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

Bonded child labour in the synthetic gem polishing industry of Trichy
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Loans
The loans which the parents of the child labourers of this unit had taken, ranged between Rs 500
to Rs 5,000. The debts, i.e. loan plus the ever-increasing interest, could increase to an amount of
around Rs 50,000. It is absolutely impossible for the parents to pay back the debt. Thus, these
children will be bonded for the rest of their lives. The majority of these children's parents were
unemployed. Due to the absence of rain and lacking irrigation facilities, agricultural activities
were not possible. The synthetic gem polishing industry operated all through the year. Thus the
children had to solve the money problems of their parents. Employers were very happy with the
labour of the children because they were cheap and young and thus could work for many years.
The owner of this unit who lived a few kilometres away from this unit was interviewed. The
owner controlled almost all the units in that area. All the workers in the nearby villages depended
on him for work. The workers did not have to pay money to the owner for leasing the traditional
machines. Close to his house he controlled around 200 workers of whom 150 were males and 50
were females. The female workers earned less than the males. The owner said: 'the polishing and
faceting of gem stones is an easy job and if one is sincere, workers can earn more money; but the
people drink a lot of alcohol and use all kinds of drugs'. Of course the owner was silent on the
frustration of people about their unfree labour and the problems they had in paying back the
debts. Nor did he say anything about the enormous psychological stress which was put on the
children who worked in the units in bondage; many of their parents were unemployed and used
their children to pay back their loans. The owner said of course nothing about his role in the
practise of bonding of (child) labour by hiring the (cheap) children.
The owner said that there were also independent workers, but they were still dependent on him
for the supply of raw stones. These workers did not have any knowledge of the market. But there
were some workers who wanted to avoid the middlemen and suppliers of raw materials, and went
to the artificial diamond market in Trichy themselves to buy raw stones.
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7.3 Conclusions
The synthetic gem polishing industry comes almost totally under the informal sector, and units
are scattered all over Trichy and Pudukottai District; therefore, no labour law is applicable, except
the Bonded Labour Act which has never been enforced because the government of Tamil Nadu
does not officially recognize the existence of bonded labour in its state. It means that (child)
labour is not protected by any law, children are unorganized and no collective bargaining agreement
exists to improve their working conditions. Their health is not protected either, as workers
do not have access to statutory benefits like Employee State Insurance (ESI) and Provident Fund
(PF). The labour laws are not enforced.
The synthetic gem polishing industry in Tamil Nadu may generate jobs for many people, but the
prevalent system of debt bondage does not improve the living conditions of the local people.
Children become the victims of the debts which their parents have with employers; children
become 'slaves' to these employers themselves. The bonded child labourers will never have the
chance to continue schooling and, being bonded to their employers, will be unfree for the rest of
their lives without a choice to improve their living conditions, also because they earn a very small