Child Slaves in Modern India

Child Slaves in Modern India: The Bonded Labor Problem
Author(s): Lee Tucker

Source: Human Rights Quarterly, Vol. 19, No. 3 (Aug., 1997), pp. 572-629
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press
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HUMAN RIGHTSQUARTERLY
Child Slaves in Modern India:

The Bonded LaborProblem
Lee Tucker*
My sister is ten years old. Everymorning at seven she goes to the bonded labor man, and
every night at nine she comes home. He treats her badly; he hits her if he thinks she is
working slowly or if she talks to the other children, he yells at her, he comes looking for
her if she is sick and cannot go to work. I feel this is very difficult for her.
I don't care about school or playing. I don't care about any of that. All I want is to bring
my sister home from the bonded labor man. For 600 rupees I can bring her home-that
is our only chance to get her back.
We don't have 600 rupees . . . we will never have 600 rupees.
-Lakshmi,1 nine-year-old beedi roller, Tamil Nadu. Six hundred rupees is the
equivalent of approximately seventeen US dollars.
I. INTRODUCTION
"Bondedchild labor"refersto the phenomenon of children working in

conditions of servitudein order to pay off a debt.2 In India,there are an
* Lee Tucker, former counsel to the Children's Rights Project of Human Rights Watch, is
currently a United States Assistant Federal Public Defender for the District of Arizona. She
received her B.A. in Philosophy, Ohio State University, 1987; J.D., Harvard Law School,
1992. This article is adapted from The Small Hands of Slavery: Bonded Child Labor in India,
a report written by Ms. Tucker for the Children's Rights Project of Human Rights Watch and
published in September 1996. Ms. Tucker gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Arvind
Ganesan in researching and preparing The Small Hands of Slavery.
1. All children's names have been changed. All quotes are from children interviewed by
the author in November and December 1995, except where otherwise noted.
2. See U.N. Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and
Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery, done 7 Sept. 1956, 226 U.N.T.S. 3, art. I(a)
(entered into force 30 Apr. 1957) [hereinafter U.N. Supplementary Convention on the
Abolition of Slavery]. This Convention defines debt bondage as
the statusor conditionarisingfroma pledge by a debtorof his personalservicesor those of a
personunderhis controlas securityfora debt,if the valueof thoseservicesas reasonablyassessed
is not appliedtowardsthe liquidationof the debtor the lengthand natureof thoseservicesarenot
respectivelylimitedand defined.
Id.
Human Rights Quarterly 19 (1997) 572-629 ? 1997 by The Johns Hopkins University Press

ChildSlaves in ModernIndia
1997
573
estimated fifteen million bonded child laborers, and possibly more.3 The
debt that binds them to their employer is usually incurred by a parent, and
ranges on average from 500 rupees to 7,500 rupees,4 depending on the
industry and the age and skill of the child. The creditors turned employers
offer these "loans" to destitute parents in order to secure the child's labor at
an extremely low rate of pay. Typically,the parents accept the loans in order
to meet subsistence needs, pay for funeral or marriage costs, or replace
income lost due to illness or death.
Children sold into bondage work long hours over many years in an
attempt to pay off the debts that bind them. Due to the astronomically high
rates of interest charged and the abysmally low wages paid, they are usually
unsuccessful. As they reach maturity,some of them may be released by the
employer in favor of a newly-indebted and younger child. Many others will
pass the debt on, intact or even higher, to a younger sibling, back to a
parent, or to their own children.
As much as 85 percent of Indian bonded child labor is in agriculture.5
The balance is found in domestic and export industries and in the informal
service sector. Industries with significant child bondage include silk, beedi
(hand-rolled cigarettes), silver jewelry, synthetic gemstones, leather products (including footwear and sporting goods), handwoven wool carpets, and
precious gemstones and diamonds. Services where bonded child labor is
prevalent include prostitution, hotel, truck stop and tea shop services, and
domestic servitude.
Poverty,while significant, is only one of many factors that contributes to
bonded labor in India. Other elements include: an ancient tradition of
slavery and debt bondage; the lack of small-scale loans for the rural and
urban poor; the lack of a concerted social welfare scheme to safeguard
against hunger and illness; a noncompulsory and grossly inadequate
educational system; the lack of employment opportunities and living wages
3.
See
ANTI-SLAVERYINTERNATIONAL,
CHILDRENIN BONDAGE: SLAVESOF THESUBCONTINENT
30
(1991)
(reporting that in 1991 India had fifteen million bonded child laborers working in
OF LABOUR
ANDWORK3 (1995)
(INDIA),CHILDREN
agriculture alone); see also MINISTRY
(containing a statistic from the Indian government that 84.98 percent of all child labor
is in agriculture). Given that agriculture accounts for up to 85 percent of all bonded
child laborers, this figure indicates a total bonded child labor population of approximately eighteen million. Social scientists estimate the total number of India's working
children to be between 60 and 115 million. See CAMPAIGN
CHILD
AGAINST
LABOUR
(CACL),
KIT ON CHILD LABOURFORMEDIA PERSONS(1995)
REFERENCE
4.
5.
[hereinafter CACL].
This equals between fifteen and 220 US dollars, calculated at the late 1995 exchange
rate of thirty-four rupees to the US dollar.
Telephone Interview by Human Rights Watch with Mike Dottridge, Anti-Slavery
OFLABOUR
International (14 Aug. 1996); see also, MINISTRY
(INDIA),supra note 3. These
figures are estimates, as no comprehensive study of child bonded labor has been
undertaken to date.

574
Vol. 19
for adults; an ossified stratificationof occupations, with little opportunity for

upward mobility or intergenerational career changes within families; corruption and indifference among government officials; and endemic societal
apathy. A final, omnipresent element is the caste system, which is closely
intertwined with debt bondage.
Notwithstanding the prevalence of the practice, child debt servitude has
been illegal in India since 1933, when the Children (Pledging of Labour)
Act6 was enacted under British rule. Since Independence, a plethora of
additional protective legislation has been put in place. There are laws
governing child labor in factories, in commercial establishments, on
plantations, and in apprenticeships. There are laws governing the use of
migrant labor and contract labor. The Child Labour (Prohibition and
Regulation) Act of 19867 regulates work hours and conditions for all child
workers and prohibits the use of child labor in certain enumerated
hazardous industries.8 (There is no blanket prohibition on the use of child
labor, nor any minimum age set for child workers.) The most significant
legal protection, for both adults and children in servitude, is the Bonded
Labour System (Abolition) Act,9 which strictly outlaws all forms of debt
bondage and forced labor.10
Despite the thorough coverage provided by these legal protections,
bonded labor among both adults and children is rampant, and prosecution
under the labor laws is relatively rare. When convictions are obtained,
punishments are light and ineffective. In addition, bonded laborers have a
statutory right to economic rehabilitation from the state." This right goes
unfulfilled, a victim of governmental apathy and corruption.12
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Children (Pledging of Labour)Act, No. 2 (1933) (India), reprinted in HUMANRIGHTS

WATCH
CHILDREN'SRIGHTSPROJECT& HUMAN RIGHTSWATCH/ASIA, THE SMALLHANDS OF SLAVERY:BONDED
CHILD LABORIN INDIA 167 (1996) [hereinafter Children (Pledging of Labour) Act].
Child Labour(Prohibition and Regulation) Act, No. 61 (1986) (India), reprinted in HUMAN
RIGHTS WATCH CHILDREN'S RIGHTS PROJECT & HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH/ASIA,
supra note 6, at 169
[hereinafter Child Labour Act].
Id. pts. II, III.
Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, No. 19 (1976) (India), reprinted in HUMANRIGHTS
WATCH CHILDREN'SRIGHTS PROJECT& HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH/ASIA, supranote 6, at 151
[hereinafter Bonded Labour Act].
Id. ?4.
11. Id.
12.
See infra pt. IIIB.

1997
Child Slaves in Modern India
575
II. THE CONTEXTOF BONDED CHILD LABOR

A. Poverty, Tradition, and Caste
Bonded labor is a variation on slavery.'3 In India, it is a traditional workeremployer relationship that dates back more than 1,500 years,14 and
continues today with more than sixty-five million people in its grip.'5 It is
closely linked to caste; an estimated 80 percent of India's bonded laborers
are Dalits (previously, the "untouchables") or are indigenous tribal people,
the adivasi.'6 In some industries, including carpet weaving, 98 percent of
the bonded child laborers are members of these castes and tribes.17So close
is the relationship between caste and occupation, that some academics
believe the caste system itself evolved as a formalization of already-existing
patterns of domination and control, including rigid stratification of occupations.18 Caste considerations are also a factor behind weak enforcement of
the anti-bondage statutes.19
13.
14.
15.
16.
1 7.
18.
19.
See U.N. Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, supra note 2, art. I. A
slave is defined as someone "over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right
of ownership are exercised." Id. art. V(lla). A bondmaster owns the labor of the bonded
worker. The worker cannot seek employment elsewhere, cannot refuse to work, cannot
move away from the town, may be subject to the master's demands twenty-four hours
a day, and may be sold to another master. A worker who resists this control is subject
to severe mistreatment, including beatings and torture. See Reports on Child Labour of
TOTHEEMPLOYMENT
OFCHILDREN
160, 160-63 (1985); Y. R.
Mirzapur, in LAWRELATING
HARAGOPALREDDY, BONDED LABOURSYSTEMIN INDIA 82 (1995); AJOY KUMAR, FROM SLAVERYTO
BONDED LABOURERS
8 (Indian Social Institute, 1986).
FREEDOM:THE TALEOF CHATTISGARH
See generally Uma Chakravarti, Of Dasas and Karmakaras:Servile Labour in Ancient
ANDSLAVERY
ININDIA
OFSERVITUDE:
BONDAGE
35 (Utsa Patnaik & Manjari
India, in CHAINS
CHAINS
OF SERVITUDE].
Dingwaneyeds., New Delhi:SangamBooks1985) [hereinafter
See Citizen's Body on Bonded Labour,TIMES
OF INDIA, 18 Nov. 1994.
OF SERVITUDE,
See Tanika Sarkar, Bondage in the Colonial Context, in CHAINS
supra note
14, at 96, 111-12.
See Rita Panicker, Reckoning with Child Labour: Present Day Strategies and Future
July 1995, at 19. "Scheduled castes" and "scheduled tribes" refer to
Direction, 5 MOLAKE
those castes and tribes enumerated in an attachment to the Indian Constitution as
entitled to special consideration, including some quotas for educational and career
opportunities, in recognition of their historically oppressed status. "Other backward
castes" and "other backward tribes" refer to nonscheduled low-caste groups. See id.
See also Sarkar,supra note 16, at 102 ("Thesystem [of slavery] ... was a product of the
absolute control of peasant and upper castes over the untouchables .... [Almong the
untouchables, whole sub-castes were collectively designated as slaves. In fact, the name
of such a caste and the local term for slaves could be interchangeably used in certain
cases."). See, e.g., REDDY, supra note 13. Reddy continues that "[t]he hereditary
association of a caste with an occupation has been so striking that it has occasionally
been argued that caste is nothing more than the systematization of occupational
Id.at 37 (citingM. N. SRINIVAS,
INDIAN
STRUCTURE
SOCIAL
differentiation."
(1986); P. M. Baxi,
REP.65 (1985)).
Caste and the Law: Some Recent Explorations, in ALLINDIA
See HUMAN RIGHTSWATCH CHILDREN'SRIGHTSPROJECT& HUMAN RIGHTSWATCH/ASIA, supra note
6, at 140-41.

576
HUMANRIGHTSQUARTERLY
Vol. 19
Poverty and a lack of access to credit also contribute to the prevalence

of bonded labor. The majority of Indians are extremely poor and earn bare
subsistence wages. When additional financial needs arise (to compensate
for seasonal declines in earnings or crops, to pay for medical expenses, or to
pay for wedding or funeral ceremonies), there are no savings to fall back on,
and the money must be borrowed.
There are few borrowing options for the poor. Even if a bank or
cooperative society is accessible-and for most they are not-the poor
laborer cannot qualify for a loan, having no security or collateral to offer.
With no institutionalized credit sources to turn to, the laborer is forced to
take loans from a local moneylender or bondmaster. Moneylenders charge
twenty percent monthly interest or more. Bondmasters charge a much
higher rate than this, but it is less visible because it is taken out in labor
value. Many laborers fall into debt bondage as a direct result of borrowing
from moneylenders: they borrow the money, are unable to pay it back
because of the accelerated interest rate, then find themselves forced to turn
to debt bondage-of themselves or of a child-to obtain enough money to
repay the original loan.
B. Education and Employment
[N]o one in the world has been successfulin removingchildrenfromthe labor
force withoutmakingeducationcompulsory.... 20
The Indian Constitution,2' entered into force in 1950, commits the state to
"endeavor[ing] to provide, within a period of ten years from the commencement of this Constitution, for free and compulsory education for all children
until they complete the age of fourteen years."22Currently,less than half of
India's children are in school,23 and the overall literacy rate for the country
is 41 percent.24Among agricultural workers the rate of literacy is far lower.
In one village of 1,540 adult and child bonded agricultural laborers, a
researcher found only one person who was able to read and write.25
20.
See In Search of a Strategy for Elimination of Child Labour, 3 NAT'L LAB. INST. NEWSL.13
(1995) (quoting a statement made by Myron Weiner). See generally MYRON WEINER, THE
CHILD AND THE STATE IN INDIA (1991)
(providing a comparative analysis of the relationship
between national education policies and the high incidence of child labor).
21.
INDIACONST.
22.
23.
Id. art. 45.

See WEINER, supra note 20, at 8.
See id. at 161 (citing BRITANNICA BOOK OF THE YEAR 1990 (1989)).
Interview with Professor B.N. Juyal, Human Rights Watch, in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh,
India (18 Dec. 1995).
24.
25.

