaves in ModernIndia
579
39.
In some piece-rate industries, including beedi and stainless steel, nonbonded children
earn the same rate of pay as nonbonded adults.
OF INDIA,28 Nov.
See also Vinay Pandey, Child Workers' Plea to Form Unions, TIMES
1993 (explaining that The Trade Union Act of 1926 prohibits the formation of trade
unions by children under the age of fifteen).
See Minimum Wages Act, 1948, (No. 11 of 1948) (India). The Act states that "different
minimum rates of wages may be fixed for . . . adults, adolescents, children and
apprentices." Id. art. 3(3)(a)(iii). In addition, the vast majority of children work in
agriculture or the unorganized sector, where minimum wage requirements do not
apply. See id. art. 3(1)(a) ("The government shall set minimum wages for employments
specified in the attached schedule and subsequent amendments to that schedule.").
See R. K. Misra, Preliminary Report on the Child Labour in the Saree Industry of
Varanasi 13 (1995) (documenting a study undertaken by the Human Rights Cell of
Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi) (unpublished report, on file with author).
HUMAN RIGHTSQUARTERLY
580
Vol. 19
Finally, there is the myth that poverty alone causes child labor. Against
the background of lack of opportunity and societal and governmental
neglect, however, many children's rights activists scoff at the assertion that
child labor stems from poverty alone. One long-time worker in the carpetbelt offered this assessment: "Povertydoes not cause bonded child labour. If
there are no social welfare facilities in the area, if there is no employment
for the adults, if there is no education for children . . . what else will the
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
art. 24 ("No child below the age of fourteen years shall be employed to
INDIA
CONST.
work in any factory or mine or engaged in any other hazardous employment.").
Id. art. 39.
45.
(1994).
1997
581
prohibits the practice of debt bondage and other forms of slavery, stating
that "[t]rafficin human beings and begar and other similar forms of forced
labour are prohibited and any contravention of this provision shall be an
offence punishable in accordance with the law."46
"Other similar forms of forced labour" was interpreted expansively by
the Supreme Court in the 1982 Asiad Workers'Case,47with the court ruling
that unpaid and paid labor alike were prohibited whenever the element of
force or compulsion was present in the worker's ongoing services to the
employer.48 Examples of force include overt physical compulsion and
compulsion under threat of legal sanction, as well as "compulsion arising
from hunger and poverty, want and destitution."49Additionally, the Supreme
Court ruled that all labor rewarded with less than the minimum wage
constitutes forced labor and thus violates the Constitution of India.50
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
51.
52.
53.
54.
labour under which a person is compelled to work without receiving any remuneration." People's Union for Democratic Rights v. Union of India, A.I.R. 1982 S.C. 1473,
1486 [hereinafter Asiad Workers' Case].
Asiad Workers' Case, supra note 46, at 1486.
Id. at 1490.
Id.; see also REDDY,supra note 13, at 66-92 (discussing Supreme Court decisions
affecting bonded laborers).
Asiad Workers' Case, supra note 46.
INDIACONST.art. 23(1). Consequently, post-Act social action litigation on behalf of
bonded laborers was brought under both the Bonded LabourAct, supra note 9, and the
Constitution of India. See REDDY,supra note 13, at 66-92 (discussing cases).
Bonded Labour Act, supra note 9, ?? 4-6, 14.
Id. ? 16. The maximum penalties for a first-timeoffender are less under the Child Labour
Act than under the Bonded LabourAct in terms of potential length of incarceration (one
year), but the penalties are significantly stronger in terms of monetary punishment (ten
to twenty thousand rupees). Child Labour Act, supra note 7, ? 14(1).
Bonded Labour Act, supra note 9, ? 2(1)(g)(i)-(v).
582
HUMAN RIGHTSQUARTERLY
Vol. 19
one part of the country to the next and from one industry or landlord to
another in terms of wages paid, the amount advanced, whether the advance
is considered a type of loan or a type of wage, the hours worked per day and
days worked per year, and the worker's relative freedom from the
bondmaster.55Despite these differences, all are bonded laborers within the
definition of the Act. It is what they have in common that determines their
bonded status: they are working for nominal wages in consideration of an
advance, and they are not free to discontinue their work.
These three elements-an advance, low wages, and compulsion-are
at the core of all bonded labor. The Act defines "nominal wages" as those
that are less than minimum wages or, where no minimum wage has been
set, less than wages normally paid for same or similar work in the same
locality.56
District magistrates (called district collectors in some states) are responsible for enforcement of the Bonded LabourAct.57The district magistrate, an
appointed civil servant, is the top authority at the district level and as such
oversees the work of fifty to sixty distinct departments in government
administration, including the administration of justice.58 In addition, he is
required by the Bonded Labour Act to identify all cases of bonded labor
occurring in his district, free the laborers, and initiate prosecution under the
Act.59 He is also charged with ensuring that available credit sources are in
place, so that freed laborers will not be forced into bondage again.60Finally,
the district magistrate is to create and participate in the functioning of a
district-level "vigilance committee."61The statutory functions of this com-
Id.? 12.
58.
Id.? 13.
1997
583
62.
63.
64.
65.
584
HUMAN RIGHTSQUARTERLY
Vol. 19
while lenient themselves, are nonetheless stiffer than those of the Children
(Pledging of Labour)Act.
The Act calls for penalties to be levied against any parent, middleman,
or employer involved in making or executing a pledge for a child's labor.66
Such a pledge is defined as an "agreement, written or oral, express or
implied, whereby the parent or guardian of a child, in return for any
payment or benefit received by him, undertakes to cause or allow the
services of the child to be utilized ...
66.
67.
68.
69.
70.
ChildSlaves in ModernIndia
1997
585
71.
72.
73.
74.
75.
76.
77.
78.
Id.
586
HUMANRIGHTSQUARTERLY
Vol. 19
80.
81.
82.
83.
84.
Id.
See infra text pt. IV(D)(8).
INDIA
art. 24.
CONST.
Child Labour Act, supra note 7, ? 10.
Interview with R.V. Pillai, Secretary General of the National Human Rights Commission
(NHRC), in New Delhi, India (28 Dec. 1995). According to Mr. Pillai, there is frequent
1997
587
Every industry discussed in this article violates the protective regulations of the Child LabourAct. This includes the right to an hour of rest after
three hours of work; a maximum work day of six hours; a prohibition on
child work before 8 a.m. or after 7 p.m.; a prohibition on overtime; a
mandatory day of rest every week; and the requirement that various health
and safety precautions be observed. In addition, the beedi, carpet, and silk
industries violate the Act's prohibition on child labor in certain hazardous
industries.
ANDINTERNATIONAL
STANDARDS
ON LABOUR
medical officers. Id. See also COMMISSION
TRADE,
6, at 46-61.
86.
87.
588
HUMAN RIGHTSQUARTERLY
Vol. 19
paper, sprinkles tobacco into it, rolls it up tightly, and ties it with string. The
tips are closed either by the roller herself or by a younger child, typically
four to seven years old; young children often begin their beedi careers by
working as tip closers.
The pace is rapid, and most of the older children-those over ten-roll
1,500 to 2,000 beedies each day. In order to encourage speed, employers
keep close vigil over the child workers, scolding them or hitting them if they
slow down. Some children are forced to work with a matchbox tucked
between their chin and their neck; in order to hold the box in place, they
must keep their head down and focused on the work. If the matchbox falls,
the employer knows the child has looked away and will punish her or him.
