Textile units in Tamil Nadu have grabbed headlines several times in the past for the wrong reasons. Non-governmental organisations, including international organisations, have alleged that child workers are employed in many textile mills and that some units that employ young women do not provide adequate facilities for those who stay in hostels within the mill premises.
Though employment of children has reduced drastically in the last few years and there are only “rare instances” now, the problem seems to persist in an industry that employs about 50 lakh workers directly in the State.
“Thanks to mandatory audits and pressure on industry to comply with norms from western buyers, child labour is almost nil in the garment sector,” says A. Aloysius, founder of Social Awareness and Voluntary Education, an NGO in Tirupur.
But, there are instances of children employed in medium-sized textile mills in areas such as Udumalpet, Dharapuram, Vellakoil, etc., he says.
Further, several north Indian workers have moved to Tirupur for work, with their families, and live in specific localities.
Their families do handwork, such as stitching buttons, and there are cases where they involve the children at home for this work rather than sending them to school.
Though these children do not go to factories for work, they work out of home. This is a development in the last two or three years, he says.
According to him, the State needs to have proper monitoring mechanisms to identify employment of children in such work. Officials, textile management sources, and voluntary organisations say that one reason for employment of children in some of the textile mills is labour shortage.
But, the situation is changing, contend sources in the management. Almost 30 per cent of workers in textile mills in Tamil Nadu are from other States.
With more mills employing north Indian workers, the number of women employed has reduced drastically. Further, the mills in the State are investing heavily in automation. If 40 workers were needed for a facility with Rs. 1 crore investment 10 years ago, it is just 25 to 30 workers now in a fully integrated unit, they say.
Textile industrial associations have said that action should be taken against all units that employ child workers or those who do not provide proper facilities at hostels. They have also come out with systems to encourage compliance with labour norms.
Employable age
There are also problems for mills because according to the Child Labour Act, children aged below 14 years should not be employed.
But, as per ILO convention children aged less than 18 years should not be employed. About 30 per cent of workers in textile mills are in the adolescent age group (ie 15 to 18 years).
With increasing awareness, automation, and more north Indian workers coming in, this problem will not arise any more. More and more mills are going in for 100 per cent north Indian workers or the aged above 18, the sources said.
An official of the National Child Labour Project in Coimbatore says the focus in Coimbatore and Tirupur districts is on textile units and domestic sector. Special drives were conducted among north Indian workers in Tirupur in the last two years and children were rescued.
There will be more awareness programmes and enforcement drives among these workers to ensure children are not employed in any work, the official said.