1997
577
One reason commonly offered for the low rate of school attendance is
the poor quality of India's primarypublic school system. By all accounts, the
system is grossly underfunded and inadequate, marked by absent teachers,
huge classes, outdated teaching methods, and severe material defects in the
schools and school supplies. A 1995 study by a government-appointed
commission concluded that "[t]he state of elementary education in India is
simply pathetic."26
As of 1990, India earmarked 3.6 percent of its GNP to education, and

this percentage was slated to go up to 6 percent by 1997.27 Therefore, the
deficiency is not in overall budgetary allocation to education, but rather in
funding priorities. India spends less than half of its educational budget on
primary education, choosing instead to subsidize secondary and university
education.28 As a result, according to MIT Professor Myron Weiner, "India
rank[s] second among the twenty-one largest developing countries in the
proportion of its young people going on for higher education, but rank[s]
fifteenth in overall literacy and twelfth in the percentage attending primary
school."29 In other words, India is subsidizing the maintenance of a small
class of highly educated people, while simultaneously marginalizing the
literacy needs of the majority.30
A second reason used to explain widespread nonattendance is the lack

of employment opportunities for children who have gone to school. This
rationale has two variations: first, that schools are so bad, they do not
prepare one for work, and second, that there is no work available for which
these children could or should be prepared. The latter is a thinly disguised
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
COMMISSIONON LABOURSTANDARDSAND INTERNATIONAL

TRADE,CHILD LABOURIN INDIA:A PERSPECTIVE
59 (1995) [hereinafter COMMISSIONON LABOUR STANDARDSAND INTERNATIONAL
TRADE] ("For
instance, 40% of the schools have no black boards, 80% have no benches, 72% have
no books, and 90% have no buildings."); see also CACL, supra note 3, ch. VII (stating
that government policy, which is rarely enforced, stipulates a student-teacher ratio of
40:1).
See e.g., WEINER,supra note 20, at 161 (comparing data on thirty-one low income
countries, including: Sri Lanka, spending 3.5 percent GNP on education, with 86
percent adult literacy; China, 2.7 percent spending, 73 percent literacy; Burma, 1.6
percent spending, 79 percent literacy; Indonesia, 2 percent spending, 74 percent
literacy; Peru, 2.9 percent spending, 87 percent literacy). Thus, the percentage of India's
GNP currently going to education, 3 to 6 percent, compares favorably with education
expenditures of other developing countries. This includes many with similar economic
conditions but much higher literacy rates.
See id. at 93, 96, 106. As of 1985, only 35.9 percent of educational expenditures were
earmarked for elementary education.
Id. at 160.
See id. at 189-90. With few exceptions, it is higher caste and relatively wealthy children
who make it in to the government subsidized system of secondary and higher
education. In order to get there, they go to private primaryschools, where the drop-out
rate is nearly zero. The drop-out rate for public schools, in contrast, is approximately
75 percent. See id.

578
Vol. 19
defense of middle-class employment territory.It is also an implicit reaffirmation of the notion that certain occupations are appropriatefor certain social/
caste groups but not others. "The Indian position rests on deeply held beliefs
that there is a division between people who work with their minds and rule
and people who work with their hands and are ruled, and that education
should reinforce rather than break down this division."31
Instead of bringing all children into primaryschools, government efforts
are focusing on expanding the nonformal education system for working
children. This system, already implemented in more than one hundred
villages,32 enables the child laborer to continue working full-time. It is
intended to provide three hours of education a day (although the author saw
children receiving only about an hour of instruction), focusing on basic and
"nonformal"skills.
Children's rights proponents criticize the government's choice of
nonformal training over meaningful universal education, alleging that the
primary goal of nonformal education is to "provide a system of child
education which does not interferewith child labour."33They point to three
problematic aspects of this "tracking"system. First, students attempting to
study after a full day of work must battle severe exhaustion and fatigue. This
natural barrier to learning is exacerbated by the low levels of preparation
and training offered to the teachers, who are paid minimal wages. Second,
critics contend that vocational training, which comprises much of the
nonformal education curriculum, is irrelevant to children aged five to
fourteen.34Finally, children's rights activists value formal schooling because
it instills in children the possibility of occupational choice.
Thatan educatedchild of a labourerdecides not to do agriculturallabourhas
to be seen as an expressionof individualityratherthanas suppressionof skillby
the educationsystem.No societycan be builton the logic thatan illiteratechild
laboureris betterthan a literateunemployed.35
31.
Id. at 5-6.
32.
4 (1995) (unpublished position paper)

LABOUR:
UNICEFINDIA
POSITION
See UNICEF,CHILD
(explaining that the government has various types of nonformal education centers
operating in 137 of India's 467 districts).
33.
OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

ETAL., RIGHTSOF THECHILD: REPORTOF A
INDIA'S DEPARTMENT
NATIONAL
CONSULTATION
21-23 Nov. 100, 103 (Kalyani Menon Sen & G. Balagopal eds.,
OFTHECHILD].
1994) [hereinafter RIGHTS
34.
See id.
The argument that it is at this stage that an individual is most receptive to skill development has
nowhere been borne out by facts.... In fact, master craftsmen themselves often ensure that their
children are educated to at least a minimum level before being put through training, usually after
the age of fourteen years.
Id. at 105.
35.
Id. at 106.

1997
579
C. "Nimble Fingers" and Other Myths of Child Labor

Employers prefer child labor because it is cheaper than adult labor, easier to
exploit, and readily replenishable. Children labor as long and as hard as
adults but earn a third or less of an adult's wages.36 Children are unaware of
their rights, and in fact do not enjoy all of the rights to which adults are
entitled: under current Indian law children may not form labor unions,37and
legislatively established minimum wages for adults do not apply to them.38
Some employers specify their preference not just for children, but for girl
children in particular, on the grounds that they are the most "docile" of
workers.
A gentler set of reasons is used to justify child labor as a phenomenon
that benefits everyone. These myths of child labor are fiercely and widely
believed. From parents of working children to the highest government
officials, the same myths are heard: children must be trained at the "right"
age or they will never learn a skill; children must be trained in a profession
"appropriate"to their background and class; children are particularly wellsuited for certain kinds of work because of their "nimble fingers"; and child
labor is an inevitable product of poverty.
The "nimble fingers"theory is applied to some of the harshest industries
employing children. This includes the carpet, silk, beedi, and silver
industries. This theory asserts that children make the best product in these
occupations, thanks to their small and agile fingers, which are, theoretically,
better able to tie the tiny knots of wool, unravel the thread from the boiling
silk cocoons, or solder tiny silver flowers to thin chains. Under this view,
child labor is a production necessity.
The myth about being trained at the "right"age (at six or seven years)
contends that children who go to school, postponing their craft training until
adolescence, will either be unable to adequately learn a skill or will be at an
irreparable disadvantage in comparison with those who did begin working
as young children.39
36.
37.
38.
39.
In some piece-rate industries, including beedi and stainless steel, nonbonded children
earn the same rate of pay as nonbonded adults.
OF INDIA,28 Nov.
See also Vinay Pandey, Child Workers' Plea to Form Unions, TIMES
1993 (explaining that The Trade Union Act of 1926 prohibits the formation of trade
unions by children under the age of fifteen).
See Minimum Wages Act, 1948, (No. 11 of 1948) (India). The Act states that "different
minimum rates of wages may be fixed for . . . adults, adolescents, children and
apprentices." Id. art. 3(3)(a)(iii). In addition, the vast majority of children work in
agriculture or the unorganized sector, where minimum wage requirements do not
apply. See id. art. 3(1)(a) ("The government shall set minimum wages for employments
specified in the attached schedule and subsequent amendments to that schedule.").
See R. K. Misra, Preliminary Report on the Child Labour in the Saree Industry of
Varanasi 13 (1995) (documenting a study undertaken by the Human Rights Cell of
Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi) (unpublished report, on file with author).

580
Vol. 19
Finally, there is the myth that poverty alone causes child labor. Against
the background of lack of opportunity and societal and governmental
neglect, however, many children's rights activists scoff at the assertion that
child labor stems from poverty alone. One long-time worker in the carpetbelt offered this assessment: "Povertydoes not cause bonded child labour. If
there are no social welfare facilities in the area, if there is no employment
for the adults, if there is no education for children . . . what else will the
children do, but work? They have no other option."40

III. DOMESTICLEGALSTANDARDS41
A. Indian Constitution
The Constitution of India guarantees the right to life and liberty,42interpreted
by the Supreme Court to include rights dealing with many different areas of
life. Some of these rights are: the right of free movement; the right to eat,
sleep and work when one pleases; the right to be free from inhuman and
degrading treatment; the rightto integrityand dignity of the person; the right
to the benefits of protective labor legislation; and the right to speedy
justice.43 The practice of bonded labor violates all of these rights.
Article 24 of India's Constitution prohibits the employment of children
in factories, mines, and other hazardous occupations.44 Article 39 requires
the state to "direct its policy towards securing" protection for the health,
safety, and morals of workers and children.45The Constitution also explicitly
40.
41.
areavailableat the communitylevel in supportof childrentakingup

Anynumberof justifications
a job at an earlyage. Itis saidthatin orderto ... becomean accomplishedartisanone hasto start
workingat an earlyage. Thosewho startworkingat the "late"age of 12 yearsmightpick up the
craftwithina few monthsbuttheywouldneverbe able to pickup speed in theirwork.As against
this, those startingat the "right"age of six or seven years become very good workersafteran
of 5 to 6 years .... [Thisbelief]ensurescontinuousavailabilityof child labourat
apprenticeship
low wages.
Id.
Interview with Shamshad Khan, Founder and Secretary, Centre for Rural Education &
Development Action (CREDA),in Mirzapur, Mirzapur district, Uttar Pradesh, India (19
Dec. 1995); see also CACL, supra note 3, at ch. VII (arguing that child labor causes
poverty "because it deprives the nation of a skilled and trained labour force, and further
contributes to adult unemployment.").
See generally
HUMAN RIGHTSWATCH CHILDREN'SRIGHTSPROJECT& HUMAN RIGHTSWATCH/ASIA,
42.
supra note 6, at 27-41 (providing a further description of the following legislation as

well as other Indian labor legislation).
INDIA
art. 21.
CONST.
43.
See S. K. SINGH, BONDED LABOURAND THELAW48-51
44.
art. 24 ("No child below the age of fourteen years shall be employed to
INDIA
CONST.
work in any factory or mine or engaged in any other hazardous employment.").
Id. art. 39.
45.
(1994).

1997
581
prohibits the practice of debt bondage and other forms of slavery, stating
that "[t]rafficin human beings and begar and other similar forms of forced
labour are prohibited and any contravention of this provision shall be an
offence punishable in accordance with the law."46
"Other similar forms of forced labour" was interpreted expansively by
the Supreme Court in the 1982 Asiad Workers'Case,47with the court ruling
that unpaid and paid labor alike were prohibited whenever the element of
force or compulsion was present in the worker's ongoing services to the
employer.48 Examples of force include overt physical compulsion and
compulsion under threat of legal sanction, as well as "compulsion arising
from hunger and poverty, want and destitution."49Additionally, the Supreme
Court ruled that all labor rewarded with less than the minimum wage
constitutes forced labor and thus violates the Constitution of India.50
B. Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976

The Bonded LabourAct outlaws all debt agreements and obligations arising
out of India's bonded labor system. It is the legislative fulfillment of India's
constitutional mandate against begar and forced labor.51It frees all bonded
laborers, cancels any outstanding debts against them, prohibits the creation
of new bondage agreements, and orders the economic rehabilitation of
freed bonded laborers by the state.52 It also criminalizes all attempts to
compel a person to engage in bonded labor, with maximum penalties of
three years in prison and a 2,000 rupee fine.53
The statutory definition of the bonded labor system covers all of the
system's many permutations in modern India.54There are variations from
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
51.
52.
53.
54.
INDIACONST.art. 23(1). Begar is an ancient caste-based obligation, a "form of forced
labour under which a person is compelled to work without receiving any remuneration." People's Union for Democratic Rights v. Union of India, A.I.R. 1982 S.C. 1473,
1486 [hereinafter Asiad Workers' Case].
Asiad Workers' Case, supra note 46, at 1486.
Id. at 1490.
Id.; see also REDDY,supra note 13, at 66-92 (discussing Supreme Court decisions
affecting bonded laborers).
Asiad Workers' Case, supra note 46.
INDIACONST.art. 23(1). Consequently, post-Act social action litigation on behalf of
bonded laborers was brought under both the Bonded LabourAct, supra note 9, and the
Constitution of India. See REDDY,supra note 13, at 66-92 (discussing cases).
Bonded Labour Act, supra note 9, ?? 4-6, 14.
Id. ? 16. The maximum penalties for a first-timeoffender are less under the Child Labour
Act than under the Bonded LabourAct in terms of potential length of incarceration (one
year), but the penalties are significantly stronger in terms of monetary punishment (ten
to twenty thousand rupees). Child Labour Act, supra note 7, ? 14(1).
Bonded Labour Act, supra note 9, ? 2(1)(g)(i)-(v).

