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

High incidence of accidents: Accidents continue to take place frequently in cotton ginning
industry as shown by the list of accidents in Kadi. There is need for great amount of advocacy
work with all the stakeholders – employers, state agencies, and workers. Prayas has already
undertaken a study on accidents in cotton ginning factories. However there remains the need to
force the employers to address the issue. The Central Textile Ministry sponsored a technology up
gradation program called Technology Mission in Cotton (TMC). It is unfortunate that this
program has not impacted the accident rate in any manner. Workers’ safety obviously was not a
focus of this program.
Low wages: The wages of most of the workers in ginning factories is below statutorily declared
minimum wages. There is need to take action on this front. Low wages is the primary reason
while only children and adolescents come to work on charkhas. If the Minimum Wages Act is
implemented fully and wages rise, the adult workers will be attracted to work in ginning
factories.
Export market: The advocacy work on poor work conditions in ginning industry can be
impacted by the fact that the output is exported. India has become a major cotton exporting
nation with exports to more than 50 countries. Therefore the issue of labor conditions is likely to
become sensitive. While raw cotton is mostly exported to South Asian countries and China (see
chart on following page), the final product cotton cloth reaches most of the developed world.
Figure 7
Source: Cotton Corporation of India web site
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