Children working under bondage in the beedi industry work between
ten and fourteen hours a day, with short breaks for lunch and dinner. They
work six and a half days a week year-round, but are only paid for six-the
half day on Sunday is a designated "catching up" day. When children fail to
report to work, either because of sickness or out of rebellion at the harsh
conditions, their employer often will go to their house and forcibly return
them to work.
1. The Structure of Work and Bondage
Often, entire families are dedicated to the production of beedi. Usually it is
the children who work as bonded laborers, with adults managing to buy
their own freedom by the time they reach maturityor marry.For these poor
families, bondage is a cyclical phase, with successive generations repeating
the steps: as children they are bonded, as young adults they buy or win their
release, and as mature adults they eventually succumb to financial pressures
and turn their own children over to the beedi bondmasters.
The structureof debt repayment in the beedi industry is different than in
other bonded industries, where at least some of the child's labor value
serves to whittle away at the principal amount owed. In beedi, the
"advances" given to secure the child workers are not paid off by the child's
labor, no matter how long he works for the bondmaster. In fact, they are not
really advances at all, but loans, against which the child's labor functions as
both surety and interest.
Regardless of the amount borrowed, these loans must be paid back in a
single lump-sum payment. The child will not be released otherwise, no
matter how many thousands of rupees his labor brings to the agent over the
years. This lump-sum debt cancellation is an onerous requirement. Often,
the only way a parent can come up with sufficient funds is by securing a
larger loan from another agent or by bonding another child.
Bonded beedi rollers are paid between 20 and 30 percent of the wages
they would be entitled to on the open market. The remaining 70 to 80
1997
589
These are typical cases. Other children suffer even more severe
exploitation. Ten-year-old Kumarearned only two rupees a day for rolling
1,500 beedies. The loan taken against him was for 500 rupees. At his rate of
production, his original debt obligation should have been cancelled in less
than two weeks. He worked for his agent for four years before his father,
concerned by the agent's abuse of the boy, managed to free him. Several
other children interviewed also earned only two or three rupees a day.
Children selling their labor freely earn four, five, or six times as much as
their bonded counterparts. Sixteen-year-old Appanraj rolled 1,500 cigarettes
88.
590
HUMAN RIGHTSQUARTERLY
Vol. 19
A WORLDVISION
OFINDIA
See Jacob Varghese, Freedom at Mid-Day, WORLDVISION:
MAGAZINE,
1993, at 6, 6-7.
ChildSlaves in ModernIndia
1997
591
91.
92.
93.
592
HUMAN RIGHTSQUARTERLY
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child misses work because he is in pain or sick with fever or disease, the
agent will beat him and take him back," she said.
The damage to the body is cumulative and progressive.
As the workergets older her/hisfingersbecome numb and, unlike a young
worker,an older workerhas to makethreeor fourattemptsto roll a beedi. The
natureof beedi work is such that a workercannottake his/hereyes off it even
fora momentif he/she is to makethe requirednumberof beedies fora day.This
takes its toll on people'seyesightas they grow older.94
The most serious health hazard of the beedi industry is lung disease.
Beedi rollers spend their lives constantly inhaling tobacco dust, and study
after study has shown them to suffer a high rate of tuberculosis, asthma, and
other lung disorders.95Of the twenty-six child beedi rollers we interviewed,
six (23 percent) had parents who were either dead or dying as a result of
tuberculosis.96 If the cycle continues unchanged, in twenty-five years these
children will themselves be dying, while their own sons and daughters
breathe tobacco dust and grow feeble.
4. Domestic Law
In addition to the laws forbidding bonded child labor generally (the Bonded
Labour Act and the Children (Pledging of Labour)Act), child labor in the
beedi industry is regulated by the Child LabourAct and the Beedi and Cigar
Workers (Conditions of Employment) Act of 1966.97 The Child Labour Act
prohibits the employment of children in twenty-five enumerated hazardous
industries, beedi among them.98The Beedi Act prohibits the employment of
children under fourteen in any beedi or cigar factory.99This act, however,
only applies to "industrialpremises," defined as "any place or premises (not
being a private dwelling-house)," where the beedi process is carried on,
with or without the use of power.100
Not surprisingly, after passage of this protective measure, the beedi
manufacturing units began to disperse. Largerolling centers were disbanded
and the contract system grew.'01 Under the contract system, the owner
94. Vidyasagar,supranote 87, at 9.
95. See id. (citinga studyof one beedi manufacturing
village wherein 25 percentof all
beedi rollershad tuberculosis).
96. Interviewswith child bonded laborers(nameswithheld),in NorthArcotdistrict,Tamil
Nadu, India(25 Nov. 1995).
97. Beedi and Cigar Workers(Conditionsof Employment)Act, No. 32 (1966) (India)
[hereinafterBeediAct].
98. See supratext pt. III(D).
99. BeediAct, supranote 97.
100.
101.
ChildSlaves in ModernIndia
1997
593
B. Silver104
The city of Salem, Tamil Nadu has been a major producer of domesticallyconsumed silver jewelry'05since 1980. An estimated 10,000 children work
in the silver smithies of Salem district.106In one town, there were five
hundred occupants, two hundred of whom were children under the age of
fifteen. One hundred and thirty-five of these children were laboring in the
production of silver.107It is an entirely bonded industry.108
Boys and girls enter the industry in equal numbers, usually between the
102.
103.
104.
105.
106.
107.
108.
594
HUMAN RIGHTSQUARTERLY
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ages of five and eight. Most remain bonded and continue working in the
silver industry throughout their childhood and adolescence. During this
time, they may move from employer to employer, receiving a bigger
advance from their new employer so that they might both pay off their
previous employer and enjoy a small, and temporary, boost in their cash
flow. This new and higher debt must then be worked off or passed on to a
younger sibling when the worker leaves the employer. All girl workers
expect to leave their jobs at the time of marriage. Young men may try to eke
out a living through agriculture, or stay in silver and work their way up the
wage scale. The maximum pay for a man with twenty-five years of
experience is forty rupees a day.
The average advance for a six-year-old is 5,000 rupees. Although
interest is not added to the principal amount owed, the extremely low rate
of wages paid makes for effective annual interest rates in the range of 300
percent. Unlike beedi, agents in the silver industry do allow gradual
repayment of the initial advance. Given the low wages paid, however, only
the oldest and most skilled workers stand a chance of actually paying back
their loans. Beginning children earn one to five rupees a day, while
accomplished child workers earn ten rupees a day. Workers fifteen and
older can make as much as twenty or twenty-five rupees a day; these wages
reflect ten years or more of experience.
Depending on the employer, children work six days a week, six and a
half days a week, or twenty-eight days a month, with the days of the new
and full moon off. The typical work day is twelve hours long, from 8:00 a.m.
to 8:00 p.m. This increases by up to four hours a day during the two or three
months preceding Diwali, the "festival of the lights" and the Hindu New
Year.'09
1. Health Hazards and Employer Abuses
Children work in a variety of jewelry-making phases. They create link
chains, flatten the chains with heavy hammers, and weld on decorations
and fasteners. Children also polish and finish the pieces of jewelry, turning
them from dark brown metal into gleaming trinkets. Each one of these
processes carries its own risk. Several children interviewed showed us their
work scars: cuts and burns on their fingers, hands, arms, legs, and feet.
These injuries are caused by the metal and metalworking tools used to cut
and fashion jewelry, the blowtorches used to weld it, and the acid mixes
used to polish the final silver product.
109.
INDIA90 (1991).
See, e.g., STANLEY
WOLPERT,
ChildSlaves in ModernIndia
1997
595
The detail work of cutting and fashioning chains creates eye strain and
headache. This is exacerbated by the requirement that the children remain
still for long periods of time and work quickly, with intense concentration.
