Child Labor, Sweat shops and Street

Vendors

Vasan Sri

A world-wide indignation arose last year when a tall,
dilapidated building collapsed in Bangaldesh killing
nearly 1000 workers at the garment factory inside the
building. Many were young boys and girls in their
teens--call them 'child laborers' or 'teen-age
laborers' --who toil ,often for more than 10 hours a
day. Their wages would range from $2 per day to about
$5 a day--a decent salary by Bangladesh or Indian labor
market rates. The reaction among labor leaders and
do-gooders around the world was sharp and incisive
because the customers for the garments from Bangladesh
are big-name brand makers in the USA and in Europe.
With nearly 30 to 40% of the population below the


poverty line in Bangladesh and India, child labor
becomes a social and economic outcome ,among other
factors. Cheap labor in these countries and other
places are exploited by the big manufacturers and
retail giants from developed nations.. .
But-- an important but-- there are other sides to this
story. From the family angle of these children,
additional income from their work ,not only feeds them,
but also their family---their mothers and siblings.
Most of these young workers--typical age being 5 to 15
years--come from very poor farm communities and they
would have recently migrated to big cities [Dhaka,
Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kanpur, Agra, Bangalore,
Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad--to mention a few]. Often
times, they have a single-parent home--usually the
mother is the sole supporter for all; even if they have
both the parents under the same roof and both of them
working, most often the father is missing or is a
regular drunkard. The wage-earning burden falls on the


woman at home.
I mentioned the garment factory in Bangladesh. Such
factories abound in almost all major cities in India,
Bangladesh and Sri Lanka . The garment export from
these countries could be a few billion dollars per
month. Girls are preferred for such jobs--for
designing, cutting and sewing garments--- with some
sort of training given for 2 to 4 months. In fact I
knew that one of the daughters of my maid servant in
Bangalore, learned garment design and joined a garment
factory at a rather attractive salary of about $200 per
month a few years ago. She was the pride of her family
and was able to support her younger brother for
college education in an engineering school!
Child labor is ubiquitous. Child laborers are found
at construction sites and in machine shops,
auto-garages, gas stations and above all--in numerous
small road -side vendor shops or food stalls [mobile
carts with four bicycle wheels and a wooden pallet on


the top, sometimes with a canopy of colorful plastic
sheets.] The employers are just having no specific
address and would fold up their wares for the night .
This is 'unorganised ' labor sector which is difficult
to control, reduce or eliminate. Note that these food
stalls have their regular clients especially in the
evening hours, for snacks or dinner food.

The child labor force develops in so many ways. Many
of the children are school drop outs and may have no
interest in dull academic subjects. Most of them are
literates, who may have studied up to third grade and
can read newspapers. This is important because they
want to read their daily newspaper and bill boards for
movie shows!
Some are driven to the labor market ---to support their
mothers who are also working in unorganized
sector--often as house maids or vegetable/fruit/flower
sellers on the roads or as tailors ---to educate their


siblings.
They nurse their dreams of becoming a trader or
businessman---to own a shop or a factory or a movie
house or become a labor leader and then a politician!.
Most of them are street-smart----they know how to cheat
others, how others cheat them and how to avoid getting
cheated. I have ,however,found over nearly six decades
of my life and rather intimate knowledge of life in
sprawling, slum-laden Mumbai--that they are basically
honest--- they would take back a bad item they sold ,
repay loan amount and so on..

Silver lining in the cloud
There had been much effort to bring these families
above poverty level and to reduce child labor
population. The government ,with the help of
nationalized banks, have opened up several 'grameen
banks' which give loans to women to start business or
buy equipment and raw materials to produce various low


cost items--garments, hand bags, packaged food items
and so on. The loans may range from Rs 5000 [ about
$80/-] to about Rs 50000 [$800] . Almost all the loans
are repaid with very few defaulters. The Govt also,
along with numerous NGO's [Non-government
organizations] helps to set up women 'self-help groups'
[SHG] by which a group of 3 to 5 women set up a small
business. In many places, cooperative societies and
units are started to sell products from these small
groups at reasonable rates so that middle men are
eliminated from selling efforts. All these have gone a
long way in reducing the child labor population. Yet
there is a long way to go.

