Child Labour in the silk industry

Hundreds and thousands of children are toiling as bonded labor in India’s silk industry and the government is not able to do anything to protect their rights. Those children who are working in India’s silk industry are virtually slaves.

Human rights organizations are calling on India to free these children from bonded labor and rehabilitate them. The children are bound to work for their employers in exchange of the loan taken by their parents or families, and are unable to leave because of the debt. They are also paid very paltry sum for their labour. Most of these children are Dalits. Dalits are called untouchables and belong to the lowest level in the hierarchy of the Indian caste system.
Contrary to the Indian governments claim bonded children are very conspicuous In India everywhere. Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu form the core of India’s silk and sari industry. Bonded children as young as five work for more them twelve hours a day in the silk industry, at different levels of production. They toil for nearly seven days a week, breathing smoky fumes from the silk making machinery. These children squat near cramped looms to help and assist workers in dim and damp rooms. They are required to dip their little hands in boiling hot water that causes blisters and handle dead worms which breed infections. Twisting thread which injure their fingers is also a part of the silk making process. Their attempts to attend school are met with protest and physical violence by their employers. Their adulthood is impoverished, illiterate and damaged by the weight of their childhood.

The southern state of Karnataka is a major silk producing state in India. It is the major producer of Indian silk thread. The production depends completely on the labor of bonded children under the age of fourteen. Most of the bonded children are either Muslims or Dalits. Children as young as nine years are tied and beaten with belts if they don’t do they work properly by the supervisors and owners in these industries.

Bonded children are less common in the carpet Industry in Uttar Pradesh compared to the silk industry. Child labor laws have been better imposed in the carpet industry due to strong pressure from domestic and international activists

FRANSICCA'S BLOG

http://sachlicheromanze.blogspot.com/2009/09/kindergarten-2.html

causes of child labour

Some common causes of child labor are poverty, parental illiteracy, social apathy, ignorance, lack of education and exposure, exploitation of cheap and unorganized labor. The family practice to inculcate traditional skills in children also pulls little ones inexorably in the trap of child labor, as they never get the opportunity to learn anything else.
Absence of compulsory education at the primary level, parental ignorance regarding the bad effects of child labor, the ineffictivity of child labor laws in terms of implementation, non availability and non accessibility of schools, boring and unpractical school curriculum and cheap child labor are some other factors which encourages the phenomenon of child labor. It is also very difficult for immature minds and undeveloped bodies to understand and organize them selves against exploitation in the absence of adult guidance.

Child labor in India is a human right issue for the whole world. It is a serious and extensive problem, with many children under the age of fourteen working in carpet making factories, glass blowing units and making fireworks with bare little hands. According to the statistics given by Indian government there are 20 million child laborers in the country, while other agencies claim that it is 50 million.
The situation of child laborers in India is desperate. Children work for eight hours at a stretch with only a small break for meals. The meals are also frugal and the children are ill nourished. Most of the migrant children who cannot go home, sleep at their work place, which is very bad for their health and development. Seventy five percent of Indian population still resides in rural areas and are very poor. Children in rural families who are ailing with poverty perceive their children as an income generating resource to supplement the family income. Parents sacrifice their children’s education to the growing needs of their younger siblings in such families and view them as wage earners for the entire clan.

DIWALI 2009

The day started with celebrations with firecrackers at dawn after puja.
Diwali is one of the seven most important festivals that we celebrate at the school . Diwali festival is very popular among the children for the joy of bursting fire crakers and the sweets they get to eat.Srinath visited the school with his family and distributed sweets.Our main celebrations began by 4.30p.m. Nithesh and Vandhana Rohra visited us with baby Parnika with lots of home made chocolates and crackers.The evening of Diwali was a colourful sight to watch the evening sky.

With the generous contributions made by our friends Dharma Dhenu Prabhu,Sanjay Bajaj,Shri R.N.Sasuvehalli,and Baby Lakshmi S.Ayyer ,Ms.Vedavathi S.Rao,the festival of lights ended happily.

lets do something

Our children are our only hope for the future, but we are their only hope for their present and their future. Zig Ziglar
Public should be made aware of the dire consequences of employing children aged below 14 years for work.Education is an essential part in the life of a child, he said adding that illiteracy among children will increase the unemployment problem. “Parents who snatch the right of education from their kids and forcibly push them into the deadlock of child labour should be treated as enemies of children.A total of 8.7 per cent of the child labourers in the nation belong to Karnataka, i.e.9.76 lakh child labourers in the State in 1991.

LOST CHILDHOOD

Child labour is illegal, several laws have been enacted to prevent exploitation of children below 14 years of age, yet everywhere, we see children from the poor strata of the society being exploited and abused. The IT city is also notorious for employing under-age kids.Many high profile Bangaloreans are known to keep under age kids as servants at homes. On the street, children can be seen doing various chores. While a little girl learns to weave bamboo wares, another child was ‘wise’ enough to sit and sell plastic toys on the street side. The automobile workshops are the worst offenders. They employ young boys for a paltry sum and make them do dangerous works. It’s hard to miss the ‘shoe-shine boy’ and the little girl who is trying hard to sell posters. These are everyday events that we rarely pay attention to. It’s time these children lived better lives.

Jnana Deep School was thus started in 2003 with the objective of providing the basic amenities of life such as food, shelter, education etc. to the underprivileged children of Bangalore bringing a positive change not only in their lives but society as a whole. The journey began by the founders giving non-formal education and food for the Children in and around their locality.In the same year a house was rented to run these activities.
Expansion were made with the provision of giving mid-day meal, uniforms,pre-vocational training, cultural support , health support( mental and physical) , community awareness etc.

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE NGO’s ACTIVITIES IN THE Region

It is our endeavour to create opportunities for higher education of these children by getting them admitted in local govt. and govt. aided schools after primary education. All students are provided with two sets of uniform every year Nutritionalmid-day meal is provided. Supports are being given in physical and emotional aspects of a child regularly with necessary follow up. Technical guidance are provided to choose suitable career path to the children by identifying their hidden talent and interest . Community sensitization programmes are held regularly. Prevocational and vocational trainings are organized in house as well as placed in other training institutions , if necessary .Children also encouraged to take part in various cultural events. Homeless children are sometimes rehabilitated in different boarding schools. The foundation has also planned to have a Half Way Home for these homeless children.

People Behind the Project

President
Chinthalapalli.S.Srinath
Director,Amatra Technologies,
Bangalore.

Vice-President & Project Director
Anandamaya Dasa: A teacher who has speacilised in imparting spiritual and value based education to the younger generation.

Sri Gautham Kulkarni,Bangalore-Advertisement consultant & Graphic Designer