One boy demonstrated how to make a chain. In less than two minutes he
had created four inches of chain, rapidly snapping tiny circles off a tightlycoiled rod and then quickly pinching them together with a pair of pincer
pliers. Children are expected to maintain this pace during their twelve hours
or more of work. In addition to damaging the eyes, there is a constant
danger of cuts to the hands and fingers.
When welding, the children are given no protective masks or goggles of
any kind. The blowtorches used are primitive contraptions, fueled by
kerosene and with an unregulated flame. Because it is detail work, as the
children weld they must keep their eyes near the point of junction, looking
straight into the flame. Welders' eyes sting and tear, their vision becomes
blurry, and sparks sometimes fly into their eyes. Burns from welding and
falling pieces of hot metal are other routine workplace dangers. Two
children reported incidents of hammer heads flying off without warning.
The jewelry-polishing process is extremely hazardous. It requires
children to drop the completed pieces into sulfuric acid until they turn the
bright white of silver. Wearing no protective gloves, they have to mix the
acid as well, and during both the mixing and the polishing stages they suffer
chemical burns on their hands, arms, legs, and feet.
Long-term health hazards include: lung diseases, caused by breathing
the sulfuric acid fumes; tuberculosis, caused by the cramped and unsanitary
conditions; and physical deformities, particularlyof the back, caused by the
long years of working in a hunched and still position.
2. Domestic Law
The Factories Act forbids the employment of children less than fourteen
years old in "factories," defined as workshops employing ten or more
people with the use of power, or twenty or more without the use of power.110
The size of the silver smithies is often large enough to bring them under the
purview of the Factories Act. Several children reported working in factories
of more than ten employees, and one reported working in a factory
employing twenty-five children and a number of adults. Because even small
shops rely on the use of power for welding, the Factories Act would apply
in both such cases.
The Act not only prohibits the employment of children, but also sets
forth health and safety guidelines that are routinely violated by the
110.
596
HUMAN RIGHTSQUARTERLY
Vol. 19
111.
112.
113.
114.
115.
116.
Id.? 14.
Id. ? 23.
Id. ?41(F).
Id. ?? 51-55, 71.
See supra text pt. III(D).
Telephone Interview with J.L. Poland, Project Officer in Salem, Tamil Nadu (1 Dec.
1995).
1997
ChildSlaves in ModernIndia
597
took him back to the factory, but he did not last long. He ran away a third
and final time. Selvakumar did not returnto his parents' house and assumed
that they had to pay back the original loan. Selvakumar was interviewed at
a shelter for street children.
Manojan, also twelve, could not remember when he began working,
only that it was a long time ago. He worked as a welder, sitting in one spot
from 8:00 a.m. until 8:00 at night. Manojan worked with a crude blowtorch,
welding together the tiny silver links and decorations of bracelets and
necklaces. He had no mask to protect him from the flame, and his eyes
teared continuously from staring at the junction of flame and fine metal
pieces. He earned ten rupees a day.
Manojan's four brothers also worked in the silver smithies. His sister, the
eldest child, also worked in silver, until she married. Then she left the
industry and a young brother was brought in to assume her duty of debt.
Manojan became bonded for a 2,000 rupee advance, his sister for one of
3,000 rupees. She was bonded eight years ago. Despite her eight years of
work for wages one-third of the average minimum wage, her debt to the
bondmaster was never reduced; when her younger brother took her place,
he inherited her full original debt.
Manojansang a song:
My motheris crying;
I'mworkingin a silversmithyat the age of six.
When I went to school the teacher opposed me-"You can't study here! Go
home!"
Now I am as if blind.
Yousend me to the factorybecause we are poor. Butwe will always be poor.
You send me to the factoryto earn a regularincome. But instead of regular
income, I carrythe heavy burdenof a loan.
This loan burdenis my poison.
Vennila, a fifteen-year-old girl, had been working in the silver industry
for five years at the time of our interview. Twenty-five people worked in her
factory (enough to bring it under the provisions of the Factories Act). The
workers ranged in age from five to fifteen and earned between five and
twenty-five rupees a day. She herself earned twenty rupees a day.
She and her brother were bonded at the same time in exchange for a
10,000 rupee advance. Her parents needed the money to pay off a loan
from the local moneylender, who charged a twenty percent interest rate. She
worked from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., six days a week. She was planning to
stop working when she married, leaving her brother to repay the total debt.
We lost all ourchances at an earlyage. When I'mworkingin the shop, I can see
the childrengoing by to school. I wish I were with those school-goingchildren.
HUMAN RIGHTSQUARTERLY
598
Vol. 19
117.
& HUMANRIGHTS
RIGHTS
WATCHCHILDREN'S
See HUMANRIGHTS
PROJECT
WATCH/ASIA,
supra note
118.
6, at 73-89.
BUSINESS
See generally Silk ExportsMay Fall 20 P.C., THEHINDU
LINE,7 Mar. 1996, at 1,
India
available in, <http://www.indiaserver.com/news/bline/1996/03/07/BLBO1.html>.
is the world'ssecond largestproducerof silk,and silkexportscontributesignificantlyto
the country'sforeignexchange earnings,generating$260 million in revenuesduring
1995. See id. Eighty-fivepercent of Indiansilk production,however, is consumed
domestically. See Vidya Sundaresan, Silk ExportsMay Miss Target This Year,THEHINDU
BUSINESS
LINE,22 Nov. 1995, available in, <http://www.indiaserver.com/news/bline/
1995/11/22/BLFPO4.html>.
119. See lan Jack,Introduction,
GRANTA,
Spring1997, at 7, 10 (statingthe 1994 averageper
200 millionof India's950 million
capitaincome in Indiaas $249). Only approximately
1997
599
Bonded child labor is used at all stages of production: reeling the silk
fibers from the cocoons, twisting the fibers into thread, dyeing the silk,
preparing the looms for weaving, weaving itself, and assisting the master
weavers with the most complex work. This article discusses two main stages
of production: silk reeling and twisting, and silk handlooms.'20 The rate of
a. Silk Reeling
Reeling is the process by which the silk filaments are pulled off the cocoon.
The cocoons are cooked in boiling water in order to loosen the sericin, a
120.
121.
122.
123.
124.
inhabitants are middle class or above, indicating that the majority of Indians earn well
below this national average. See Cosmetics Sector Poised for a Leap, TIMES
OF INDIA, 12
Dec. 1995, at 5.
There is also significant bonded child labor in the silk powerloom industry, with at least
35,000 bonded children working the powerlooms of Tamil Nadu alone. Interview with
R. Vidyasagar, supra note 103.
Id.; see also Report of the Commission on Bonded Labour in Tamilnadu, 31 Oct. 1995
at 73, submitted in connection with Madras S.C. Civ. Writ Petition No. 3922 of 1985
(India) (on file with author); Misra, supra note 39, at 10.
Misra, supra note 39, at 3.
Interview with Director of government cocoon market, in Magadi, Bangalore Rural
District, Karnataka(7 Dec. 1995).
No systematic study has been undertaken on child labor in the silk industry of
Karnataka. Nonetheless, a detailed study of one taluk (subdivision of a district) near
Bangalore found 10,000 bonded child silk workers in that taluk alone. See India
Community Development Service Society, survey in Magadi taluk, Bangalore District,
Karnataka (1995) (on file with Human Rights Watch, Kannada) [hereinafter ICDSS
Survey]. Based on this figure, an overall estimate of 100,000 is conservative.