582
Vol. 19
one part of the country to the next and from one industry or landlord to
another in terms of wages paid, the amount advanced, whether the advance
is considered a type of loan or a type of wage, the hours worked per day and
days worked per year, and the worker's relative freedom from the
bondmaster.55Despite these differences, all are bonded laborers within the
definition of the Act. It is what they have in common that determines their
bonded status: they are working for nominal wages in consideration of an
advance, and they are not free to discontinue their work.
These three elements-an advance, low wages, and compulsion-are
at the core of all bonded labor. The Act defines "nominal wages" as those
that are less than minimum wages or, where no minimum wage has been
set, less than wages normally paid for same or similar work in the same
locality.56
District magistrates (called district collectors in some states) are responsible for enforcement of the Bonded LabourAct.57The district magistrate, an
appointed civil servant, is the top authority at the district level and as such
oversees the work of fifty to sixty distinct departments in government
administration, including the administration of justice.58 In addition, he is
required by the Bonded Labour Act to identify all cases of bonded labor
occurring in his district, free the laborers, and initiate prosecution under the
Act.59 He is also charged with ensuring that available credit sources are in
place, so that freed laborers will not be forced into bondage again.60Finally,
the district magistrate is to create and participate in the functioning of a
district-level "vigilance committee."61The statutory functions of this com-
55. Some bonded laborersreceiveno wages at all, apartfrommeagerfood stipendsand a

yearlychangeof clothing;some receiveextremelylow wages, constitutingas littleas 10
percentof the mandatedminimumwage; some receivea standardwage in theory,but
in fact lose 70 or 80 percentof it, sightunseen,backto the employeras "interest"
on the
advance.Some laborersareworkingto payoff a 500 rupeeloan,othersa 15,000 rupee
loan. Some inheritedtheir debt fromtheir parents;others have contractedfor a tenmonthperiodof servitude.Someworksixteenhoursa day, 365 days a year,everyyear
of their lives. Othersworkten hoursa day, six days a week. See HUMAN
RIGHTS
WATCH
& HUMAN RIGHTSWATCH/ASIA, supra note 6.
CHILDREN'SRIGHTSPROJECT
56. BondedLabourAct, supranote 9, ? 2(1)(i)(a)(b).

Becauseno minimumwages have been
set by the governmentfor children'swork,the second prongof this definitionapplies.
57.
Id.? 12.
58.
Interviewwith BachittarSingh,MirzapurDistrictCollector,in Mirzapur,UttarPradesh,

India (19 Dec. 1995); see also SINGH,supra note 43, at 124-25, 142, 147. Singh
describes multifariousduties of district magistratesand notes that "[n]o District
Magistrate. . . can performall the assignmentsproperly,given to him underthe Act."
Id. at 147.
59. BondedLabourAct, supranote 9, ? 12.
60. Id.? 11 (requiringthe magistrateto secureand protect"theeconomic interestsof [the]
bondedlabourerso thathe maynot have anyoccasionor reasonto contractany further
debt[].").
61.
Id.? 13.

1997
583
mittee include providing for laborers' social and economic rehabilitation,

defending freed laborers from suits for bonded debt, advising district
magistrates, and coordinating efforts to ensure that the Act's provisions are
implemented.62
Despite its references to rehabilitation, the Act itself nowhere specifies

of what this rehabilitation should consist. The gap was filled by a Ministryof
Labour scheme launched in 1978.63 Under the scheme, the central
government contributes half of the rehabilitation assistance allowance due
to every freed bonded laborer, and the state where the bonded laborer
resides pays the other half.64The allowance, determined by a Ministry of
Labour Planning Commission, was originally set at 4,000 rupees. It was
raised to 6,250 rupees in 1986.65
Despite these comprehensive provisions, very few vigilance committees
have been formed or are actually operative. The extent to which bonded
laborers are identified, released, and rehabilitated by government officials is
negligible. The result is that the rights set forth in the Bonded LabourAct are
never realized by the vast majority of those persons the Act was meant to
protect.
C. Children (Pledging of Labour) Act, 1933
This act predates Independence but remains in vigor. However, it is rarely
used or even mentioned in discussions of bonded labor and child labor. This
probably results from the fact that the more recent laws carry penalties that,
62.
63.
64.
65.
The text of the Act provides:

(a)to advisethe DistrictMagistrate... as to the effortsmade,and actiontaken,to ensurethatthe
provisionsof this act ... are properlyimplemented;
of the freed-bondedlabourers;
(b)to providefor the economic and social rehabilitation
(c) to co-ordinatethe functionsof ruralbanksandco-operativesocietieswith a view to canalizing
adequatecreditto the freed-bondedlabourers;
(d)to keep an eye on the numberof offencesof whichcognizancehas been takenunder[the]act;
(e) to make a surveyas to whetherthere is any offence of which cognizanceoughtto be taken
under[the]act;
(f)to defendany suitinstitutedagainsta freed-bondedlaboureror a memberof his family... for
the recoveryof the whole or partof any bondeddebt ...
Id. ? 14(1).
See REDDY,supra note 13, at 163.
See id.
See id. at 176 (citing inter alia Lr. No. Y-1101 1/4/84-BL, dated 14 Feb. 1986, Dir. Gen.
(LabourWelfare), Ministryof Labour,Government of India). There was much discussion
in 1996 of raising the rehabilitation allowance to the more realistic sum of ten thousand
rupees, but the central government failed to do so. The state of Tamil Nadu, however,
unilaterally implemented such a raise in August 1996. Affidavit from the State of Tamil
Nadu to the Supreme Court, filed 20 Aug. 1996.

584
Vol. 19
while lenient themselves, are nonetheless stiffer than those of the Children
(Pledging of Labour)Act.
The Act calls for penalties to be levied against any parent, middleman,
or employer involved in making or executing a pledge for a child's labor.66
Such a pledge is defined as an "agreement, written or oral, express or
implied, whereby the parent or guardian of a child, in return for any
payment or benefit received by him, undertakes to cause or allow the
services of the child to be utilized ...
in any employment."67 Lawful labor
agreements are limited to those made in consideration of reasonable wages

and terminable at seven days or less notice.68The fines for violating this law
are fifty rupees against the parent and two hundred rupees against either the
middleman or employer.69
D. Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986
The Child LabourAct of 1986 does not prohibit child labor per se, nor does
it set a minimum age for the employment of children. Instead, it regulates
the hours and conditions of work for child laborers, while prohibiting the
employment of children in twenty-five hazardous industries.70Three of the
enumerated hazardous industries-beedi, carpet-weaving, and cloth printing, dyeing and weaving-are discussed in this article. Other industries
discussed here are subject to the regulatory aspects of the Child LabourAct.
However, implementation of the regulatory provisions of the Act requires
each state to formulate an Act-specific set of rules and regulations; the
majority of states had not done so as of 1996, ten years after passage of the
Act.
Under the hazardous industries prohibition contained within the Act, a
66.
67.
68.
69.
70.
Children (Pledging of Labour)Act, supra note 6, ?? 4-6.

Id. ? 2 (defining "child" as a person less than fifteen years old).
Id.
Id. ?? 4-6.
The twenty-five occupations and industries where child labor is prohibited are: beedimaking; carpet-weaving; cement manufacture; cloth printing, dyeing and weaving;
manufacture of matches, explosives and fireworks; mica-cutting and splitting; shellac
manufacture; soap manufacture; tanning; wool-cleaning; the building and construction
industry; manufacture of slate pencils; manufacture of agate products; manufacturing
processes using toxic metals and substances; "hazardous processes" as defined by
section 87 of the Factories Act, 1948 (63 of 1948); printing as defined by section 2(k)(iv)
of the Factories Act, 1948 (63 of 1948); cashew and cashew nut processing; soldering
processes in electronic industries; railway transportation; cinder picking, ash pit
clearing or building operations in railway premises; vending operations at railway
stations; work on ports; sale of firecrackerand fireworks; and work in slaughter houses.
Child Labour Act, supra note 7, ? 3, sched. pts. A, B, as amended by Government
Notification Nos. SO. 404(E) (5 June 1989), SO. 263(E) (29 Mar. 1994).

1997
585
first conviction may result in imprisonment of three to twelve months or a

fine of 10,000 to 20,000 rupees.71A second offense is to be punished with
a mandatory six months to two years in prison.72The Act states that any
person may file a complaint under its provisions before any court of
competent jurisdiction.73
The Act also authorizes central and state governments to appoint
inspectors charged with securing compliance. Rather than do this, most
states have added the responsibility for enforcement of the Child LabourAct
onto the existing labor inspectors. This is an undesirable arrangement for
two reasons. First, requiring the labor inspectors to also investigate violations of the Child LabourAct saddles them with an unrealistic work burden.
Even before the 1986 Child LabourAct was added to their responsibilities,
a 1979 report by a government-appointed Committee on Child Labour
found the inspectors overwhelmed by their duties:
The jurisdictionof individualinspectorswas too extensivefor them to keep a
regularwatchon activitieswithintheirpurview .... [Asa resultof] this situation
... there were practicallyno prosecutions... of any violationof existinglaws
pertainingto child labour.74
In addition to being overextended, factory and labor inspectors in India
are notoriously corrupt and susceptible to bribery.75Against this background, there is little reason to expect them to vigorously search for and root
out instances of illegal child labor. Another factor contributing to the failure
of the system is its inefficiency.76The practice that has been established is
that some labor inspectors end up enforcing the Factories Act77while others
enforce the Child Labour Act. Furthermore,a 1995 government-mandated
report on child labor found that "many inspectors were unclear about the
import of laws."78
Even if inspectors were not corrupt and overworked, glaring loopholes
in the Child Labour Act allow manufacturers to escape application of the
law quite easily. First,the Child LabourAct applies to all workshops which
71.
72.
73.
74.
75.
76.
77.
78.
Child Labour Act, supra note 7, ? 14(1).

Id. ? 14(2).
Id. ? 16(1).
WEINER, supra note 20, at 80-81.
See id. (reporting the finding of a government-appointed commission that "rampant
corruption . . . compromise[s] enforcement of child labour laws"). The prevalence of
corruption among factory inspectors, labor inspectors, and others charged with
enforcing child labor laws was confirmed to the author by multiple sources, including
an official of the national government. Interview with R.V. Pillai, Secretary General of
the National Human Rights Commission (28 Dec. 1995).
ANDINTERNATIONAL
ON LABOUR
STANDARDS
See COMMISSION
TRADE,supra note 26, at 40.
Factories Act, No. 63 (1948) (India) [hereinafter Factories Act].
Id.

586
Vol. 19
use child labor in prohibited processes, except those workshops "wherein

any process is carried on by the occupier with the aid of his family."79Most
nonagricultural child labor takes place in the informal sector. In manufacturing workshops, the employer often does have one of his own children or a
niece or nephew working alongside the rest of the children, and this is
enough to take his shop out of the purview of the Child Labour Act. In
addition, according to labor inspectors, social welfare activists, and others
familiar with the informal sector, even if the employer does not have a
family member working on the premises, he is likely to say that he does.
This exception gives government approval to the use of child labor
when the child is a relative of the family under conditions that would
otherwise be illegal. Government sponsored schools and training programs
are also excepted from the Act.80Again, this means that work and conditions
ordinarily deemed harmful to children are considered nonharmful, so long
as they take place under the auspices of an official government program.
The best examples of this exception are the approximately two hundred
government run carpet weaving training centers.81 Carpet weaving is a
hazardous and therefore prohibited industry under the Child Labour Act.
Under the exception for government schools, however, thousands of
children are employed in this industry, with government facilitation and
encouragement. These exceptions are clear violations of Article 24 of the
Indian Constitution, which states that "no child below the age of fourteen
years shall be employed to work in any factory or mine or engaged in any
other hazardous employment."82
Another major loophole in the Child LabourAct concerns the proof of
of
age the child worker. One would expect the employer to carry the burden
of proof that the working child is of legal age. This is not the case. Instead,
the Act puts the onus of proof on the state, stipulating that, in the event of a
dispute between the employer and the government inspector as to a child's
age, "the question shall ... be referred by the Inspector for decision to the
prescribed medical authority."83What this means in practice is that on those
rare occasions when labor inspectors do pay a visit to production sites, they
must pay a doctor to accompany them and evaluate the age of the children.
Even then the truth of the matter of age is not necessarily settled, as
manufacturers are known to bribe the medical authorities, not to mention
the inspectors themselves, in order to obtain favorable results.84
79. Child LabourAct, supranote 7, ? 3.
80.
81.
82.
83.
84.
Id.
See infra text pt. IV(D)(8).
INDIA
art. 24.
CONST.
Child Labour Act, supra note 7, ? 10.
Interview with R.V. Pillai, Secretary General of the National Human Rights Commission
(NHRC), in New Delhi, India (28 Dec. 1995). According to Mr. Pillai, there is frequent

1997
587
Every industry discussed in this article violates the protective regulations of the Child LabourAct. This includes the right to an hour of rest after
three hours of work; a maximum work day of six hours; a prohibition on
child work before 8 a.m. or after 7 p.m.; a prohibition on overtime; a
mandatory day of rest every week; and the requirement that various health
and safety precautions be observed. In addition, the beedi, carpet, and silk
industries violate the Act's prohibition on child labor in certain hazardous
industries.
IV. CHILDRENIN BONDAGE

A. Beedi85
The agentwould beat me with a stick if I was not thereon time, he beat me if I could
not roll 1500 beedies a day, and he beat me if I was tired.I had to roll eight beedies a
minute.If I failed he would beat me. If I lookedaround,he beat me. He made me put
a matchboxundermy chin; if it fell, he would beat me.
-Panjaran, ten yearsold, pledgedat the age of six for a 500 rupeeadvance.
A beedi is a hand-rolled cigarette. With more than 500 billion beedi

cigarettes produced and smoked each year, beedi is one of India's most
significant domestic products.86More than 325,000 children labor in the
beedi industry, most in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.87
Beedi rolling is stationary work; the children sit cross-legged on the
ground or floor all day, with a large and smoothly-woven shallow basket in
their laps. The basket holds a pile of tobacco and a stack of rectangular
rolling papers cut from the large leaves of the tendu plant. The child takes a
collusion between medicalofficersof the governmentand employersof child labor,

who bribe the medical officers in order to obtain certificatesstating the children
workingforthem are above the age of fourteen.Id.Mr.Pillaistatedthatsome medical
officersare "notorious"for engaging in these acts, to the extent that the NHRChas
thatthey file criminalchargesagainstcorrupt
recommendedto some districtmagistrates
ANDINTERNATIONAL
STANDARDS
ON LABOUR
medical officers. Id. See also COMMISSION
TRADE,
corruption. . . compromise[s]enforcementof child

supranote 26, at 40 ("[R]ampant
labourlaws.").
85.
6, at 46-61.
86.
87.
1 Feb. 1995. One crore, abbre50,000 Cr Beedies Consumed Annually, INDIANEXPRESS,
viated as "cr,"equals ten millionrupees.Annualsales equal fortybillion rupees. Id.

