Child-and-adult-labour-in-the-export-oriented-garment-and-gem-polishing-industry-of-India

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Child and adult labour in the gem polishing export industry of Jaipur
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also a few who had received education which varied between 7th and 9th standard. The latter
adult workers either were unit-owners or traders. Big exporters often had a higher educated.
Recreation
The interviewed child labourers said that they had no time for recreation, except on Fridays which
are free days for Muslims. The children working full-time had the following schedule: they had to
go home after work and take diner, attended moral tuition in the mosque or with relatives and,
then, had to go to sleep. The girl children were even more burdened with work during the whole
day. Because they stayed inside the house almost the whole day, they either did jobs that were
related to the gem polishing industry, or other jobs, or they helped in the household and took care
of siblings. Also on Fridays, they helped in the household the whole day.
All the children said that they could hardly find the time to play with friends, but the reason for
that was, apart from working in the manufacturing unit, that their parents did not like their
children to roam about in the streets while doing nothing. Thus when the children had free
moments, their parents took care that they spent them usefully. The parents gave their children
moral tuition or let them do other jobs like assisting their mother with going to the market.
Working circumstances
The majority of the manufacturing units were in little verandas at the side of the street or inside
the homes. The units which were outside the homes were often very congested, and had no facilities
for water, and toilets. The streets were used as toilets. In all the units daylight determined the
working hours. When the sun was under the unit stopped manufacturing. During visits to the
units, it was often observed that daylight was not sufficient to see the tiny stones properly, and
this caused the most problems for the workers at the back of the unit. Often you saw a worker
turning his body towards the light to see clearly what stage the gem stone was in at that moment. -
The lighting of units inside the houses was even worse and the ventilation was very poor. The
machines inside the houses were often placed in an inner space with indirect light from other
rooms with one window.
The traders and exporters often had well lit shops whit desk lamps using bulbs, which enabled
them to perform the process of selecting and judging the quality of gem stones etc.
Health hazards
The most heard health problems of children can be summarized as follows:
1. Damaged finger tops. The hand which cuts, shapes or polishes the gem stone, keeps the stone
against the fast moving and circulating disc. This often caused blisters or cuts in the fingers. The
finger with the wound had to be dipped continuously in dirty water with the polishing agents.
This often caused infections. In many visited manufacturing units it was often observed that many
children and adults with wounds on their fingers had put balloons around them in order to
continue working. One person who ran a medical shop in Chandpole Bazar, in the centre of the
city, said during a talk that 'every month around 12 to 14 children younger than 14 years of age
came to his shop with infected finger tips'.
2. Back ache. Often children complained about pain in the back and stiff legs due to sitting in the
same cramped position for 8 to 10 hours per day. The adults had the same complaints.