600
HUMAN RIGHTSQUARTERLY
Vol. 19
natural substance holding the filaments together. The reeler dips his or her
hands into the scalding water and palpates the cocoons, judging by touch
whether the fine threads of silk have loosened enough to be unwound.
When they are ready, the worker finds the ends of eight to ten filaments and
gently begins to reel them off. The average length of a single unbroken
filament is 700 meters.125
More than 80 percent of silk reelers are under twenty years of age, with
most of them between ten and fifteen years old.'26As in other industries, the
myth of children having natural advantages and skills is used to justify the
exploitation of young girls and boys in this dangerous work. As one writer
put it, "[m]uch of the manual work ... requires skills and a delicate touch,
for which the supple hands of children are regarded as more suitable."127
The children are not permitted to use spoons instead of their hands when
checking the boiling cocoons, on the theory that their hands can more
easily discern when the threads are ready to reel.128
We spoke with two boys who worked as silk reelers in the Karnataka
town of Ramanagaram, India's largest cocoon market.129Ajad and Marukh,
both ten years old, had been working in the silk industry since the age of
five-Ajad for an advance of 1,000 rupees and Marukh for an advance of
5,000. According to the boys, the advances are given in order to keep the
children tied to the employers and to prevent them from leaving the
factories. If they try to leave they are beaten. The children earn twenty
rupees a day for reeling the threads off the boiling cocoons, as compared to
ten rupees a day for other jobs. Their work hours vary tremendously with
the seasons, depending on market demand and cocoon availability.
We initially identified Ajad and Marukh as silk reelers on the basis of
their hands. Their palms and fingers were white with the thick tracks of
fissures, burns, and blisters.
b. Silk Twisting
Silk twisting (or twining) is the process whereby individual silk threads are
twisted into a strong multi-ply thread. Twisting usually takes place in small
factories with between fifty and a few hundred spindles. In one taluk
(subdivision of a district) alone, there are about one hundred twining
125.
126.
127.
128.
129.
11 (1990).
OFINDIAN
A WEALTH
OFOPPORTUNITIES
SILK:
See SANJAY
SINHA,THEDEVELOPMENT
See id. at 31.
Id.
See Letter from Rudi Rotthier, freelance author, and Marleen Daniels, freelance
photographer, to Lee Tucker, Counsel, Human RightsWatch Children's Rights Project (1
Nov. 1995) (on file with author) [hereinafter Rotthier/Daniels Letter].
Interviews with silk reelers (names withheld), in Ramanagaram, Karnataka (6 Dec.
1995).
1997
ChildSlaves in ModernIndia
601
130.
131.
132.
133.
602
HUMAN RIGHTSQUARTERLY
Vol. 19
bonded by a single loan of 14,000 rupees, taken by his mother after his
father died.
Mylappa earned one rupee an hour and worked twelve hours a day. He
and the other workers did not receive wages for the frequent periods of
power shutdowns, but were nonetheless required to remain in the factory,
available to do whatever odd jobs the employer might request. Mylappa
was scolded if he arrived late to work, and his legs hurt from standing all
day. When he asked for a raise the owner beat him.
Mylappa's fingers were frequently cut, and his legs and hands were
sometimes injured by the twining machines. When he was injured, the
owner refused to send him for medical treatment. Mylappa explained that
he could not join another factory where he might earn more or be better
treated because of the advance from the current employer.
Mylappa walked two kilometers to work, worked until 9:00 p.m., and
then walked home with his friends. He reported being happy at the end of
the day because the tension was finally over. On the way to work he was
always tense and nervous, thinking about the upcoming long day and the
dangers of the employer and the machines.
Kali, a nine-year-old girl, had been working in a silk factory since her
father died three years earlier. Her mother accepted a 4,000 rupee advance
in order to pay for the after-death rituals and also to feed her family. They
were landless, and her mother worked as a stone cutter.
Kali left home at 7:00 in the morning and returned at 9:00 in the
evening, walking two kilometers each way. Occasionally, she was allowed
to sit for a few minutes when the power went out; otherwise she spent
fourteen hours a day on her feet. She earned one and a half rupees an hour,
for an average of 200 rupees a month. Her employer scolded her fiercely if
she arrived late, and beat her if she asked about her wages. She said she
could not leave his employment until the advance was repaid, but that she
and her mother together did not even earn enough to cover the family's
monthly expenses, much less pay back the loan. Kali had never been to
school.
Pomabhai is a twelve-year-old boy. When he was eight his father took
a 4,500 rupee advance in order to pay for the oldest daughter's marriage. As
a result, Pomabhai was taken out of school and put in the factory, and he
has been working there ever since. "I want to continue my education," he
said. "But first, we have to eat."
c. Health Hazards of Silk Reeling and Twisting
As a consequence of the constant immersion into scalding water, the skin on
the hands of the child silk reelers becomes raw, blistered, and sometimes
infected. As one team of investigators described it, "thousands of children
1997
ChildSlaves in ModernIndia
603
work in these factories, with hands that seem to belong to ninety year
olds."'34 In addition to the skin ailments, reelers frequently suffer from
respiratory problems caused by the constant inhaling of the sericin vapors.'35
The workers in the silk twisting factories suffer pain in their legs and
backs from standing all day without rest. Some of them develop leg
deformities over the years, including bowleggedness. The boys and girls
also suffer occasional injuries, mainly cuts, from the machines, particularly
to their hands and fingers. Many children mentioned injuries severe enough
to warrant medical attention and prevent further work.
The reproductive systems of female children, who comprise seventyfive percent of the silk reelers and twisters, are commonly damaged by the
long-term work in the factories. A recent detailed study of the industry
revealed that girls who work in the silk factories tend to have irregularand
very painful menstrual periods.'36 The symptoms continue even after they
stop working, and among former factory workers the rate of infertility and
miscarriage is extremely high. It is the heat of the factories that causes this
damage, according to medical authorities.'37
d. Employer Abuses in Silk Reeling and Twisting
Abuses common to other bonded industries are found in silk production as
well: verbal abuse, including threats and harsh language; physical abuse in
the form of blows for arriving late, working slowly, or annoying the
employer; and physical abuse by denying the children adequate rest and
recovery time.
Girl factory workers also suffer from sexual abuse at the hands of their
employers. Girls are preferred by owners because they are believed to be
more obedient, docile, and submissive. According to local activists and
investigators, girls are also frequently targeted for sexual assault by the
owners inside the factories.'38The practice is so prevalent that it is difficult
for these girls to later marry-because of the high rate of abuse, everyone
assumes that the factory girls have been "touched," that is, molested or
raped by their employers. As a consequence, they are shunned as potential
brides.'39
134.
135.
136.
137.
138.
139.
HUMAN RIGHTSQUARTERLY
604
Vol. 19
2. Silk Weaving
The greatest concentration of silk weavers is found in and around the city of
Kanchipuram, located in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, and the city of
Varanasi, located in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. In Kanchipuram,
40,000 to 50,000 children work in bondage on the silk handlooms,'40while
in Varanasithe number of bonded child laborers working on the handlooms
is approximately 85,000.141 Most of the children serve as assistants to the
adult master weavers, preparing the looms for weaving and then sitting
beside the master weavers all day long, helping to lift the warp threads and
manually feed the weft threads for the intricate designs of the silk saris.
Skilled children over the age of twelve may themselves work as weavers on
simple, less-expensive saris.