ININDIA
LABOUR
xxiv (New Delhi:OxfordUniv.Press
See NEERA
BURRA, BORNTOWORK:CHILD
1955) (citingestimateof 327,000 childworkersin the beedi industry);R.Vidyasagar,A
StatusReporton Child Labourin TamilNadu 8 (writtenfor UNICEF(Madras),1995)
(reportingthatthereare 248,000 child beedi workersin TamilNadu).Otherstateswith
West Bengal,AndhraPradesh,
beedi productionare MadhyaPradesh,Maharashtra,
Karnataka,
Kerala,and UttarPradesh.

588
Vol. 19
paper, sprinkles tobacco into it, rolls it up tightly, and ties it with string. The
tips are closed either by the roller herself or by a younger child, typically
four to seven years old; young children often begin their beedi careers by
working as tip closers.
The pace is rapid, and most of the older children-those over ten-roll
1,500 to 2,000 beedies each day. In order to encourage speed, employers
keep close vigil over the child workers, scolding them or hitting them if they
slow down. Some children are forced to work with a matchbox tucked
between their chin and their neck; in order to hold the box in place, they
must keep their head down and focused on the work. If the matchbox falls,
the employer knows the child has looked away and will punish her or him.
Children working under bondage in the beedi industry work between
ten and fourteen hours a day, with short breaks for lunch and dinner. They
work six and a half days a week year-round, but are only paid for six-the
half day on Sunday is a designated "catching up" day. When children fail to
report to work, either because of sickness or out of rebellion at the harsh
conditions, their employer often will go to their house and forcibly return
them to work.
1. The Structure of Work and Bondage
Often, entire families are dedicated to the production of beedi. Usually it is
the children who work as bonded laborers, with adults managing to buy
their own freedom by the time they reach maturityor marry.For these poor
families, bondage is a cyclical phase, with successive generations repeating
the steps: as children they are bonded, as young adults they buy or win their
release, and as mature adults they eventually succumb to financial pressures
and turn their own children over to the beedi bondmasters.
The structureof debt repayment in the beedi industry is different than in
other bonded industries, where at least some of the child's labor value
serves to whittle away at the principal amount owed. In beedi, the
"advances" given to secure the child workers are not paid off by the child's
labor, no matter how long he works for the bondmaster. In fact, they are not
really advances at all, but loans, against which the child's labor functions as
both surety and interest.
Regardless of the amount borrowed, these loans must be paid back in a
single lump-sum payment. The child will not be released otherwise, no
matter how many thousands of rupees his labor brings to the agent over the
years. This lump-sum debt cancellation is an onerous requirement. Often,
the only way a parent can come up with sufficient funds is by securing a
larger loan from another agent or by bonding another child.
Bonded beedi rollers are paid between 20 and 30 percent of the wages
they would be entitled to on the open market. The remaining 70 to 80

1997
589
percent of the value of their wages is kept by the agents, presumably as

interest. This system results in effective annual interest rates ranging from
300 to 500 percent. The meager daily wages of the children are further
reduced by "penalties," which are often bogus, but are stated to be for
sloppy work or other minor infractions.
A look at the production and earnings of some bonded beedi rollers
demonstrates just how lucrative this arrangement is for the bondmaster:
Twelve-year-old Raju was pledged at the age of eight in exchange for a 1,500
rupee loan. He rolled 1,000 beedies a day, for which he earned six rupees. The
government-established minimum wage for rolling beedi in Tamil Nadu is
30.90 rupees per thousand beedies.88After paying Raju his six rupees, then, the
agent cleared a minimum of twenty-five rupees of labor-cost savings every day,
enough to compensate him for the original loan in a mere two months. Instead,
Raju worked for the agent for four years, netting his employer about 40,000
rupees in the process.
Kalidasbhai, thirteen years old, earned ten rupees a day for rolling 2,000
beedies, netting his agent more than fifty rupees daily. This would have been
enough money to clear the original debt of 2,000 rupees in a month and a half.
Instead, when interviewed, Kalidasbhai was in his seventh year of working for
the bondmaster.
Twelve-year-old Katankariearned five rupees a day for rolling 1,500 beedies.
Her agent kept the other forty rupees to which she was entitled. Had the value
of her labor been applied against her parents' original loan of 1,000 rupees, she
would have been free in three and a half weeks. She was in her fifth year of
bondage when interviewed.
These are typical cases. Other children suffer even more severe
exploitation. Ten-year-old Kumarearned only two rupees a day for rolling
1,500 beedies. The loan taken against him was for 500 rupees. At his rate of
production, his original debt obligation should have been cancelled in less
than two weeks. He worked for his agent for four years before his father,
concerned by the agent's abuse of the boy, managed to free him. Several
other children interviewed also earned only two or three rupees a day.
Children selling their labor freely earn four, five, or six times as much as
their bonded counterparts. Sixteen-year-old Appanraj rolled 1,500 cigarettes
88.
See Pradeep S. Mehta, Cashing in on Child Labor, MULTINATIONAL

MONITOR, Apr. 1994, at
24, 25. The minimum wage for beedi rolling varies from state to state. Established
minimum wages do not apply to children, but are a good indicator of the market value
of labor. Many activists and some government officials are pressing for legal reform to
apply the same minimum wage to adults and children, on the grounds that such a move
would decrease child labor and increase adult employment. Currently, the number of
unemployed adults-fifty-five million-approximates the low end of the estimated
number of working children in India. See id.

590
Vol. 19
a day and earned fifty rupees. Fourteen-year-oldMamta earned forty rupees

a day; before her liberation by a nongovernmental organization, she earned
five to ten rupees a day for the same amount of work. Prabhu, fifteen, was
also freed three years ago and saw his earnings quadruple overnight, from
nine a day to forty a day. Once fairly compensated for his work, he was able
to both pay back the loan that freed him and support his family.
2. Employer Abuses
Punishment is common for a variety of infractions: arriving late, working
slowly, making a mistake in the work, or talking to other workers. Even
missing work because of illness can lead to punishment. Most children
reported frequent scoldings and beatings, usually blows with the employer's
open hand on the arms or head, or beatings on the arms with sticks. Other
researchers have found more extreme examples of abuse at the hands of
employers. Until the early 1990s, the matchbox-under-the-chin form of
compulsion and control was quite common, and even measures such as
chaining children in place were not unusual.89As recently as 1993, a social
worker found a fourteen-year-old beedi roller who was kept shackled in leg
irons. The boy, who had been bonded for 2,000 rupees, had once attempted
to escape, and his employer had kept him in shackles ever since.90 These
abuses have decreased markedly in villages where social activists have
been working to increase public awareness, but there is no evidence to
suggest that the practices have changed significantly in more remote
villages, where intervention has not taken place.
Sumathi, a twelve-year-old girl, is the oldest sibling of five. Three of the
five children are girls, and the three sisters all rolled beedi. The youngest,
eight years old, worked at home as a tip closer. The second, nine years old,
was bonded to an agent three years ago for an advance of 1,000 rupees; she
worked full time as a tip closer, earning only three rupees a week. Sumathi
herself was bonded when she was seven in exchange for a 1,000 rupee
advance. She rolled 1,500 beedies a day, for which she earned five rupees.
My fatherand motherforce me to go to workwith the agent. The agent often
beats me. If I tell my father,he allows me to stay home the followingday, but
then they are pushingme to go again. My fatherand mothersay I have to go.
I don't want to go. I am afraidof my agent. Butmy parentsforce me to go, if I
don't go they scold me and beat me.
89. Interviewwith longtimesocial welfareactivist(namewithheld),in Madras,India(21

Nov. 1995).
90.
A WORLDVISION
OFINDIA
See Jacob Varghese, Freedom at Mid-Day, WORLDVISION:
MAGAZINE,
1993, at 6, 6-7.

1997
591
Everyweek the agent gives my wages to my parents.If it is less money than

usual,they beat me.
Inmy familythere are seven members,so it is difficultto even get enough food
to eat. That'swhy my fathergoes to the agent-to ask for more money. Butthe
agent won't give it, because he says I don't workhardenough. Butevery day I
am being sent back to the agent.
Munirathna, also a twelve-year-old girl, was sold into bondage when
her father died in 1993. She worked for the bondmaster ten hours a day, six
and a half days a week. She was paid twenty rupees a week.
There are six children in Munirathna'sfamily: two boys and four girls.
One boy studies and the other is an electrical worker. Munirathna is the
oldest of the girls, all of whom roll beedi. She stated: "I am very sad that my
father died; so is my mother. Whenever I go to work for the agent he scolds
me. I am very sad with my life."
3. Health Hazards
Rollingbeedi is so hard.We sit all day. My back hurts.I want to be able to play.
-Kumar, eleven-year-oldboy.
Beedi is one of the twenty-five industries classified by the Child LabourAct

as hazardous.91Beedi rollers suffer chronic back pain from sitting hunched
over their work all day. The long hours of maintaining this unnatural
position sometimes interfere with normal growth patterns, causing stunted
growth or physical deformities among those who spend their childhoods
rolling beedi. As adults, these children will be restricted in the types of work
they are physically able to do; they will not be able to perform hard manual
labor and may in fact be restrictedto beedi rolling for their entire productive
lives.92 Large muscle groups are neglected and atrophy during years of
sitting six and a half days a week, for twelve or more hours a day. In the
words of one local beedi activist, the children grow up "small, puny, and
malnourished."93
In addition to back ailments, many of the children interviewed complained of pain in their hands and wrists, which suffer from the constant
repetitive motion of rolling and tying the cigarettes. "My hands would hurt
so bad sometimes I thought I couldn't work," said Chintamani, a twelveyear-old boy who had been rolling beedies for three years. But, as
Chintamani's mother pointed out, he had to work despite the pain. "Ifthe
91.
92.
93.
See supranote 70 and accompanyingtext.

Interviewwith social activist,supranote 89.
Id.

592
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child misses work because he is in pain or sick with fever or disease, the
agent will beat him and take him back," she said.
The damage to the body is cumulative and progressive.
As the workergets older her/hisfingersbecome numb and, unlike a young
worker,an older workerhas to makethreeor fourattemptsto roll a beedi. The
natureof beedi work is such that a workercannottake his/hereyes off it even
fora momentif he/she is to makethe requirednumberof beedies fora day.This
takes its toll on people'seyesightas they grow older.94
The most serious health hazard of the beedi industry is lung disease.
Beedi rollers spend their lives constantly inhaling tobacco dust, and study
after study has shown them to suffer a high rate of tuberculosis, asthma, and
other lung disorders.95Of the twenty-six child beedi rollers we interviewed,
six (23 percent) had parents who were either dead or dying as a result of
tuberculosis.96 If the cycle continues unchanged, in twenty-five years these
children will themselves be dying, while their own sons and daughters
breathe tobacco dust and grow feeble.
4. Domestic Law
In addition to the laws forbidding bonded child labor generally (the Bonded
Labour Act and the Children (Pledging of Labour)Act), child labor in the
beedi industry is regulated by the Child LabourAct and the Beedi and Cigar
Workers (Conditions of Employment) Act of 1966.97 The Child Labour Act
prohibits the employment of children in twenty-five enumerated hazardous
industries, beedi among them.98The Beedi Act prohibits the employment of
children under fourteen in any beedi or cigar factory.99This act, however,
only applies to "industrialpremises," defined as "any place or premises (not
being a private dwelling-house)," where the beedi process is carried on,
with or without the use of power.100
Not surprisingly, after passage of this protective measure, the beedi
manufacturing units began to disperse. Largerolling centers were disbanded
and the contract system grew.'01 Under the contract system, the owner
94. Vidyasagar,supranote 87, at 9.
95. See id. (citinga studyof one beedi manufacturing
village wherein 25 percentof all
beedi rollershad tuberculosis).
96. Interviewswith child bonded laborers(nameswithheld),in NorthArcotdistrict,Tamil
Nadu, India(25 Nov. 1995).
97. Beedi and Cigar Workers(Conditionsof Employment)Act, No. 32 (1966) (India)
[hereinafterBeediAct].
98. See supratext pt. III(D).
99. BeediAct, supranote 97.
100.
101.
Id. ? 2(i) (emphasis added).

See Asha Krishnakumar, Reprehensible By Any Name: Children in Beedi Industry,
FRONTLINE
(Madras), 17 Nov. 1995, at 87.

1997
593
distributes tobacco and tendu leaves to middlemen, who in turn contract

local agents. These agents either employ beedi rollers directly, in the agent's
home, or farm the work out to daily wage laborers. Those who work out of
their own homes usually do so with the help of family members (the
youngest child may close the tips, another may cut the leaves, and so on).
These extremely decentralized processes free the owner and his agents from
worrying about compliance with the law.
As with the Beedi Act, loopholes in the Child Labour Act allow
manufacturersto escape application of the law. First,the Act does not apply
to any workshop "wherein any process is carried on by the occupier with
the aid of his family."102After passage of the Child Labour Act, the beedi
industry intentionally fragmented itself even further in order to avoid
coming within the terms of the Act. By 1996, approximately 90 percent of
beedi rolling took place in private homes, either the house of a contracted
worker or the house of the contracting agent.103In the former case, a child
working with one or both parents is not protected by the Child LabourAct.
In the latter case, a child worker should be protected by the Act, but often
is not. This is because, as previously mentioned, contracting agents lie,
claiming that the children are relatives in order to avoid application of the
law.
B. Silver104
The city of Salem, Tamil Nadu has been a major producer of domesticallyconsumed silver jewelry'05since 1980. An estimated 10,000 children work
in the silver smithies of Salem district.106In one town, there were five
hundred occupants, two hundred of whom were children under the age of
fifteen. One hundred and thirty-five of these children were laboring in the
production of silver.107It is an entirely bonded industry.108
Boys and girls enter the industry in equal numbers, usually between the
102.
103.
104.
105.
106.
107.
108.
Child Labour Act, supra note 7, ? 3.

