A recent study by the National Humans Right Commission (NHRC) looked at the persistent problem of child labour in the textile and garment sector in two cities each in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Their study revealed that child labour, between the age of 14 and 18, was found in these cities, namely – Coimbatore, Tirupur, Bengaluru and Mysuru.
The cities identified are known for their strong textile and garment industry and the surveyed data for Karnataka highlighted that the largest pool of adolescent workers came from the 16 to 18 year age bracket, followed by 14 to 16 years old. Further, the study also showed similar statistics in Tamil Nadu. This study, which took into account the responses from 720 to 790 female textile workers, also furnished that in Tamil Nadu, a majority of them – 51% – fall in the age group of 16 -18 years, while 20.7% of workers were aged between 14 to 16 and about 28% were adults i.e. 18 + years.
In addition, the NHRC’s study also showed that in Tamil Nadu, a majority of child workers were from different parts of the country with Bihar leading the race with 26.6%, followed by Manipur at 17.3%. NHRC in its report, also stated that at 62.8%, the girl child workers were higher in comparison to boys. Among the reasons cited for the child labour in these two states, poverty constituted the main factor with parents sending off their children for employment.
As for the solution, the NHRC report stressed on the need to curb child labour in the unorganised sector and also highlighted the significance of having stringent laws and frequent invigilation, particularly in the unorganised sector. This study also encouraged private companies, who along with Government organisations, should work together to identify solutions for minimising their manufacturing costs, in order to reduce the pressure on textile companies to fall back on cost-cutting measures related to the labour.