Children commonly enter the handweaving industry between the ages
of six and nine and continue working in that occupation their entire lives. In
Varanasi, advances reportedly range from 2,000 to 5,000 rupees, while in
Kanchipuramthe advances are the highest of any industry,with children as
young as six bringing in advances of 10,000 rupees and older children
being traded for advances of up to 15,000 rupees. Sometimes whole
families or sets of siblings are bonded together; this is particularly likely to
occur after the death of a father, although it is common to see two-parent
families in bondage as well.
a. The Structure of Work and Bondage
The employers of bonded child laborers range from wealthy owners of large
handloom factories to relatively poor rural employers, who own just a few
looms. An example of the former is a factory owner with whom we spoke
who had 400 looms and 1,000 workers, half of them children. At the other
end of the spectrum is an employer in a poor village who had three looms
in his modest house. One he worked himself, and the other two were
worked by bonded neighborhood children who were secured with advances of 1,000 to 2,000 rupees each. The owner had himself worked as a
child on the looms of Kanchipuram, including two years with no pay. Now,
he considered himself a benefactor to the community. "After learning
myself, I am now giving work to others," he said.
Depending upon the wealth of the loom owner, the size of the factory,
and the age and skill of the child, advances range from 1,000 to 15,000
rupees. As in other bonded industries, the purpose of the advance is to
secure the child's captive labor. Repayment of the loan is not the owner's
140.
141.
1997
ChildSlaves in ModernIndia
605
priority. In fact, the owner prefers that the debt remains outstanding, and the
low wages paid virtually guarantee that it does.
In both Varanasi and Kanchipuram,children earn between fifty and 300
rupees monthly (two to ten rupees a day), depending on their skill and the
duties they perform. Children over twelve may earn slightly more if they are
working as weavers. These low wages, coupled with the amount of debt
incurred by the children's parents, ensure a long period of servitude.142
Bonded child labor has been illegal for more than sixty years.143Despite
this, both large and small-scale loom owners enjoy the assistance of local
authorities in enforcing child bondage. In Kanchipuram, the manager of a
large handloom factory told us that contracts, or "bond papers," are written
for bondage agreements that involve advances of 10,000 rupees or more.
The parents who are turning over their children (or themselves) are mostly
illiterate, cannot read the contract, and sign it with a thumbprint. If a worker
complains to the police or attempts to escape, the factory owner will show
the police the bond paper in order to prove the worker's debt. The police
then return the worker to the owner.
At the more rural level, where employers have fewer looms and offer
smaller advances, written contracts are not used. Advances are given to
local children only, to lessen the risk that they will run away. When escapes
do occur or when there are other problems with enforcing the debt
obligation, the employers turn to the local panchayat (village elders/town
council) for help in resolving the dispute.144The panchayat will enforce
contracts for the pledging of child labor, and will fine those who have tried
to escape or quit without the employer's consent.
142.
143.
144.
HUMAN RIGHTSQUARTERLY
606
Vol. 19
(1985).
B. N. JUYALETAL., CHILD LABOUR:THE TWICEEXPLOITED
146.
147.
1997
607
not a single
the point where the silk is twisted, all steps of the sericulture and silk
production industries are regulated by the government. A license from the
state sericulture department is required in order to buy or sell cocoons and
a license, issued only after an inspection by the state, is required for all silk
reeling centers.'53In addition, the government offers extensive subsidies and
incentives to businesses operating in all phases of silk production.54 To
provide this much support to the industry, while turning a blind eye to its
exploitation of more than 250,000 bonded child laborers, is an extreme
abdication of government responsibility.'55
D. Handwoven
Wool Carpets156
The Indian carpet industry is notorious for its exploitation and abuse of child
workers. A typical story, appearing in a New Delhi newspaper in January
1996, reported the rescue of twenty-three bonded child laborers by the
Bonded Labor Liberation Front, an activist group.157The children revealed
that they were forced to knot carpets eighteen hours a day, and were beaten
if they fell asleep or complained. They were given two poor meals a day, but
never enough to satisfy them, "because if we ate to our fill we would feel
sleepy."'58One of the boys was lashed with a whip; another was hit so hard
148.
149.
150.
151.
152.
153.
154.
155.
156.
157.
158.
Child LabourAct, supra note 7, ? 3, sched. pt. B(4) (listing cloth weaving as a hazardous
occupation in which the employment of any child under the age of fourteen is illegal).
Although employment of children as silk reelers and twisters is not forbidden, the
conditions of such work violate the regulatory provisions of the Child Labour Act. Id. ?
13(2).
Factories Act, supra note 77, ?? 2(m)(i), 2(m)(ii) (defining factories where child labor is
prohibited). This definition would apply to all of the twisting factories and many of the
handloom centers.
Interview with M.P. Vijaykumar, North Arcot District Collector, in Vellore, Tamil Nadu
(27 Nov. 1995); see also Misra, supra note 39, at 42.
Interview with Director of government cocoon market, supra note 123.
See SINHA,
supra note 125, at 47, 57.
Interview with Director of government cocoon market, supra note 123.
See SINHA,
supra note 125, at 47, 57.
WATCH
The World Bank is another major funder of India's silk industry. See HUMANRIGHTS
& HUMAN RIGHTSWATCH/ASIA, supra note 6, at 74-75.
CHILDREN'SRIGHTSPROJECT
See id. at 102-117.
26 Jan. 1996.
23 Children Rescued from Bondage, STATESMAN,
Id.
HUMAN RIGHTSQUARTERLY
608
Vol. 19
with a metal tool that he had to have the gash stitched closed; a third was
burned with cigarettes when he asked about his parents. The news account
ends with the boys' desires for the future, reporting that "[a]ll the younger
boys want to be policemen, since they believe no one can hurt a
policeman."159
There are 300,000 children working to produce India's handwoven
wool carpets.160Ninety percent of these children, or about 270,000, are
bonded laborers.161In the carpet belt of Uttar Pradesh, where most of India's
carpets are woven, the vast majority of the workers are low-caste Hindu
boys. The number of girls in their ranks is increasing, however, as more
children are brought in from Nepal'62or recruited to weave carpets in other
states.'63 One consequence is that as girls begin to enter the industry in
larger numbers, reports of sexual abuse are surfacing.164
Children are used because they are cheap. A skilled child carpet knotter
will earn at most ten rupees a day, far below minimum wage. Younger
workers earn even less, and bonded workers often earn nothing at all. When
children become adults, they are fired from their jobs on the carpet looms.
Adults are not as compliant as children and must be paid a higher wage. In
addition, older carpet weavers are likely to be disabled, with scarred hands
and ruined eyesight.
Built on the backs of children, the carpet industry is one of India's most
lucrative. Carpet exports totalled more than half a billion dollars in 1994
and $650 million in 1995.165There are currently more than 2,000 carpet
exporters in India, representing a one hundred-fold increase in about two
decades.166
166.
Id.
See Mehta, supra note 88, at 24.
See Ela Dutt, Rug Firms With No Child Labor Need Help, INDIAABROAD, 3 Feb. 1995, at
16.
See Hamish McDonald, Boys of Bondage: Child Labour, Though Banned, is Rampant,
FAR EASTERN
ECONOMICREVIEW,9 July 1992, at 18, 19.
See infra text pt. IV(D)(1).
See McDonald, supra note 162, at 19 (citing increasing reports of rape and other sexual
abuse against Nepali girls working in the Indian carpet industry).
See Mirzapur Carpets-Taking Exports to a New High, ECONOMICTIMES, 10 June 1996.
Germany and the United States together account for 60 percent of the export market;
other major importers include Britain,Japan, Canada, Sweden, Australia, France, Italy,
and Switzerland. See id.
See EdwardA. Gargan, Bound to Looms by Poverty and Fear, Boys in India Make a Few
Men Rich, N.Y. TIMES,9 July 1992, at A8.