Interview with R. Vidyasagar, researcher and author, in Madras, India (17 Nov. 1995).
WATCHCHILDREN'S
See HUMANRIGHTS
RIGHTS
& HUMANRIGHTS
PROJECT
WATCH/ASIA,
supranote
6, at 62-73.
The "silver"referredto throughout this discussion is not pure silver, but instead a blend
of lesser metals.
Vidyasagar, supra note 87, at 14.
Interview with Mr. Velusamy, village leader, in village near Salem, Tamil Nadu, India
(30 Nov. 1995).
Background information on the silver industry of Salem was provided by a local
nongovernmental organization, on 30 November 1995. This organization works with
more than 250 bonded child silver workers in the Salem area. It requested anonymity in
order to avoid possible repercussions against its programs or staff.

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Vol. 19
ages of five and eight. Most remain bonded and continue working in the
silver industry throughout their childhood and adolescence. During this
time, they may move from employer to employer, receiving a bigger
advance from their new employer so that they might both pay off their
previous employer and enjoy a small, and temporary, boost in their cash
flow. This new and higher debt must then be worked off or passed on to a
younger sibling when the worker leaves the employer. All girl workers
expect to leave their jobs at the time of marriage. Young men may try to eke
out a living through agriculture, or stay in silver and work their way up the
wage scale. The maximum pay for a man with twenty-five years of
experience is forty rupees a day.
The average advance for a six-year-old is 5,000 rupees. Although
interest is not added to the principal amount owed, the extremely low rate
of wages paid makes for effective annual interest rates in the range of 300
percent. Unlike beedi, agents in the silver industry do allow gradual
repayment of the initial advance. Given the low wages paid, however, only
the oldest and most skilled workers stand a chance of actually paying back
their loans. Beginning children earn one to five rupees a day, while
accomplished child workers earn ten rupees a day. Workers fifteen and
older can make as much as twenty or twenty-five rupees a day; these wages
reflect ten years or more of experience.
Depending on the employer, children work six days a week, six and a
half days a week, or twenty-eight days a month, with the days of the new
and full moon off. The typical work day is twelve hours long, from 8:00 a.m.
to 8:00 p.m. This increases by up to four hours a day during the two or three
months preceding Diwali, the "festival of the lights" and the Hindu New
Year.'09
1. Health Hazards and Employer Abuses
Children work in a variety of jewelry-making phases. They create link
chains, flatten the chains with heavy hammers, and weld on decorations
and fasteners. Children also polish and finish the pieces of jewelry, turning
them from dark brown metal into gleaming trinkets. Each one of these
processes carries its own risk. Several children interviewed showed us their
work scars: cuts and burns on their fingers, hands, arms, legs, and feet.
These injuries are caused by the metal and metalworking tools used to cut
and fashion jewelry, the blowtorches used to weld it, and the acid mixes
used to polish the final silver product.
109.
INDIA90 (1991).
See, e.g., STANLEY
WOLPERT,

1997
595
The detail work of cutting and fashioning chains creates eye strain and
headache. This is exacerbated by the requirement that the children remain
still for long periods of time and work quickly, with intense concentration.
One boy demonstrated how to make a chain. In less than two minutes he
had created four inches of chain, rapidly snapping tiny circles off a tightlycoiled rod and then quickly pinching them together with a pair of pincer
pliers. Children are expected to maintain this pace during their twelve hours
or more of work. In addition to damaging the eyes, there is a constant
danger of cuts to the hands and fingers.
When welding, the children are given no protective masks or goggles of
any kind. The blowtorches used are primitive contraptions, fueled by
kerosene and with an unregulated flame. Because it is detail work, as the
children weld they must keep their eyes near the point of junction, looking
straight into the flame. Welders' eyes sting and tear, their vision becomes
blurry, and sparks sometimes fly into their eyes. Burns from welding and
falling pieces of hot metal are other routine workplace dangers. Two
children reported incidents of hammer heads flying off without warning.
The jewelry-polishing process is extremely hazardous. It requires
children to drop the completed pieces into sulfuric acid until they turn the
bright white of silver. Wearing no protective gloves, they have to mix the
acid as well, and during both the mixing and the polishing stages they suffer
chemical burns on their hands, arms, legs, and feet.
Long-term health hazards include: lung diseases, caused by breathing
the sulfuric acid fumes; tuberculosis, caused by the cramped and unsanitary
conditions; and physical deformities, particularlyof the back, caused by the
long years of working in a hunched and still position.
2. Domestic Law
The Factories Act forbids the employment of children less than fourteen
years old in "factories," defined as workshops employing ten or more
people with the use of power, or twenty or more without the use of power.110
The size of the silver smithies is often large enough to bring them under the
purview of the Factories Act. Several children reported working in factories
of more than ten employees, and one reported working in a factory
employing twenty-five children and a number of adults. Because even small
shops rely on the use of power for welding, the Factories Act would apply
in both such cases.
The Act not only prohibits the employment of children, but also sets
forth health and safety guidelines that are routinely violated by the
110.
Factories Act, supra note 77, ?? 2 (m)(i)-(ii).

596
Vol. 19
conditions and practices of the silver smithies. These include ventilation

requirements where injurious fumes are present,1' a prohibition on the use
of dangerous machines by children and adolescents,12 and limitations on
exposure to chemical and toxic substances."3 Stipulated working hours and
periods of rest14 are also flouted as a matter of course, as are the regulatory
provisions of the Child LabourAct."5
As of the author's visit in December 1995, there had been no effort by
any government official to inspect or control these factories or to enforce the
legal prohibitions on bonded child labor. When questioned by the author
regarding government action and policy in this area, the Salem district
project officer for child labor declared that, "In Salem totally there is no
bonded labourer children. Definitely not."116
3. Testimonies of Bonded Child Silver Workersin Salem
Selvakumar, a twelve-year-old boy, was sent by his parents to the silversmith
at the age of eight because he was "not studying properly."They received a
3,000 rupee advance for their son; his mother later approached the
employer for additional loans, which he gave her. Selvakumar's work
schedule varied according to the season. During the months leading up to
Diwali, Selvakumar worked from 7:30 a.m. until midnight or 1:00 a.m. the
following morning. After the holidays, the demand for silver dropped, and
the silver smithy returnedto an 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. schedule. At the time
he left the shop, Selvakumar was earning 350 rupees a month.
He described the work as very difficult and hot. His job was to weld
small decorative flowers to the jewelry and weld screws on to earrings.
Verysmall pieces haveto be placed in very smalland precisespots.We used a
small wire for this job, like a bicycle spoke. Sometimesthe owner would beat
me withthis hotwire if he thoughtIwasn'tworkingproperly.He would takethe
wire and beat me on the arms.
After three years, Selvakumar ran away from the factory. The first time
he ran away, an older brother found him and brought him back. The second
time, the owner found him at a shelter for street children, but the shelter's
director refused to turn him over to the man. His mother then came and
111.
112.
113.
114.
115.
116.
Id.? 14.
Id. ? 23.
Id. ?41(F).
Id. ?? 51-55, 71.
See supra text pt. III(D).
Telephone Interview with J.L. Poland, Project Officer in Salem, Tamil Nadu (1 Dec.
1995).

1997
597
took him back to the factory, but he did not last long. He ran away a third
and final time. Selvakumar did not returnto his parents' house and assumed
that they had to pay back the original loan. Selvakumar was interviewed at
a shelter for street children.
Manojan, also twelve, could not remember when he began working,
only that it was a long time ago. He worked as a welder, sitting in one spot
from 8:00 a.m. until 8:00 at night. Manojan worked with a crude blowtorch,
welding together the tiny silver links and decorations of bracelets and
necklaces. He had no mask to protect him from the flame, and his eyes
teared continuously from staring at the junction of flame and fine metal
pieces. He earned ten rupees a day.
Manojan's four brothers also worked in the silver smithies. His sister, the
eldest child, also worked in silver, until she married. Then she left the
industry and a young brother was brought in to assume her duty of debt.
Manojan became bonded for a 2,000 rupee advance, his sister for one of
3,000 rupees. She was bonded eight years ago. Despite her eight years of
work for wages one-third of the average minimum wage, her debt to the
bondmaster was never reduced; when her younger brother took her place,
he inherited her full original debt.
Manojansang a song:
My motheris crying;
I'mworkingin a silversmithyat the age of six.
When I went to school the teacher opposed me-"You can't study here! Go
home!"
Now I am as if blind.
Yousend me to the factorybecause we are poor. Butwe will always be poor.
You send me to the factoryto earn a regularincome. But instead of regular
income, I carrythe heavy burdenof a loan.
This loan burdenis my poison.
Vennila, a fifteen-year-old girl, had been working in the silver industry
for five years at the time of our interview. Twenty-five people worked in her
factory (enough to bring it under the provisions of the Factories Act). The
workers ranged in age from five to fifteen and earned between five and
twenty-five rupees a day. She herself earned twenty rupees a day.
She and her brother were bonded at the same time in exchange for a
10,000 rupee advance. Her parents needed the money to pay off a loan
from the local moneylender, who charged a twenty percent interest rate. She
worked from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., six days a week. She was planning to
stop working when she married, leaving her brother to repay the total debt.
We lost all ourchances at an earlyage. When I'mworkingin the shop, I can see
the childrengoing by to school. I wish I were with those school-goingchildren.

598
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Dhanraj, a nine-year-old, showed us the burn scars on his arms. He

began working at the age of six. Dhanrajwas bonded together with his three
siblings after his father fell ill from emphysema. The four children together
netted an advance of 14,000 rupees.
Ramchandran, working in silver since the age of five, was fifteen years
old. He earned twenty rupees a day, working eleven hours a day, six days a
week. He was taken to his first master by his father, who received 100
rupees in exchange. In late 1995 he owed 4,000 rupees, which he was
paying back at the rate of 300 rupees a month-half of his salary. He hated
the work but knew he could not leave until the debt was cleared.
Papu claimed to be seven but had the body of a four-year-old. He
worked eleven hours a day, for which he earned two rupees. He knew that
his father received some money when Papu was firsttaken to the master, but
he did not know how much it was.
Shabnam, a thirteen-year-old girl, had been working in the silver
factories for eight years. She worked all day, with a half-hour for lunch, and
earned thirteen rupees. She was pledged together with her brother for an
8,000 rupee advance. If the master had applied but one and a half rupees
per day of work toward liquidation of their debt, an amount that would have
still left him with the lion's share of unpaid market-ratewages, both she and
her brother would have been freed after eight years. Instead, they said they
would be bonded indefinitely.
C. Silk117
The production of silk thread and the silk saris woven from that thread is a
significant domestic industry, both economically and culturally.18 Two
Indian cities, Varanasi in the north and Kanchipuram in the south, are
famous for their elegant silk saris. A moderate Kanchipuram sari sells for
about two hundred U.S. dollars, more than the annual wage of most
Indians.19
117.
& HUMANRIGHTS
RIGHTS
WATCHCHILDREN'S
See HUMANRIGHTS
PROJECT
WATCH/ASIA,
supra note
118.
6, at 73-89.
BUSINESS
See generally Silk ExportsMay Fall 20 P.C., THEHINDU
LINE,7 Mar. 1996, at 1,
India
available in, <http://www.indiaserver.com/news/bline/1996/03/07/BLBO1.html>.
is the world'ssecond largestproducerof silk,and silkexportscontributesignificantlyto
the country'sforeignexchange earnings,generating$260 million in revenuesduring
1995. See id. Eighty-fivepercent of Indiansilk production,however, is consumed
domestically. See Vidya Sundaresan, Silk ExportsMay Miss Target This Year,THEHINDU
BUSINESS
LINE,22 Nov. 1995, available in, <http://www.indiaserver.com/news/bline/
1995/11/22/BLFPO4.html>.
119. See lan Jack,Introduction,
GRANTA,
Spring1997, at 7, 10 (statingthe 1994 averageper
200 millionof India's950 million
capitaincome in Indiaas $249). Only approximately

1997
599
Bonded child labor is used at all stages of production: reeling the silk
fibers from the cocoons, twisting the fibers into thread, dyeing the silk,
preparing the looms for weaving, weaving itself, and assisting the master
weavers with the most complex work. This article discusses two main stages
of production: silk reeling and twisting, and silk handlooms.'20 The rate of
bondage for these child workers is 100 percent.'21

It is not unusual for children as young as five to begin working in the
silk industry. Some work alongside their bonded parents, assisting them as
they weave fine saris. Others are contracted out to silk twisting factories or
work locally as silk reelers, pulling the fine threads off the boiling cocoons.
Still others are bonded to employers of relatively modest means, who may
have only two looms in their houses and their own children working
alongside the bonded children. All of these children earn very low wages,
typically ten rupees a day or less, suffer occupational hazards and the threat
of employer abuse, and are not free to leave their employer for any reason.
They are, in the words of one researcher, "cage-birds . . . condemned from
their very birth to be captive workers."'22
1. Silk Reeling and Twisting
Ninety percent of India's silk thread is produced in the southern state of
Karnataka,where approximately 400,000 people make their living on the
cultivation of silkworms or the production of silk thread.'23An estimated
100,000
of these workers are children.124
a. Silk Reeling
Reeling is the process by which the silk filaments are pulled off the cocoon.
The cocoons are cooked in boiling water in order to loosen the sericin, a
120.
121.
122.
123.
124.
inhabitants are middle class or above, indicating that the majority of Indians earn well
below this national average. See Cosmetics Sector Poised for a Leap, TIMES
OF INDIA, 12
Dec. 1995, at 5.
There is also significant bonded child labor in the silk powerloom industry, with at least
35,000 bonded children working the powerlooms of Tamil Nadu alone. Interview with
R. Vidyasagar, supra note 103.
Id.; see also Report of the Commission on Bonded Labour in Tamilnadu, 31 Oct. 1995
at 73, submitted in connection with Madras S.C. Civ. Writ Petition No. 3922 of 1985
(India) (on file with author); Misra, supra note 39, at 10.
Misra, supra note 39, at 3.
Interview with Director of government cocoon market, in Magadi, Bangalore Rural
District, Karnataka(7 Dec. 1995).
No systematic study has been undertaken on child labor in the silk industry of
Karnataka. Nonetheless, a detailed study of one taluk (subdivision of a district) near
Bangalore found 10,000 bonded child silk workers in that taluk alone. See India
Community Development Service Society, survey in Magadi taluk, Bangalore District,
Karnataka (1995) (on file with Human Rights Watch, Kannada) [hereinafter ICDSS
Survey]. Based on this figure, an overall estimate of 100,000 is conservative.

