Child Labor in Cotton Ginning Report.pdf - International Labor ...

Chapter 4
Recommendations
Anil Mangla who lost his right hand in Umapati Ginning Mill Kadi comes out of the police station Kadi
accompanied by his mother after being rescued by Prayas, April 13,2012
The industry seems to be generating profits by accessing tribal labor, especially female labor, at
very low wages. Pathetic working and living conditions, high rates of accidents, highly
insensitive post accident processes and rehabilitation of accident victims, non-payment of
minimum wages – these are some of the major abuses of workers’ rights taking place in cotton
ginning industry. While the condition of workers in informal sector in all sectors is bad, cotton
ginning sector seems to be especially immune from all labor legislation. The reason seems to be
the ownership pattern of ginning industry. The ownership of ginning industry is almost
completely monopolized by the Patel community, the dominant landed caste in Gujarat. This
Community exercises a strong grip on political power. A number of elected representatives from
this community are the mill owners.
The study findings point towards a number of areas where advocacy work will be needed. These
are
Child labor: There is high incidence of children below 14 years employed in cotton ginning
factories. Employment of children below 14 years in factories is prohibited under the Child
Labor Act in India. The Right to Education Act makes it mandatory that all children below 14
years must be in school. Even employment of children between the age of 15 to 18 in factories is
highly problematic and needs to be opposed. However so far it has been very difficult to track
children inside factories. There is need to think of novel ways by which this issue should be
brought up.
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