ChildSlaves in ModernIndia
1997
609
of Mirzapur and Bhadohi, the carpet belt includes about 2,000 villages.'67
Seventy-five percent of the carpet-makers in this region are children.168
Three types of child laborers work in the carpet belt: migrant bonded
labor, local bonded labor, and wage earners. The worst conditions and most
severe bondage are inflicted upon the migrant children, most of whom are
trafficked into the carpet belt from the poor neighboring state of Bihar.Some
are lured in with agents' promises to their parents that the boys will receive
good wages and enjoy a bright future.169Others, estimated to number in the
tens of thousands, are kidnapped into bondage through force or trickery.
Anti-Slavery International, for example, reported that twenty-seven boys
between the ages of five and twelve were kidnapped by their local barber,
who told them that he was going to take them to the movies, so long as they
kept it secret from their parents. He then sold them into slavery in a remote
village of another state.'70
Migrant child labor is common. Of the 300,000 children producing
carpets in India, as many as 50 percent were trafficked from one region or
state to another by carpet agents.171 The majorityof these children are forced
to work several years for their bondmasters, under difficult conditions and
subject to extreme mistreatment. In addition, the migrant children often
have to sleep in the loom shed or in other cold and cramped environments.
Their food allotment is notoriously inadequate. The local bonded children
may not earn higher wages, but at least they are able to sleep and eat at
home.
2. The Structure of the Industry
About 95 percent of handwoven carpet production occurs in a cottage
industry setting. Most loom owners own between one and fifty looms; of
these, the majority have just a few looms and employ a handful of children
to work them. These owners are not wealthy men and often feel that their
167.
168.
169.
170.
171.
See Molly Moore, Factories of Children; Youth Labor Force Growing in Asia to Meet
POST,21 May 1995, at A1 (explaining that
Export Demand, Help Families, WASHINGTON
the highest concentration of carpet villages is in Mirzapur district, but carpet is also a
dominant industry in the neighboring districts of Allahabad, Varanasi, and Jaunpur).
See BURRA, supra note 87, at xxii.
See Ex-Child LabourersMake a Fresh Start, TIMES
OF INDIA,31 July 1995 (documenting
how carpet manufacturers are finding new ways to exploit the poverty of Bihar: in
addition to bringing Bihar children into bondage in the carpet belt, manufacturers are
beginning to bring bondage to the children, setting up thousands of looms in the poorest
districts of Bihar).
Anti-Slavery International, Slavery Today in India, Factsheet B, July 1994 (stating that
10,000 boys have been kidnapped from one Bihar district (Chichoria) alone) (on file
with Anti-Slavery International).
See
70 (1994).
INDUSTRIES
610
HUMAN RIGHTSQUARTERLY
Vol. 19
precarious financial state gives them no choice but to employ bonded child
labor.
At the other end of the spectrum are carpet manufacturers who own
10,000 looms or more. Some of these looms may be located together in big
weaving factories, while others are scattered about in individual houses in
rural villages. Under these arrangements, the loom owner may not even
know exactly where all his looms are, much less visit them on a regular
basis. Instead, the carpet industrialistrelies on a hierarchy of managers and
subcontractors to get his carpets produced. This distancing of the owner
from the actual production process renders legal accountability (for the
owner) extremely difficult, as it is nearly impossible to trace the connection
between local looms and the responsible manufacturer or exporter. It also
undercuts the feasibility of consumer-oriented campaigns that want to label
rugs as "child-labor free," given the difficulty of verifying such a claim.
3. The Structure of Bondage
Many bonded child carpetweavers are paid per carpet rather than a daily
wage. In practice, average earnings work out to between one and ten rupees
a day. However, many young and recently bonded children earn no wages
at all for a period of several months up to one year, during what the
employer claims to be a "training period." In addition, this calculation of
average earnings does not apply to the migrant child workers because these
children may receive no wages, "earning" only two meals a day.'72
Furthermore,some children receive no wages at all on the grounds that all
earnings are being applied toward liquidation of the debt.
Advances to bonded child laborers in the carpet-belt range from 500 to
3,000 rupees. As in other industries, the high interest rates, low wages,
vagueness of terms, and power advantage of the employer mean that
children end up effectively repaying their debts several times over, and still
are not released. Their lives during this time are described below.
4. Testimonies of Bonded Child Carpetweavers'73
The following testimonies are from local bonded laborers, many of whose
fathers are also bonded (primarily in agriculture). Migrant bonded child
172.
See Prem Bhai, The Working Conditions of the Child Weaver in the Carpet Units of
OF
ON LAWRELATING
TO EMPLOYMENT
Mirzapur and Summary of Findings, in DOCUMENTATION
173.
ChildSlaves in ModernIndia
1997
611
174.
1 75.
Id.
Centre for Rural Education and Development Action, based in Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh.
612
HUMAN RIGHTSQUARTERLY
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176.
See, e.g., Ex-Child LabourersMake a Fresh Start,supra note 168 (reportingon a twelve-
1997
613
180.
181.
182.
183.
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HUMAN RIGHTSQUARTERLY
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as more and more Indians buy mass-produced shoes. A Rajasthani shoemaker earns only about twelve rupees a day, roughly a third of the average
minimum wage. Agricultural labor, when available, pays no better.
As a result of this worsening poverty, these villagers' children are
increasingly pressed into bondage. The shoe industry of Bombay, for
example, is largely staffed by bonded boys from rural Rajasthan.'84The girl
children, meanwhile, are being recruited in ever-greater numbers into the
carpet industry.185
According to one village chief, 250 villages in the neighboring districts
of Jaipur and Alwar have been completely diverted into the carpet industry
since 1991.186 "The carpet middleman comes to the villages from Jaipur.We
have a road into our village, and sometimes their vehicles come out for two
hours or more, looking for new workers."'87The middlemen form debt
obligations with the ruralwould-be weavers by loaning them money to buy
a loom and by advancing them the necessary raw materials. During the
several months it takes to learn to weave, the workers earn nothing. After
completing a carpet they sell it to the same middleman who brought them
into the industry. Thus the middleman takes a cut from both sides of
production, exploiting the worker's isolation and ignorance and paying her
only a fraction of what her labor is worth.
The adults with whom we spoke condemned the use of their children
the
by
carpet industry. Shoemakers offered the following comments, to the
assent of their listening neighbors:
Carpetweaving gives them no supportin their lives. The children weaving
carpets are not in school-they get no education. Their health is destroyed.
Theirlife is dead, once they go into carpet.
[They]are treatedlike animals.... Sellinglabouris not worthgiving up one's
life.
[T]hewool burnsin theirmouthsand eyes, the smallchildrenare bent over all
day working,and they suffermanydiseases-silicosis, tuberculosis....
Beforethe carpetscame, all the children played games-they helped in the
houses and with the shoes, butthey also played .... Now, what can I do? I am
very poor,so my two girls mustboth work in carpet.I don't like it, but I don't
know what else we can do.
184.
185.
186.
187.
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ChildSlaves in ModernIndia
615
Carpet looms are everywhere in these small villages: standing under the
awnings of small thatched houses, in dusty courtyards, and tucked inside
dark mud-walled houses. Most of the carpet weavers are girls and women,
who, in addition to weaving, perform household work.
For example, twelve-year-old Shantana works on the carpet loom
outside her house from 9:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. She works seven days a
week, with an occasional day off when necessary for household work or
when she is ill. Shantana has been weaving on the loom since she was
eight. Prior to weaving, she was enrolled in school. Her sixteen-year-old
sister-in-law Laxmiworks with her on the loom. Laxmi has been weaving for
six years. She says:
Thiswork is good, because it gives us some income. Butit is very bad, too....