600
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natural substance holding the filaments together. The reeler dips his or her
hands into the scalding water and palpates the cocoons, judging by touch
whether the fine threads of silk have loosened enough to be unwound.
When they are ready, the worker finds the ends of eight to ten filaments and
gently begins to reel them off. The average length of a single unbroken
filament is 700 meters.125
More than 80 percent of silk reelers are under twenty years of age, with
most of them between ten and fifteen years old.'26As in other industries, the
myth of children having natural advantages and skills is used to justify the
exploitation of young girls and boys in this dangerous work. As one writer
put it, "[m]uch of the manual work ... requires skills and a delicate touch,
for which the supple hands of children are regarded as more suitable."127
The children are not permitted to use spoons instead of their hands when
checking the boiling cocoons, on the theory that their hands can more
easily discern when the threads are ready to reel.128
We spoke with two boys who worked as silk reelers in the Karnataka
town of Ramanagaram, India's largest cocoon market.129Ajad and Marukh,
both ten years old, had been working in the silk industry since the age of
five-Ajad for an advance of 1,000 rupees and Marukh for an advance of
5,000. According to the boys, the advances are given in order to keep the
children tied to the employers and to prevent them from leaving the
factories. If they try to leave they are beaten. The children earn twenty
rupees a day for reeling the threads off the boiling cocoons, as compared to
ten rupees a day for other jobs. Their work hours vary tremendously with
the seasons, depending on market demand and cocoon availability.
We initially identified Ajad and Marukh as silk reelers on the basis of
their hands. Their palms and fingers were white with the thick tracks of
fissures, burns, and blisters.
b. Silk Twisting
Silk twisting (or twining) is the process whereby individual silk threads are
twisted into a strong multi-ply thread. Twisting usually takes place in small
factories with between fifty and a few hundred spindles. In one taluk
(subdivision of a district) alone, there are about one hundred twining
125.
126.
127.
128.
129.
11 (1990).
OFINDIAN
A WEALTH
OFOPPORTUNITIES
SILK:
See SANJAY
SINHA,THEDEVELOPMENT
See id. at 31.
Id.
See Letter from Rudi Rotthier, freelance author, and Marleen Daniels, freelance
photographer, to Lee Tucker, Counsel, Human RightsWatch Children's Rights Project (1
Nov. 1995) (on file with author) [hereinafter Rotthier/Daniels Letter].
Interviews with silk reelers (names withheld), in Ramanagaram, Karnataka (6 Dec.
1995).

1997
601
factories, employing more than 8,000 children, all of them believed to be

bonded.130
The children tend to the spindles, fitting them with thread, correcting
deviations, and performing other routine tasks. Most of the factories we saw
were dark and stuffy, with doors shut and windows barred, filled with the
deafening racket of the clacking machines.
Advances from twining factory owners range from 2,000 to 10,000
rupees. During the first six months of their employment, children earn just
two or three rupees a day, enough for a snack, or, for those living far away,
enough for bus fare to the factory. After this initial "training"period ends,
children earn between fifty paise and two rupees an hour, depending on
their age and skill. The typical work day is from 7:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m.,
not including transit time to and from the factories. Child workers, who are
recruited from all the villages in the area, travel an average of twelve
kilometers to the factories where they work. Many children spoke to us of
their walk home from work as their only pleasure of the day, a chance to
relax and talk with their friends. The walk to work in the morning, on the
other hand, is filled with anxiety. The work is difficult and the days are long,
and they face beatings and scoldings from their employers if they slow
down or ask questions. The bondage in some cases is tangible; a pair of
Belgian investigators who visited the area in 1995 found several instances of
children being locked inside the factories to prevent their exit during the
frequent power outages.131
When they reach the age of seventeen or eighteen, the children are
fired. As adults, they would be entitled to higher wages. Rather than pay
these wages, the employers dismiss them and bring in a new batch of
younger children to take their places.132
i. Testimonies of Bonded Child Silk Twisters133
Mylappa, an eight-year-old boy, had been working in a silk twisting factory
since he was five. There were six members in his family. All six were
130.
131.
132.
133.
See ICDSS Survey, supra note 124.

See Rotthier/Daniels Letter,supra note 128.
Interview with Mathews Philip, South India Cell for Human Rights Education and
Monitoring, in rural Bangalore district (7 Dec. 1995).
We witnessed many children working in the twining factories and spoke with several
of them briefly, usually in view of their employers. We were unable to gain access to
the children in a setting more secure and conducive for interviews. Instead, we relied
largely on information provided by a local social welfare organization, India Community Development Service Society (unpublished materials). Although the particulars of
these three testimonials were confirmed repeatedly by our own conversations and
observations, the testimonials themselves were recorded by the social welfare
organization.

602
Vol. 19
bonded by a single loan of 14,000 rupees, taken by his mother after his
father died.
Mylappa earned one rupee an hour and worked twelve hours a day. He
and the other workers did not receive wages for the frequent periods of
power shutdowns, but were nonetheless required to remain in the factory,
available to do whatever odd jobs the employer might request. Mylappa
was scolded if he arrived late to work, and his legs hurt from standing all
day. When he asked for a raise the owner beat him.
Mylappa's fingers were frequently cut, and his legs and hands were
sometimes injured by the twining machines. When he was injured, the
owner refused to send him for medical treatment. Mylappa explained that
he could not join another factory where he might earn more or be better
treated because of the advance from the current employer.
Mylappa walked two kilometers to work, worked until 9:00 p.m., and
then walked home with his friends. He reported being happy at the end of
the day because the tension was finally over. On the way to work he was
always tense and nervous, thinking about the upcoming long day and the
dangers of the employer and the machines.
Kali, a nine-year-old girl, had been working in a silk factory since her
father died three years earlier. Her mother accepted a 4,000 rupee advance
in order to pay for the after-death rituals and also to feed her family. They
were landless, and her mother worked as a stone cutter.
Kali left home at 7:00 in the morning and returned at 9:00 in the
evening, walking two kilometers each way. Occasionally, she was allowed
to sit for a few minutes when the power went out; otherwise she spent
fourteen hours a day on her feet. She earned one and a half rupees an hour,
for an average of 200 rupees a month. Her employer scolded her fiercely if
she arrived late, and beat her if she asked about her wages. She said she
could not leave his employment until the advance was repaid, but that she
and her mother together did not even earn enough to cover the family's
monthly expenses, much less pay back the loan. Kali had never been to
school.
Pomabhai is a twelve-year-old boy. When he was eight his father took
a 4,500 rupee advance in order to pay for the oldest daughter's marriage. As
a result, Pomabhai was taken out of school and put in the factory, and he
has been working there ever since. "I want to continue my education," he
said. "But first, we have to eat."
c. Health Hazards of Silk Reeling and Twisting
As a consequence of the constant immersion into scalding water, the skin on
the hands of the child silk reelers becomes raw, blistered, and sometimes
infected. As one team of investigators described it, "thousands of children

1997
603
work in these factories, with hands that seem to belong to ninety year
olds."'34 In addition to the skin ailments, reelers frequently suffer from
respiratory problems caused by the constant inhaling of the sericin vapors.'35
The workers in the silk twisting factories suffer pain in their legs and
backs from standing all day without rest. Some of them develop leg
deformities over the years, including bowleggedness. The boys and girls
also suffer occasional injuries, mainly cuts, from the machines, particularly
to their hands and fingers. Many children mentioned injuries severe enough
to warrant medical attention and prevent further work.
The reproductive systems of female children, who comprise seventyfive percent of the silk reelers and twisters, are commonly damaged by the
long-term work in the factories. A recent detailed study of the industry
revealed that girls who work in the silk factories tend to have irregularand
very painful menstrual periods.'36 The symptoms continue even after they
stop working, and among former factory workers the rate of infertility and
miscarriage is extremely high. It is the heat of the factories that causes this
damage, according to medical authorities.'37
d. Employer Abuses in Silk Reeling and Twisting
Abuses common to other bonded industries are found in silk production as
well: verbal abuse, including threats and harsh language; physical abuse in
the form of blows for arriving late, working slowly, or annoying the
employer; and physical abuse by denying the children adequate rest and
recovery time.
Girl factory workers also suffer from sexual abuse at the hands of their
employers. Girls are preferred by owners because they are believed to be
more obedient, docile, and submissive. According to local activists and
investigators, girls are also frequently targeted for sexual assault by the
owners inside the factories.'38The practice is so prevalent that it is difficult
for these girls to later marry-because of the high rate of abuse, everyone
assumes that the factory girls have been "touched," that is, molested or
raped by their employers. As a consequence, they are shunned as potential
brides.'39
134.
135.
136.
137.
138.
139.
Rotthier/Daniels Letter, supra note 128.

See SINHA, supra note 125, at 63.
Interview with Mathews Philip, supra note 132. Interview with female leatherworker
(name withheld), in Amber, Tamil Nadu (26 Nov. 1995) (reporting the same phenomenon in the shoe factories of that town).
Interview with Mathews Philip, supra note 128.
Id.
Id.

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2. Silk Weaving
The greatest concentration of silk weavers is found in and around the city of
Kanchipuram, located in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, and the city of
Varanasi, located in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. In Kanchipuram,
40,000 to 50,000 children work in bondage on the silk handlooms,'40while
in Varanasithe number of bonded child laborers working on the handlooms
is approximately 85,000.141 Most of the children serve as assistants to the
adult master weavers, preparing the looms for weaving and then sitting
beside the master weavers all day long, helping to lift the warp threads and
manually feed the weft threads for the intricate designs of the silk saris.
Skilled children over the age of twelve may themselves work as weavers on
simple, less-expensive saris.
Children commonly enter the handweaving industry between the ages
of six and nine and continue working in that occupation their entire lives. In
Varanasi, advances reportedly range from 2,000 to 5,000 rupees, while in
Kanchipuramthe advances are the highest of any industry,with children as
young as six bringing in advances of 10,000 rupees and older children
being traded for advances of up to 15,000 rupees. Sometimes whole
families or sets of siblings are bonded together; this is particularly likely to
occur after the death of a father, although it is common to see two-parent
families in bondage as well.
a. The Structure of Work and Bondage
The employers of bonded child laborers range from wealthy owners of large
handloom factories to relatively poor rural employers, who own just a few
looms. An example of the former is a factory owner with whom we spoke
who had 400 looms and 1,000 workers, half of them children. At the other
end of the spectrum is an employer in a poor village who had three looms
in his modest house. One he worked himself, and the other two were
worked by bonded neighborhood children who were secured with advances of 1,000 to 2,000 rupees each. The owner had himself worked as a
child on the looms of Kanchipuram, including two years with no pay. Now,
he considered himself a benefactor to the community. "After learning
myself, I am now giving work to others," he said.
Depending upon the wealth of the loom owner, the size of the factory,
and the age and skill of the child, advances range from 1,000 to 15,000
rupees. As in other bonded industries, the purpose of the advance is to
secure the child's captive labor. Repayment of the loan is not the owner's
140.
141.
Interview with R. Vidyasagar, supra note 103.

See Misra, supra note 39, at 8.

1997
605
priority. In fact, the owner prefers that the debt remains outstanding, and the
low wages paid virtually guarantee that it does.
In both Varanasi and Kanchipuram,children earn between fifty and 300
rupees monthly (two to ten rupees a day), depending on their skill and the
duties they perform. Children over twelve may earn slightly more if they are
working as weavers. These low wages, coupled with the amount of debt
incurred by the children's parents, ensure a long period of servitude.142
Bonded child labor has been illegal for more than sixty years.143Despite
this, both large and small-scale loom owners enjoy the assistance of local
authorities in enforcing child bondage. In Kanchipuram, the manager of a
large handloom factory told us that contracts, or "bond papers," are written
for bondage agreements that involve advances of 10,000 rupees or more.
The parents who are turning over their children (or themselves) are mostly
illiterate, cannot read the contract, and sign it with a thumbprint. If a worker
complains to the police or attempts to escape, the factory owner will show
the police the bond paper in order to prove the worker's debt. The police
then return the worker to the owner.
At the more rural level, where employers have fewer looms and offer
smaller advances, written contracts are not used. Advances are given to
local children only, to lessen the risk that they will run away. When escapes
do occur or when there are other problems with enforcing the debt
obligation, the employers turn to the local panchayat (village elders/town
council) for help in resolving the dispute.144The panchayat will enforce
contracts for the pledging of child labor, and will fine those who have tried
to escape or quit without the employer's consent.
142.
143.
144.
See id. at 10-11.

