Child Labour in Cottonseed Production by Ashok Khandelwal

migrant labour from southern Rajasthan for agriculture work is
18
quite old . For generations, tribal labour is hired for various
agricultural operations. In the recent past when the cottonseed
production expanded, the labour demand too increased to a large
extent. The age old contacts of the farmers of the area with the
tribals helped them in recruiting tribal children. Factors like lack
of alternate employment, quality education, gender
discrimination and so on helped initial recruitment. The lack of
discrimination between child and adult work among large
number of tribal families also helped in widening and deepening
of child labour recruitment from the area with the expansion of
labour demand. With the passage of time many vested interests
have developed in perpetuating and promoting child labour like
Mets, transporters and big contractors. The data (Table 2.3) clearly
suggests that large number of labourers is recruited from southern
Rajasthan.
Table: 2.3 : : Sources of Origin of Migrant Labour
Source area of workers
1. Local Lab
2. Gujarati Migrants
3. Rajasthan Migrants
Source: Farmer Schedule
Number
4
Percentage
0.7
20.3
79.0
The entire recruitment is through Met. As part of our study we
interviewed the Mets of the same farmer whom we interviewed. A
set of questions related to recruitment detail for the year 2007.
The results are given in Table (2.4) below.
117
454
Maximum
2
Table 2. 4 :: Details of labour recruited by Mets by age and sex
Age (In Years)
Below 14 Years
15 to 18 Years
Total up to 18 Years
Adult
Total N=23
Source: Met Questionnaire
24 :: Child Labour in Cottonseed Production
Male
Female
Total
Male
Female
Total
Male
Female
Total
Male
Female
Total
Number
69
87
156
65
86
151
134
153
287
70
32
102
409
Percent
16.87
21.27
38.14
15.89
21.03
36.92
32.76
42.3
75.06
17.11
7.82
24.93
100
25
52
Mean
Negligible
2.78
11.52
18 This is based on our
interactions with the
community spread over last
two years.