All day long we are sittinghere, and it hurtsour backsand legs. Littlepieces of
wool come into our mouthsand hurtour lungs,makingus sick. Ourfingersare
raw and give us constantpain.'88
A middleman advanced the girls their weaving materials, charging them
1,000 rupees for the wool. When the carpet is finished they will sell it back
to him; in the meantime, they earn no daily wages. After deductions for the
cost of the materials, they are paid at the rate of sixty rupees per square foot
of carpet. Between the two of them they can complete an average of half a
square foot per day, for an effective daily wage of fifteen rupees. This is the
fastest carpet knotting and the highest rate of earnings of which we heard;
all of the other child weavers said they could knot about two inches a day,
for daily earnings of five to ten rupees.
8. Government Carpet TrainingCenters
The Indian government launched a training program for child carpet
weavers in 1975,189 when India was anxious to increase its share of the
global handwoven carpet market. Although the scheme was officially
authorized to recruit children between the ages of twelve and fifteen,
children six and up were brought into the program.190By 1981, 600
government carpetweaving training centers were being run, employing
approximately 30,000 children.191
The program continues to this day, despite the passage of the 1986
188.
189.
190.
191.
Id.
See Anti-Slavery International, supra note 170.
See id.
See HARVEY
& RIGGIN,supra note 171, at 69. As of 1991, the number of government-run
carpet-training centers was reported as approximately two hundred. See WEINER, supra
note 18, at 86.
HUMAN RIGHTSQUARTERLY
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192.
193.
194.
195.
196.
197.
198.
1997
ChildSlaves in ModernIndia
617
See Gargan, supra note 166 (citing Sudhir Kumar, Subdivisional Magistrate, Varanasi
district).
See McDonald, supra note 162, at 19.
See id.
Child Labour Act, supra note 7, ? 14(1).
Interview with Bachittar Singh, supra note 58.
Interview with Ashok Shekhar, RajasthanLabourCommissioner, in Jaipur, Rajasthan(15
Dec. 1995).
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205.
206.
See S. B. Civ. Writ Petition No. 263 of 1995, Ugam Raj Mohnot v. State of Rajasthan
and Others, filed 18 Jan. 1995, H.C. Rajasthan, Jaipur Bench (on file with author).
at 41.
1997
619
207.
208.
209.
210.
211.
212.
213.
214.
215.
216.
21 7.
See id. at 42-45 (describing eighteen policies, laws, committees, etc. established by the
central government since 1921).
See id.
See id. at 45.
"Nonformal education" is typically part-time instruction that emphasizes basic literacy
and life skills. It is geared toward working children.
ON LABOUR
ANDINTERNATIONAL
See COMMISSION
STANDARDS
TRADE,supra note 26, at 49.
See id.
See id. Additional IPECprograms serve nearly 55,000 children. See MINISTRY
OF LABOUR
(INDIA), supra note 3, at 11.
See MINISTRY
OFLABOUR
(INDIA),supra note 3, at 5.
See Data on Child Labour Yet to Be Compiled, HINDU,10 Apr. 1995, at 13 (using the
figure of 850 crore rupees). One crore is equal to ten million rupees.
See MINISTRY
OFLABOUR
(INDIA),supra note 3, at 5.
See Collectors Meeting on Child Labour, STATESMAN,
10 Sept. 1995, at 8 ("India has told
International Labour Organization it requires no external financial assistance for the
various remedial measures it is taking [to eliminate children from the workforce in
620
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Already, funding for the existing program is not reaching its intended
recipients. In late 1995, three different organizations in three different
districts, representing dozens of special schools, told us that they had not
received program funds for six to ten months. During this period, the
students had not received their promised stipends, daily meals had been cut
back, and teachers had gone unpaid. The administering organizations were
extremely concerned by the government's failure to deliver these monies.
They reported that the loss of the stipend had forced many children to drop
out of school and return to the labor force.218
In addition to funding problems, the short reach of the program troubles
many Indian social welfare organizations and activists.219Child laborers in
India are estimated to number between sixty and 115 million.220Against this
figure, the government's goal of releasing two million children appears
feeble and insignificant. Even against the government's own figures of
218.
219.
220.
hazardous industries]."); India Rejects Aid to Tackle Child Labour, STATESMAN,12 Mar.
1996, at 17 ("The Government today informed the Rajya Sabha that it had rejected the
offer by some countries to help India check the problem of child labour, saying it
preferred to depend on its own resources."); India Spurns Aid to Abolish Child Labour,
TIMES
OF INDIA, 11 Feb. 1996 (reporting the national labour secretary's statement: "We
have now decided that there is no need for external funding. We are adequately
financing the programme ourselves.").
Resistance to foreign aid is linked to the government's sensitivity to external critiques
of child labor. According to one report, "the Indian government is known to have
discouraged suggestions, including one from the European Union, for financial
assistance ... [in order] to avoid any meddling in its programme for abolition of child
labour." Id. Some believe that the government is using external aid as a bargaining chip
in the ongoing debate over linking trade and labor issues. This way, "[i]f the developed
countries demand that the pace of compliance with international labour standards
should be faster[,] . . . India could then ask for a substantial part of the cost of the
programmes to be shared by the developed countries." Id.
Interview with organization leader (name withheld), in Mirzapur (19 Dec. 1995); Interview with organization leader (name withheld), in Firozabad (22 Dec. 1995); Interview
with organization leader (name withheld), in New Delhi (27 Dec. 1995).
Interview with organization leader (name withheld), in Mirzapur (19 Dec. 1995); Interview with organization leader (name withheld), in Firozabad (22 Dec. 1995); Interview
with organization leader (name withheld), in New Delhi (27 Dec. 1995); see also RIGHTS
OFTHECHILD,supranote 33, at 100-07.
See BURRA,supra note 87, at 13-14 (citing the Baroda Operations Research Group's
1984 estimate of forty-four million child laborers in India). Taking into account
population growth and employment trends, that figure would be approximately sixty
million in 1995. Another frequently cited figure is one hundred million child laborers,
a number that corresponds to the government's estimate of all non-schoolgoing
children, who are assumed to be working more than eight hours a day. Official
government figures on the working child population, on the other hand, are based on
the 1981 census and are absurdly inaccurate, with the government claiming there are
only about seventeen million child laborers. A 1994 report by the Indian government's
Department of Women & Child Development, the Indian Council for Child Welfare,
and UNICEF-Indiaconcluded that "the number of working children is closer to 90
OFTHECHILD,
million than the figure of 20 million assumed by the government." RIGHTS
supra note 33, at 102.
1997
621
In contrast to the frequent lip service paid to child labor problems, the
Indian government has stayed largely quiet on the topic of debt bondage.
Although the pledging of child labor was outlawed in 1933,225bonded labor
overall was not abolished until 1975, via government ordinance.226The
221.
222.
223.
224.
225.
226.
See CACL, supra note 3, at 8 (stating that the twenty million figure was used by thenPrime Minister Rao on 15 August 1994 when he announced the government's goal of
releasing two million child workers by the year 2000).
See N. K. Doval, Double-speak on Child Labour, HINDU,28 Dec. 1994, at 14; MINISTRY
OF LABOUR(INDIA), supra note 3; COMMISSIONON LABOURSTANDARDSAND INTERNATIONAL
TRADE,
supra note 26, at 3.
See Gerry Pinto, Child Labour in India: The Issue and Directions for Action 2 (1995)
(unpublished paper for UNICEF)("74.8 million children . . . probably engaged in child
OF THE CHILD, supra note 33, at 101 (commenting that ninety million
labour"); RIGHTS
children were not in school and assumed to be working).