One cannot become a weaverbeforehe is about 14 yearsof age, dependingupon his abilityto
learnand his physicaldevelopment .... Havingworkedat very low wages as a child worker
beforehe maturesintoa weaver,he would not havethe necessarycapitalto installhis own loom
and to arrangeforthe materialto be able to workon his own. Besides,theremay be the liability
of an advancetakenby his parentswhich has to be cleared.All this forceshim to workon the
loomownedby someoneelse (generallythe loom-ownerwho employedhimas a childworker)on
a piece-ratebasis .... Thusone who startsas a child labourerhas to remaina captiveof the loom
owner for a numberof yearseven afterbecominga weaver .... [T]heexploitationof the child
workercontinueseven afterhe ceases to be a child and maturesintoa full-fledgedweaver.While
his bargainingpower to settle the
workingon the loom of his previousemployer-cum-creditor,
wages remainscircumscribedby his outstandingobligationsto his previousemployer .... The
so
that
a
weaver
not
does
become independenttill he reaches30 or 35 yearsof
system operates
age."
Id.
See Children (Pledging of Labour)Act, supra note 6.
Interviews with loomowners and other townspeople (names withheld), in Vallurayakkam
village, Tamil Nadu (23 Nov. 1995).

606
Vol. 19
b. Work Conditions in Silk Weaving: Health Hazards

and Employer Abuse
Silk weaving is grueling work, requiring speed and precision if the child is
to avoid damaging the expensive weavings. The children typically work
eleven hours a day, six and a half days a week. Some children work even
more. For example, two young sisters near Kanchipuram reported working
every day of the year except for the holidays of Pongol (in January) and
Diwali (in October or November).
Most silk looms are crowded together in dark, damp, and poorly
ventilated rooms or buildings. This crowded work environment encourages
the spread of contagious illnesses among the child silk workers; one expert
named tuberculosis and digestive disorders as "the occupational disease[s]
of the weaving community."145Proper physical development is inhibited by
the requirement that the children sit at the looms for long stretches at a time
with their legs tucked under them or hanging down below in the cold and
damp recesses underneath the looms. This leads to a high rate of back and
leg ailments, including damaged knee joints and rheumatism. Poor lighting
and constant visual strain damage the children's eyesight. Finger cuts from
the silk threads are endemic and difficult to cure; one researcher reported
seeing a boy whose fingers were so raw from cuts that he was unable to eat.
Employers do not provide medical care or first aid to injured workers, and
those who are unable to work receive no wages for the day.
The children work in fear of their employers and the master weavers,
who frequently scold and berate them with harsh language. This "discipline" is reinforced by occasional blows, particularly when the children
make mistakes, which they inevitably do while learning the trade. More
severe punishment may be meted out to recalcitrant children. A study of
child silk workers in Varanasi undertaken by the Human Rights Cell of
Banaras Hindu University in Varanasiwas sparked by a news item in a daily
paper.146The story told of a child assistant to a sari weaver who had been
A photograph of
"beaten up by the employer and placed in iron fetters."147
the shackled boy accompanied the story.
3. Domestic Law
Bonded child labor in the silk industry violates not only the Bonded Labour
Act and the Children (Pledging of Labour)Act, but also the Child Labour
145.
(1985).
B. N. JUYALETAL., CHILD LABOUR:THE TWICEEXPLOITED
146.
147.
See Misra, supra note 39, at 5.

Id. (citing JAGARAN,14 Dec. 1994). This drastic action was sanctioned by the boy's
community and family, being "an approved method of mending the ways of one who
played truant from the work." Id.

1997
Act148 and the Factories Act.149 Despite these prohibitions,
607
not a single
prosecution or conviction is known to have occurred for violations of any of

these laws by employers in the silk and sari industries.'50
The government's failure to enforce applicable child welfare laws
against violators in the silk industry is all the more disturbing in light of the
government's
heavy regulation of151and subsidies to that industry.152 Up to
the point where the silk is twisted, all steps of the sericulture and silk
production industries are regulated by the government. A license from the
state sericulture department is required in order to buy or sell cocoons and
a license, issued only after an inspection by the state, is required for all silk
reeling centers.'53In addition, the government offers extensive subsidies and
incentives to businesses operating in all phases of silk production.54 To
provide this much support to the industry, while turning a blind eye to its
exploitation of more than 250,000 bonded child laborers, is an extreme
abdication of government responsibility.'55
D. Handwoven
Wool Carpets156
The Indian carpet industry is notorious for its exploitation and abuse of child
workers. A typical story, appearing in a New Delhi newspaper in January
1996, reported the rescue of twenty-three bonded child laborers by the
Bonded Labor Liberation Front, an activist group.157The children revealed
that they were forced to knot carpets eighteen hours a day, and were beaten
if they fell asleep or complained. They were given two poor meals a day, but
never enough to satisfy them, "because if we ate to our fill we would feel
sleepy."'58One of the boys was lashed with a whip; another was hit so hard
148.
149.
150.
151.
152.
153.
154.
155.
156.
157.
158.
Child LabourAct, supra note 7, ? 3, sched. pt. B(4) (listing cloth weaving as a hazardous
occupation in which the employment of any child under the age of fourteen is illegal).
Although employment of children as silk reelers and twisters is not forbidden, the
conditions of such work violate the regulatory provisions of the Child Labour Act. Id. ?
13(2).
Factories Act, supra note 77, ?? 2(m)(i), 2(m)(ii) (defining factories where child labor is
prohibited). This definition would apply to all of the twisting factories and many of the
handloom centers.
Interview with M.P. Vijaykumar, North Arcot District Collector, in Vellore, Tamil Nadu
(27 Nov. 1995); see also Misra, supra note 39, at 42.
Interview with Director of government cocoon market, supra note 123.
See SINHA,
supra note 125, at 47, 57.
Interview with Director of government cocoon market, supra note 123.
See SINHA,
supra note 125, at 47, 57.
WATCH
The World Bank is another major funder of India's silk industry. See HUMANRIGHTS
& HUMAN RIGHTSWATCH/ASIA, supra note 6, at 74-75.
CHILDREN'SRIGHTSPROJECT
See id. at 102-117.
26 Jan. 1996.
23 Children Rescued from Bondage, STATESMAN,
Id.

608
Vol. 19
with a metal tool that he had to have the gash stitched closed; a third was
burned with cigarettes when he asked about his parents. The news account
ends with the boys' desires for the future, reporting that "[a]ll the younger
boys want to be policemen, since they believe no one can hurt a
policeman."159
There are 300,000 children working to produce India's handwoven
wool carpets.160Ninety percent of these children, or about 270,000, are
bonded laborers.161In the carpet belt of Uttar Pradesh, where most of India's
carpets are woven, the vast majority of the workers are low-caste Hindu
boys. The number of girls in their ranks is increasing, however, as more
children are brought in from Nepal'62or recruited to weave carpets in other
states.'63 One consequence is that as girls begin to enter the industry in
larger numbers, reports of sexual abuse are surfacing.164
Children are used because they are cheap. A skilled child carpet knotter
will earn at most ten rupees a day, far below minimum wage. Younger
workers earn even less, and bonded workers often earn nothing at all. When
children become adults, they are fired from their jobs on the carpet looms.
Adults are not as compliant as children and must be paid a higher wage. In
addition, older carpet weavers are likely to be disabled, with scarred hands
and ruined eyesight.
Built on the backs of children, the carpet industry is one of India's most
lucrative. Carpet exports totalled more than half a billion dollars in 1994
and $650 million in 1995.165There are currently more than 2,000 carpet
exporters in India, representing a one hundred-fold increase in about two
decades.166
1. Mirzapur-Bhadohi: "The Carpet-Belt"

Between 75 and 80 percent of India's handwoven wool carpets are produced in the "carpet belt" of Uttar Pradesh. Centered around the two towns
159.
160.
161.
162.
163.
164.
165.
166.
Id.
See Mehta, supra note 88, at 24.
See Ela Dutt, Rug Firms With No Child Labor Need Help, INDIAABROAD, 3 Feb. 1995, at
16.
See Hamish McDonald, Boys of Bondage: Child Labour, Though Banned, is Rampant,
FAR EASTERN
ECONOMICREVIEW,9 July 1992, at 18, 19.
See infra text pt. IV(D)(1).
See McDonald, supra note 162, at 19 (citing increasing reports of rape and other sexual
abuse against Nepali girls working in the Indian carpet industry).
See Mirzapur Carpets-Taking Exports to a New High, ECONOMICTIMES, 10 June 1996.
Germany and the United States together account for 60 percent of the export market;
other major importers include Britain,Japan, Canada, Sweden, Australia, France, Italy,
and Switzerland. See id.
See EdwardA. Gargan, Bound to Looms by Poverty and Fear, Boys in India Make a Few
Men Rich, N.Y. TIMES,9 July 1992, at A8.

1997
609
of Mirzapur and Bhadohi, the carpet belt includes about 2,000 villages.'67
Seventy-five percent of the carpet-makers in this region are children.168
Three types of child laborers work in the carpet belt: migrant bonded
labor, local bonded labor, and wage earners. The worst conditions and most
severe bondage are inflicted upon the migrant children, most of whom are
trafficked into the carpet belt from the poor neighboring state of Bihar.Some
are lured in with agents' promises to their parents that the boys will receive
good wages and enjoy a bright future.169Others, estimated to number in the
tens of thousands, are kidnapped into bondage through force or trickery.
Anti-Slavery International, for example, reported that twenty-seven boys
between the ages of five and twelve were kidnapped by their local barber,
who told them that he was going to take them to the movies, so long as they
kept it secret from their parents. He then sold them into slavery in a remote
village of another state.'70
Migrant child labor is common. Of the 300,000 children producing
carpets in India, as many as 50 percent were trafficked from one region or
state to another by carpet agents.171 The majorityof these children are forced
to work several years for their bondmasters, under difficult conditions and
subject to extreme mistreatment. In addition, the migrant children often
have to sleep in the loom shed or in other cold and cramped environments.
Their food allotment is notoriously inadequate. The local bonded children
may not earn higher wages, but at least they are able to sleep and eat at
home.
2. The Structure of the Industry
About 95 percent of handwoven carpet production occurs in a cottage
industry setting. Most loom owners own between one and fifty looms; of
these, the majority have just a few looms and employ a handful of children
to work them. These owners are not wealthy men and often feel that their
167.
168.
169.
170.
171.
See Molly Moore, Factories of Children; Youth Labor Force Growing in Asia to Meet
POST,21 May 1995, at A1 (explaining that
Export Demand, Help Families, WASHINGTON
the highest concentration of carpet villages is in Mirzapur district, but carpet is also a
dominant industry in the neighboring districts of Allahabad, Varanasi, and Jaunpur).
See BURRA, supra note 87, at xxii.
See Ex-Child LabourersMake a Fresh Start, TIMES
OF INDIA,31 July 1995 (documenting
how carpet manufacturers are finding new ways to exploit the poverty of Bihar: in
addition to bringing Bihar children into bondage in the carpet belt, manufacturers are
beginning to bring bondage to the children, setting up thousands of looms in the poorest
districts of Bihar).
Anti-Slavery International, Slavery Today in India, Factsheet B, July 1994 (stating that
10,000 boys have been kidnapped from one Bihar district (Chichoria) alone) (on file
with Anti-Slavery International).
See
PHARISHARVEY& LAURARIGGIN, TRADINGAWAY THE FUTURE:CHILD LABORIN INDIA'S EXPORT
70 (1994).
INDUSTRIES

610
Vol. 19
precarious financial state gives them no choice but to employ bonded child
labor.
At the other end of the spectrum are carpet manufacturers who own
10,000 looms or more. Some of these looms may be located together in big
weaving factories, while others are scattered about in individual houses in
rural villages. Under these arrangements, the loom owner may not even
know exactly where all his looms are, much less visit them on a regular
basis. Instead, the carpet industrialistrelies on a hierarchy of managers and
subcontractors to get his carpets produced. This distancing of the owner
from the actual production process renders legal accountability (for the
owner) extremely difficult, as it is nearly impossible to trace the connection
between local looms and the responsible manufacturer or exporter. It also
undercuts the feasibility of consumer-oriented campaigns that want to label
rugs as "child-labor free," given the difficulty of verifying such a claim.
3. The Structure of Bondage
Many bonded child carpetweavers are paid per carpet rather than a daily
wage. In practice, average earnings work out to between one and ten rupees
a day. However, many young and recently bonded children earn no wages
at all for a period of several months up to one year, during what the
employer claims to be a "training period." In addition, this calculation of
average earnings does not apply to the migrant child workers because these
children may receive no wages, "earning" only two meals a day.'72
Furthermore,some children receive no wages at all on the grounds that all
earnings are being applied toward liquidation of the debt.
Advances to bonded child laborers in the carpet-belt range from 500 to
3,000 rupees. As in other industries, the high interest rates, low wages,
vagueness of terms, and power advantage of the employer mean that
children end up effectively repaying their debts several times over, and still
are not released. Their lives during this time are described below.
4. Testimonies of Bonded Child Carpetweavers'73
The following testimonies are from local bonded laborers, many of whose
fathers are also bonded (primarily in agriculture). Migrant bonded child
172.
See Prem Bhai, The Working Conditions of the Child Weaver in the Carpet Units of
OF
ON LAWRELATING
TO EMPLOYMENT
Mirzapur and Summary of Findings, in DOCUMENTATION
151 (1985). A detailed 1984 study found that approximately 50 percent of

migrant child weavers were paid only in food; another 40 percent of them received only
one or two rupees per day. See id.
Except where otherwise noted, all child testimonials are from author interviews, 19
Dec. 1995, conducted in several rural villages of Mirzapur district, Uttar Pradesh.
CHILDREN145,
173.

1997
611
laborers, as previously noted, suffer even worse at the hands of their

employers.'74
Santosh, a nine-year-old boy, worked as a carpet weaver for one year.