Roti, Kapda and makhan
The basic necessities ,in Indian parlance, are always
these three: roti [bread or food],kapda [cloth,
dresses] and makhan [ a house or shelter]. For child
laborers, food is the main thing. If they work in a


restaurant or food stall, free food is provided; so
this adds nearly $2 to %3 in value to their daily
wages. If they have a mother, aunt or grandma, again
food may not be a problem. Fortunately, clothing is
pretty cheap in India and plenty of used clothes are
distributed in many cities. Therefore they need to
spend a little for clothes.
But shelter, a roof over their heads, is a tricky
problem ,in overcrowded cities like Mumbai or Chennai;
Where do they sleep if they had left their homes?
In this, again, the employer may help. He may let the
young worker sleep in the premises of the shop or
restaurant itself. Often I have seen the little hotel
cooks and waiters sleep on the hotel tables in a
corner, tidying up early in the morning. For many
others, the front porch of buildings or shops provide
the shelter. Since most of the days the climate in
Indian ciites is hot and humid , sleeping outdoors is
not uncomfortable and may even be healthy compared to


sleeping in confined spaces; but when the monsoon
begins, a better shelter is needed.
When I made my first stay in Mumbai in the year 1966, I
was struck by nearly hundreds of persons lining up the
deserted railway platforms , with a few bedsheets and
clothes wrapped around on the bare floor. Even today,
many sleep on the railway platforms and luggage sheds
or front foyer of shops . Such is the plight of
homeless, child laborers.


Fun for child laborers
The teen -aged laborers have their own fun activites
---it is not "all work and no play". They take part in
street plays . They play marbles or card games or
cricket in the narrow lanes of Mumbai. Their main
recreation is visiting movie theaters -- at least once
a week.
Annual festivals like Lord Ganesha's birthday and


Diwali ['festival of lights'] are celebrated with great
fanfare and these urchins become fund raisers and main
volunteers.

From Child labor to entrepreneurs
Every child laborer nurses his or her dreams---to own a
shop ['dhukan'], to build a factory ['karkhana' or
workshop, or to own a restaurant. Such dreams and
ambitions drive them towards starting some business of
their own by the time they cross the teen years; it
could be as simple as buying a set of garments at the
whole -sale market and then selling it on the
pavement--spread over a white sheet--on 'open market'
in front of sururban
train station--as I have seen at Ghatkopar on
thursdays.
These kids quickly learn much of basic business
management-- negotiating, bargaining, marking up prices
,accounting,


inventory control, display methods and so on---'on the
job' or from their masters--without any formal degree
in commerce or MBA..Why would they need a college
degree in dull class rooms?
[ It is possible for these kids to get formal
education---complete school education with night
schools and get college degree through evening colleges
available in all major towns. But this route is hard,
because they would be pretty tired at the end of the
day--most of them work from early morning to late
evenings.]

Slippery slope to the underworld
The majority of child laborers are honest and
disciplined. There may be cases of small thefts and
pilfering from shops. But serious crimes are rare
,even in big cities. This is due to the strong family
ties
and religious/ethical moorings. MOst children are


free from drug habits or drinking,except smoking
cigarettes or beedies from time to time.
But there are instances when they are tempted tofall
into traps set by gangsters. They may become drug
pedlars and smugglers. As portrayed in many Bollywood
movies, [for instance "Nayakan" movie]the life of an
underworld don is glorified or justified that some
youngsters from child labor join the underworld gangs.
They become the source of smugglers in the country.

Some Pointers
Where do we go from here?
It is difficult to eliminate child
labor from these developing third-world countries. But
much can be done to improve their living and working
conditions.
1 They can be given sufficient medical care when they
need it; there are several charitable hospitals which
can be mobilised for this purpose.


2 Improve their work environment and restrict the hours
of work very strictly. Safe working conditions and less
harmful atmosphere can be insisted upon.
3 Provide some form of non-formal education near their
work-places; for this, retired teachers and volunteers
can be trained and deployed.
4 Provide some form of pucca shelters ,especially for
rainy days and for winter months .
5 Provide skill training courses,particularly on week
ends and holidays.
6 Inculcate in them healthy life style habits and
saving tendencies.
One would realize that the problem of child labor has
many dimensions and a straight -laced solution of
eliminating them
by legislation may not work at all.
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