OFLABOUR
See MINISTRY
(INDIA),supra note 3, at 2. Preliminary numbers released from the
1991 census include a total population of 844 million people, 298 million of whom are
children under the age of fifteen. Of these children, 221 million live in rural areas and
seventy-one million in urban areas. These numbers are already considered out of date,
with most sources reporting an overall population of 900 to 950 million. India's
population is expected to cross the one billion mark by the turn of the century.
Children (Pledging of Labour)Act, supra note 6.
See REDDY,supra note 13, at 54 (documenting that The Bonded Labour System
(Abolition) Ordinance of 1975 was issued by the central government on 25 October
1975).
622
HUMAN RIGHTSQUARTERLY
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following year, the Indian parliament passed the Bonded Labour System
(Abolition) Act,227 the provisions of which continue to comprise the
government's sole "policy" and "program"regarding the practice of debt
bondage.228
Enforcement of the Act is the responsibility of state governments. The
state governments in turn delegate all enforcement duties, including not
only the release of bonded laborers but their rehabilitation as well, to their
district magistrates.229The district magistrates are directed by the Act to form
vigilance committees, which are intended to form the backbone of Act
enforcement.230
Notwithstanding this delegation of duties, the central government
remains ultimately responsible for the implementation of the Bonded
LabourAct. The government has considerable powers, both budgetary and
rulemaking, in directing the Act's implementation by the states.
According to India's Supreme Court, the state's duty to identify, release,
and rehabilitate bonded laborers is not only mandated by the Bonded
Labour Act, but is also required by the Indian Constitution.231
It is the plainest requirementof Articles21 and 23 of the Constitutionthat
bonded labourersmustbe identifiedand releasedand on release,they mustbe
suitably rehabilitated.. . . [A]ny failure of action on the part of the State
Government[s]in implementingthe provisionsof [the Bonded LabourAct]
would be the clearestviolationof Article21 [and]Article23 of the Constitution.232
227.
228.
229.
230.
231.
232.
233.
234.
ChildSlaves in ModernIndia
1997
623
Because of this blatant disregard of their duty under the Act, thirteen
states are being sued for failing to eradicate bonded labor. The case, Public
Union for Civil Liberties v. State of TamilNadu & Others, was filed in 1985,
but it was not until the mid-1990s that it began to be the subject of
numerous court deliberations, hearings, and directives. Much of the delay is
due to the states' failure to respond to court orders. In 1994, the court said
that "[i]t does appear to us that no significant progress has been made by the
concerned authorities and . . . [their] attitude ... is not enthusiastic as one
would expect in a matter of such significance."240Nearly three years later,
the states continued to drag their feet before the court, refusing to comply
with an order that they file accurate and detailed affidavits regarding the
235.
236.
237.
238.
239.
240.
624
HUMAN RIGHTSQUARTERLY
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241.
242.
243.
244.
245.
246.
247.
248.
1997
625
in convictions.249 At the state level during the 1993 to 1994 year, the latest
period for which data are available, 1,596 cases were filed against
employers.250The number of convictions is unknown; many of these cases
may still be pending.
When convictions are obtained under the Child Labour Act, the
punishment is negligible. Most offenders receive fines of five dollars or
less-just a few hundred rupees, as opposed to the 10,000 to 20,000 fine
stipulated by the Act itself.251 To date, not a single case brought under the
249.
250.
251.
252.
253.
254.
255.
256.
257.
258.
See id.
See Doval, supra note 222, at 14.
See Moore, supra note 167. According to a report by an Indian Chamber of Commerce
and the International Labour Organization, of 4,000 convictions reported since 1986,
3,500 offenders got off with a fine equivalent to five dollars or less. See id.
See Hema Shukla, India Insincere in Ending Child Labor, UNITED
PRESS
INT'L, 12 Sept.
1994.
Child Labour Act, supra note 7, ? 14(1), (2).
Interview with M.P. Vijaykumar, supra note 150.
Interview with senior state official (former District Collector of Tamil Nadu)(name
withheld), in Madras, Tamil Nadu (22 Nov. 1995).
This information was received from various sources at various times. All sources spoke
on condition of anonymity.
Interview with representatives (names unavailable), Indian Council for Child Welfare, in
Firozabad, Uttar Pradesh (22 Dec. 1995); see also BURRA,supra note 87, at xxiii
(reporting that 50,000 of 200,000 glass workers in Firozabad are children).
Srawan Shukla, Childhood Goes Up in Smoke in the "Landof Glass," TIMES
OFINDIA,19
Nov. 1994.
626
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ChildSlaves in ModernIndia
627
document saying he will receive 6,250 rupees, but receives only 3,000
rupees.266
We were unable to find statistics regarding prosecution under the
Bonded Labour Act. It is certain that prosecution under the Act is rare. In
Tamil Nadu, the firstprosecutions under the twenty-year-old Act occurred in
1995, when eight beedi employers were arrested by the North Arcot District
Collector.267The case, which drew headlines in the regional press, was
depicted as a bold "get tough" measure. The agents spent one night in jail
and were fined 500 rupees each.268 The Bonded Labour Act allows for
punishment of three years in prison and a 2,000 rupee fine.269
VI. CONCLUSION: COMBATTINGBONDED CHILD LABOR
Twenty years after its passage, the goals of the Bonded Labour Act-to
punish employers of bonded labor and to identify, release, and rehabilitate
bonded laborers-have not been met, and efforts to do so are sporadic and
weak at best. The bonded labor system continues to thrive, with millions of
children tangled inside it. To eradicate bonded child labor, the Indian
government must do two things: enforce the Bonded LabourAct, and create
meaningful alternatives for already bonded child laborers and those at risk
of joining their ranks.
In addition to genuine government action, it is essential that nongovernmental organizations be encouraged by the government to collaborate in
this effort. The government has the resources and authority to implement the
law, while community-based organizations have the grass-roots contacts
and trust necessary to facilitate this implementation. Furthermore,nongovernmental groups can act as a watchdog on government programs, keeping
vigil for corruption, waste, and apathy. The elimination of current debt
bondage and the prevention of new or relapsed bondage therefore requires
a combination of concerted government action and extensive community
involvement.
Effective vigilance committees must be formed and must, together with
district magistrates, perform their statutory duties of identifying, releasing,
266.
267.
268.
269.
Id.; see also REDDY,supra note 13, at 171 (reporting3,000 instances of fake bonded labor
releases and fraudulent rehabilitation in Rangareddy district of Andhra Pradesh: "[A]
part of the subsistence allowance paid to them was pocketed by the corrupt officials and
politicians.").
Interview with M. P. Vijaykumar, supra note 150.
10 Sept.
Id.; see also 8 Beedi Agents Held Under Bonded Labour Act, INDIAN
EXPRESS,
1995.
Bonded Labour Act, supra note 9, ? 16.
628
HUMAN RIGHTSQUARTERLY
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270.
271.
1997
ChildSlaves in ModernIndia
629
parents, educators, government officials, and the public at large, with the
result that talk of children's labor rights is dismissed summarily. These views
must be pulled out from under the bonded labor system.
In sum, the fight against bonded child labor must be holistic, with a
focus on two fronts: enforcement and prevention. Those employers who
continue to bind children to themselves with debt, paying just pennies for a
hazardous and grueling work day, must be prosecuted. Children must be
removed from bondage and rehabilitated to avoid a subsequent relapse.
Finally, the educational and survival needs of all children at risk must be
addressed in order to stop the cycle of bondage.