Child labour in India: glimmers of hope emerging

The recent child labour racket exposed at a liquor distillery in Madhya Pradesh shows that social standards, poverty and illiteracy all play a part in the ongoing problem of this illegal practice. The 58 child labourers rescued by the federal child rights agency were working not because they wanted to but because they had to. 

When Priyank Kanoongo, chairperson of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), raided the premises of Som Distilleries, a liquor factory in the Raisen district in Madhya Pradesh, with Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA), an India-based children’s rights movement, on 15 June, he and his team found 58 minors - 19 girls and 39 boys - working at the factory. The team discovered children operating machines used for packaging, labelling, segregating and filling the bottles. The youngest among them was 13 years old.

”Children bore burn wounds on their hands from exposure to harsh chemicals and alcohol. They were transported daily by their employer in a school bus and worked 12-14 hours daily,” said the BBA.
In a post on X, (formally Twitter), Kanoongo shared pictures showing the children’s hands with shrivelled, white skin.

On 2 July, Reuters reported that child labourers aged between 13 and 17 were found working during an inspection of the plant by the Madhya Pradesh government. The children were made to fill and pack liquor bottles and were forced to work long hours, the news agency reported. Reuters also reported that some children were allegedly being transported in school buses to carry out work at the factory work.

The government’s inspection report, which has not been made public but was seen by Reuters, says children were working 11-hour shifts starting at 8am. Under Madhya Pradesh state rules, people under 21 cannot work in an alcohol production plant.

Children ‘not given training’
According to a report by the Hindustan Times, the state government said that children working at the distillery were not given training on how to protect themselves from harmful chemicals.

However, in a submission to the state government on 18 June, also seen by Reuters, Som Distilleries reportedly said some children would visit the company to deliver food and medicines to their parents, and no worker was younger than 21.

According to an earlier report by Reuters on 17 June, Som Distilleries said in a statement to Indian stock exchanges that the Raisen plant was run by its “associated limited private company”, which used labour supplied by contractors who may not have carried out proper age verification for workers. Som Distilleries added that the company which runs the Raisen plant was fully cooperating with the authorities and had terminated the services of the “vendor” or contractor, according to the Reuters report.

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mohan Yadav took to X to state that the raid at the factory was a serious matter.

“Received detailed information from the labour, excise and police departments, and direction has been given for taking appropriate action,” he said on X. “Strict action will be taken against the guilty.”

Following the discovery of underage labourers, the state suspended the Som distillery’s licence, but the company has challenged the decision, saying there has been no conclusive finding of wrongdoing.

The suspension of the licence was lifted by the Madhya Pradesh High Court on 28 June. Following the stay order by the court, Som Distilleries said normal operations have resumed at the plant.

Originally founded as a distribution house in 1980, Som Distilleries & Breweries manufactures and supplies beer, IMFL (India-made foreign liquor) and RTD (ready to drink) beverages. Its website describes it as an “internationally acclaimed brand” available in more than 20 markets including the United States, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

Open secret
The illegal use of child labour is an open secret in India, and the practice still occurs in cities, towns and villages.

According to the latest available Census for 2011, there were 10.1 million child workers under the age of 14.

Although the percentage of child workers reduced from five per cent in 2001 to 3.9 per cent in 2011, the nature of employment has changed drastically. 

The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) states that worldwide, the majority of child labour (70 per cent) is found in the agricultural sector. And this is also true for India where 60 per cent of working children are engaged in crop production, livestock, forestry, fisheries or aquaculture, which often involves working long hours and hazardous working conditions. 

According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), hazardous child labour is the largest category of the worst forms of child labour with an estimated 79 million children, aged 5-17, working in dangerous conditions in a wide range of sectors globally, including agriculture, mining, construction, manufacturing, as well as in hotels, bars, restaurants, markets and domestic service.

Hazardous child labour occurs in both industrialised and developing nations, with both girls and boys often embarking on hazardous work at very young ages.

More vulnerable to hazards
Because children’s bodies and minds are still developing, they are more vulnerable to workplace hazards than adults, and the consequences of hazardous work are often more devastating and lasting for them.

