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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stones earned higher wages than children who processed semi-precious stones.
- The child labourers mainly performed jobs like joining, rough shaping and final polishing when
precious gem stones were concerned. When semi-precious stones were concerned children also
performed highly skilled jobs like faceting and table making next to cutting, rough shaping,
joining and polishing. A working day lasted 8 to 10 hours for full-time child labourers and 5 to 6
hours for part-time child labourers.
- The majority of the child workers worked in the gem industry because their parents did not want
their children to waste their time. Most parents told their children early in life to start working at a
young age and learn a skill so that they could begin to earn money early in life.
- Child labourers' opinion towards child labour was negative. They had the opinion that children
should be in school. They did not like working and would prefer going to school, but they had to
abide by their fathers' wish. Education would give them better chances for a good job later in life.
- The full-time working children were completely illiterate but got some moral education inside
the mosque or through private tuition.
- The workplaces were poorly lit and ventilated, especially the manufacturing rooms which were
inside the homes. Most of the units did not have washing facilities or a toilet. Occupational health
problems were fingertip wounds, fever, back ache and eye strain.
- Children wanted future jobs which were related to the gem polishing industry or to their school
environment.
- The working girl child was doubly exploited. She was used for income earning inside the house
but also for other employments like embroidery, helping in the household and taking care of
siblings. Due to the Muslim belief the girl was not allowed to go outside the house which
deprived her even more of having a childhood with social contacts and knowledge of the outside
world. When there were more sons in the household, many of them went to school while the girl
had to earn the income. She did the low-skilled jobs like drilling of beads and cutting semi-precious
stones. The girl was sooner withdrawn from school than the boy and was totally illiterate.
She could never make upward mobility neither in wage level nor in higher level jobs.
- Criticism by the Institute of Development Studies, the Indian Institute of Health Management
Research and the Lokh Shiksthan Samsthan (all based in Jaipur) and a teacher at a special school
in Jaipur, revealed that the objectives of the Government's scheme to eliminate child workers
from the gem industry in Jaipur, through non-formal education, employment and incomegenerating
schemes for poor parents of working children and creating awareness of the issue of
child labour, had not been met up till today. The objective of the Action plan to step up the enforcement
of the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act of 1986, the Factories Act of 1948
and the Rajasthan Shop and Establishment Act, had never been achieved, as thousands of
children younger than 12 years of age still were found at work in the gem industry in Jaipur
during this study. Parents and the local community had never been involved in the programme. A