Although the Indian government has signed up to the UN’s goal of eliminating child labour in all its forms by 2025, a December 2023 report by the Indian’s Parliament’s Standing Committee on Labour, Textiles and Skill Development, National Policy on Child Labour – An Assessment, warned that it is “practically not possible” for India to meet the commitment. 

Child activists say that although India has taken steps to ensure child labour is stopped, the effectiveness of the government’s methods is debatable. For instance, the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Act of 2016 defines a child as anyone who has not completed their 14th year of age and states they must not be employed in any capacity. In addition, the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act was passed in 2009 to ensure that all children have access to education. However, campaigners say these laws have not fully addressed the issue as child labour continues to occur in many regions of the country.

According to research, child labour is most prevalent in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. It is estimated that over half of the country’s total child labour population works in these five states.

Children forced to work
Activists say that this is largely because many families in these states live on the verge of starvation, which forces children to join the workforce early rather than going to school.

“We need holistic solutions to the grinding poverty that forces children to drop out of school and engage in child labour,” said one anti-child labour activist. “We must target the root of the problem to get children out of factories and mines. So, any ban must offer alternatives such as stable sources of income for parents, food security and accessible schools for children.”

Across India, high rates of child labour and poor working conditions are found in activities such as brick kilns, carpet weaving, garment making, domestic service, the unorganised sectors (food and refreshment services such as tea stalls), agriculture, fisheries and mining.

Mining and quarrying contribute almost two per cent to the country’s GDP, and according to the 2011 Census 8.3 per cent of the total workforce in this sector are children. 

In 2021, after a complaint was registered against cosmetics brand ‘Fenty Beauty’, owned by pop star Rihanna, for allegedly using mica from mines in two remote districts of Jharkhand where child labour allegedly occurred, the world witnessed a crescendo of outrage against exploitative labour practices in the beauty industry. 

Mica, a shimmery, translucent mineral, is the common ingredient of most shiny highlighters, eyeshadows and lip glosses. The natural flaky mineral is prevalent in India, but before it is processed and ends up in beauty products, it has to be mined. And this has often been done by children who are responsible for extracting it from underground mines.

Since children can more easily crawl into narrow tunnels and caves than adults, they have often been employed in mica mining. 

Respiratory problems
Although mica mining poses a serious risk to children’s health and safety, parents have been forced through poverty to send their children into mines instead of sending them to school. However, many children involved in mica mining have suffered from respiratory problems due to exposure to mica dust particles or suffered muscle and back pain from carrying heavy loads. There have also been reports of children suffocating due to a lack of oxygen while mining underground.

Also, mines have frequently collapsed, threatening children’s lives. And since mining mica is unregulated, children are not eligible for any compensation when accidents occur. Families living in the vicinity of mines are aware of the risks, but without the children’s contribution to the family wage, their poverty and suffering would reach unimaginable levels.

In 2004, research carried out by Bachpan Bachao Andolan, an India-based children’s rights movement, found that over 5,000 children were involved in mica mining and the collection of mica scrap in the dumpsites of the mica belts of Koderma and Giridih districts in Jharkhand state. By 2019, this number had increased to more than 20,000.

Withdrawn from mines
However, finally there is a glimmer of hope as Priyank Kanoongo, chairperson of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, declared mica mines in Jharkhand as ‘Child Labour Free’. During a programme organised by ‘Child Labour Free Mica’ in Koderma in July 2024, he emphasised that all child labourers have been withdrawn from the mica mines and are now enrolled in schools.

“Today as I declare that all children are free from exploitation in mica mines and are headed to schools, and not mines, I feel overwhelmed and proud as well,” stated Kanoongo.

“What the joint efforts and will power of Child Labour Free Mica programme, village panchayats, state government and district administration has achieved in these villages is a testament of how consistent efforts and a single-minded aim can ensure safety and justice for children.” Kanoongo added that the announcement was the beginning of the end of child labour in mica mines and that the momentum to end the practice now needs to be maintained.

Bhuwan Ribhu, a well-known child rights activist, who shaped and conceptualised the entire programme, said: “The identification of children in mica mining and collection and their subsequent withdrawal from work and enrolment in schools is a landmark achievement of the government and the civil society organisations involved in the work of Child Labour Free Mica.

“This is an example to be replicated worldwide in the unorganised sector for eliminating child labour in global supply chains.”