He worked for a local loom owner in exchange for a 500 rupee advance to
Santosh's father, an illiterate and landless agricultural laborer. Santosh was
never paid a single rupee, as the loom owner claimed to be deducting the
wages against the debt. Even if his labor were only valued at the abysmally
low rate of one and a half rupees a day (less than 20 percent of what other
bonded children earn, which is itself less than 30 percent of minimum
wage), Santosh's debt should have been extinguished within a year. It was
not. Instead, Santosh was freed by a local social activist organization,
incurring the wrath of his employer in the process.
Das, ten years old, worked knotting carpets for one year. He was given
one or two rupees on festival days but was otherwise unpaid, on the theory
that this year was a "trainingperiod."
Imran, sixteen, worked on the carpet looms from the age of seven until
he was eleven. He was originally taken in for a 2,000 rupee advance. For
his first year of work, he received no wages. During his last three years of
work, he received an average of two to four rupees a day. The rest of the
wages to which he was entitled were ostensibly withheld for payment of the
original loan.
Shivalinga, a thirteen-year-old boy, stopped working last year with the
support of CREDA,'75a regional children's rights group. He had begun
working at the age of nine when his father, a landless agricultural laborer,
took a 2,000 rupee advance. Shivalinga was paid just twenty-five to fifty
rupees upon the completion of each rug-the equivalent of about one rupee
per day. Had Shivalinga been paid at the rate of just ten rupees a day (which
is far below minimum wage and would itself constitute proof of a bonded
labor relationship), he could have paid off the original loan in eight months
and, in the remaining two-plus years of his employment, earned another
7,000 rupees. Shivalinga's former employer, however, claims he is still
owed the 2,000 rupee advance. The employer constantly harasses Shivalinga's
father, telling him to either pay back the money or remove Shivalinga from
school and send him back to the loom.
174.
See, e.g., Bhai, supra note 172, at 146.

[They are] forced to work for long hours under inhuman conditions for no wages or nominal
wages. Some of them are ... ill-treated, beaten, tortured, abused, branded, kept half fed, half clad,
without facilities or safe drinking water, medicine, or rest, and are not allowed to move freely or
change their employer .... Four children complained that they were tied ... and slung on to a
jackfruit tree, then dropped to the ground several times by pulling the rope upwards and then
loosening it suddenly."
1 75.
Id.
Centre for Rural Education and Development Action, based in Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh.

612
Vol. 19
5. Conditions of Work and Health Hazards

Children work an average of ten to fourteen hours a day, six and a half or
seven days a week. Again, this frequently does not apply to the trafficked
migrant children, who report being forced to work as long as sixteen or even
eighteen hours on a daily basis.176The loom sheds in which the children
work and sleep are often poorly ventilated, poorly lighted, and cramped.
The long days spent in cramped positions damage the children's backs
and legs, causing backaches and severe joint pain. Many of the children
suffer from scabies, skin ulcers, and other dermatological diseases, a result
of the close and crowded conditions and the constant exposure to wool.
Respiratory illnesses are rampant and eye damage is common, as are
intestinal disorders. The children are also particularlyvulnerable to tuberculosis and other lung diseases, which are caused and aggravated by the
constant inhalation of tiny wool fibers.177
Work-caused cuts and wounds are endemic and frequently become
infected. When cuts occur, the loom-owners will "treat"the wounds so that
the children can continue working without dripping blood on the carpets.
This "treatment"consists of scraping the sulphur from match heads into the
cuts and then lighting them on fire, thereby sealing the wound.
By the time the youngstersreachtheirmid-teens,theirfingersand handsoften
are badly damagedfromthe cuts and nicks of the knives and stringsused in
knotting,theireyesighthas grownweak fromlong hoursof tediousworkin dark
rooms, and their growthoften is stuntedby years of sittingin uncomfortable,
hunchedpositionsat the looms.178
6. Employer Abuses
Carpet employers tend to treat the child laborers harshly. One study of child
weavers found that 71 percent reported being beaten for mistakes in
weaving, and they were beaten even more severely if they asked for their
wages or tried to escape.179The following comments from Munni, a nineyear-old former carpet weaver, were echoed by most of the children with
whom we spoke.
176.
See, e.g., Ex-Child LabourersMake a Fresh Start,supra note 168 (reportingon a twelve-
year-oldboy who escapedfrombondageafterthreeyearsof working4:00 a.m. to 10:00

p.m. in a carpetfactoryin Mirzapurand neverreceivingwages).
177. Interviewswith carpetweaversand social activists,in Mirzapurdistrict,UttarPradesh
(19 Dec. 1995); Interviewswith carpetweaversand social activists,in Jaipurdistrict,
Rajasthan(13-14 Dec. 1995); see also McDonald,supranote 162, at 18-19.
178. Moore,supranote 167.
179. See Bhai,supranote 172, at 151.

1997
613
I got beaten if I arrivedlate or if I made a mistake;he was constantlyabusing

me. He hit me on the backand on my hand.I workedwiththreeotherchildren,
and he hit them also. If I did not go to work, he would come to my house and
catch me and beat me.
The migrant children suffer the worst abuses, with numerous reports of
them being beaten, half-starved, and otherwise punished. For example, a
newspaper reported that "Tasleem, a seven-year-old girl with eyes that still
shine in a hollow, emaciated face, longs to returnto Bihar,her home. 'Once
when I cried for my mother, the mill owner hit me with a steel rod,' she
says."180In addition, after their long hours on the loom, they are often forced
to work for the master around his house or in the field, performing whatever
tasks he demands of them.181
7. Rajasthan
We visited several villages in the area of Viratnagar,located in the Jaipur
district of the state of Rajasthan. The carpet industry is a relatively new
arrival to Rajasthan, beginning its encroachment from the carpet-belt of
Uttar Pradesh just five years ago. The incursion of the carpet industry into
these Rajasthani villages is part of carpet's continuing decentralization,
which is a reaction to increasing international condemnation and scrutiny
of the industry's horrendous labor practices. By contracting workers on an
individual basis in tiny and remote villages, the carpet manufacturers make
it nearly impossible to hold them accountable for violations of labor laws
and other protective legislation.
The low-caste Rajasthanivillagers,182for their part, are vulnerable to the
seduction of the carpet middleman with his offers of cash advances and
promises of a reliable career in carpetweaving. The shoemaking that has
traditionally supported these villagers is in sharp decline in today's quickly
modernizing Indian market.183Those who continue to practice the craft
have seen their earnings decline drastically in real terms in the past decade,
180.
181.
182.
183.
Mehta, supra note 88, at 24.

See, e.g., 19 Children Rescued from Bonded Labour, INDIANEXPRESS,9 Nov. 1995
(reporting on a young boy who was required to knot carpets during the day and operate
the loom owner's thrashing machine at night). One night, the machine cut off the boy's
arm. "His master, however, did not consider it sufficient reason for medication." Id.
Three castes were represented in the villages near Viratnagar:Raigar, Rajput, and Jat.
Raigar is a low caste and one of the scheduled castes; Rajput and Jat are higher castes.
All of the carpet weavers in these villages were Raigar,while all of the local landowners
were Rajput or Jat. The traditional occupation of these Raigars was shoemaking, an
occupation considered unclean by traditional Hindus.
Interview with Ratan Katyayni,Mukti Dhara Sansthan, in Viratnagar,Rajasthan(13 Dec.
1995).

614
Vol. 19
as more and more Indians buy mass-produced shoes. A Rajasthani shoemaker earns only about twelve rupees a day, roughly a third of the average
minimum wage. Agricultural labor, when available, pays no better.
As a result of this worsening poverty, these villagers' children are
increasingly pressed into bondage. The shoe industry of Bombay, for
example, is largely staffed by bonded boys from rural Rajasthan.'84The girl
children, meanwhile, are being recruited in ever-greater numbers into the
carpet industry.185
According to one village chief, 250 villages in the neighboring districts
of Jaipur and Alwar have been completely diverted into the carpet industry
since 1991.186 "The carpet middleman comes to the villages from Jaipur.We
have a road into our village, and sometimes their vehicles come out for two
hours or more, looking for new workers."'87The middlemen form debt
obligations with the ruralwould-be weavers by loaning them money to buy
a loom and by advancing them the necessary raw materials. During the
several months it takes to learn to weave, the workers earn nothing. After
completing a carpet they sell it to the same middleman who brought them
into the industry. Thus the middleman takes a cut from both sides of
production, exploiting the worker's isolation and ignorance and paying her
only a fraction of what her labor is worth.
The adults with whom we spoke condemned the use of their children
the
by
carpet industry. Shoemakers offered the following comments, to the
assent of their listening neighbors:
Carpetweaving gives them no supportin their lives. The children weaving
carpets are not in school-they get no education. Their health is destroyed.
Theirlife is dead, once they go into carpet.
[They]are treatedlike animals.... Sellinglabouris not worthgiving up one's
life.
[T]hewool burnsin theirmouthsand eyes, the smallchildrenare bent over all
day working,and they suffermanydiseases-silicosis, tuberculosis....
Beforethe carpetscame, all the children played games-they helped in the
houses and with the shoes, butthey also played .... Now, what can I do? I am
very poor,so my two girls mustboth work in carpet.I don't like it, but I don't
know what else we can do.
184.
185.
186.
187.

6, at 90-94.
Interview with social activist (name withheld), in Viratnagar(14 Dec. 1995) (explaining
that approximately 80 percent of the child carpet-makers in Rajasthan are female).
Interview with village chief (name unavailable), in village near Viratnagar,Rajasthan(13
Dec. 1995).
Id.

1997
615
Carpet looms are everywhere in these small villages: standing under the
awnings of small thatched houses, in dusty courtyards, and tucked inside
dark mud-walled houses. Most of the carpet weavers are girls and women,
who, in addition to weaving, perform household work.
For example, twelve-year-old Shantana works on the carpet loom
outside her house from 9:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. She works seven days a
week, with an occasional day off when necessary for household work or
when she is ill. Shantana has been weaving on the loom since she was
eight. Prior to weaving, she was enrolled in school. Her sixteen-year-old
sister-in-law Laxmiworks with her on the loom. Laxmi has been weaving for
six years. She says:
Thiswork is good, because it gives us some income. Butit is very bad, too....
All day long we are sittinghere, and it hurtsour backsand legs. Littlepieces of
wool come into our mouthsand hurtour lungs,makingus sick. Ourfingersare
raw and give us constantpain.'88
A middleman advanced the girls their weaving materials, charging them
1,000 rupees for the wool. When the carpet is finished they will sell it back
to him; in the meantime, they earn no daily wages. After deductions for the
cost of the materials, they are paid at the rate of sixty rupees per square foot
of carpet. Between the two of them they can complete an average of half a
square foot per day, for an effective daily wage of fifteen rupees. This is the
fastest carpet knotting and the highest rate of earnings of which we heard;
all of the other child weavers said they could knot about two inches a day,
for daily earnings of five to ten rupees.
8. Government Carpet TrainingCenters
The Indian government launched a training program for child carpet
weavers in 1975,189 when India was anxious to increase its share of the
global handwoven carpet market. Although the scheme was officially
authorized to recruit children between the ages of twelve and fifteen,
children six and up were brought into the program.190By 1981, 600
government carpetweaving training centers were being run, employing
approximately 30,000 children.191
The program continues to this day, despite the passage of the 1986
188.
189.
190.
191.
Id.
See Anti-Slavery International, supra note 170.
See id.
See HARVEY
& RIGGIN,supra note 171, at 69. As of 1991, the number of government-run
carpet-training centers was reported as approximately two hundred. See WEINER, supra
note 18, at 86.

616
Vol. 19
Child Labour(Prohibition and Regulation)Act. The Child LabourAct strictly

forbids the employment of children in the carpet industry, due to its
hazardous nature.192Trainees in these schools are paid a stipend of 250
rupees a month.193 This has induced many parents to withdraw their
daughters from school and enroll them in the carpet centers. Although the
training program ostensibly includes one hour daily of literacy instruction,
this is rarely implemented.'94
Approximately sixty-five carpet training centers are in the state of
We visited one of these training centers, located in the town of
Rajasthan.195
The
center was a large and dimly lit single room building. About
Viratnagar.
two dozen girls were working inside. The government official in charge
refused to let us enter the building or speak to the girls, complaining about
the negative influence of outsiders interferingwith the government's role in
employing carpet weavers. The girls appeared to be between ten and
fourteen years old. There did not appear to be any adults, i.e., any teachers
or trainers, in the building with them.
9. Applicable Law
The practices described above violate the Bonded Labour Act and the
Children (Pledging of Labour)Act. They also violate the Child LabourAct of
1986, which expressly forbids the employment of children in the carpet
industry, because it is deemed hazardous by the Act.'96 The limited
exceptions to this prohibition of child employment-exceptions for familyassisted production and production under the auspices of a government
training program-themselves violate the Indian Constitution, which forbids
the employment of any child under fourteen years of age in any hazardous
employment.197Finally,the Factories Act is violated in carpet units employing more than twenty people, and the use of migrant bonded child laborers
violates the Inter-StateMigrant Workmen Act.'98
192.
193.
194.
195.
196.
197.
198.
Child Labour Act, supra note 7, ? 3, sched. pt. B(2).

See B. N. Juyal, Official schemes exacerbate situation in Northern States, VIGILINDIA, NO.
69, Aug. 1995, at 6, 6.
See id.
Interview with local children's rights activist (name withheld), in Viratnagar, Rajasthan
(13 Dec. 1995).
Child Labour Act, supra note 7, ? 3, sched. pt. B(2).
INDIA
art. 24.
CONST.
Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service)
Act, 1979 (No. 30 of 1979) (India).

1997
617
10. Enforcement: The Carpet-Belt

The carpet manufacturersand exporters are generally wealthy and powerful
men. Legal action against them is extremely rare, especially when considering the serious nature and extremely large number of abuses being
committed by them. As of 1992, not a single case of bonded labor had been
prosecuted under the Bonded Labour Act in Varanasi district, where both
the carpet and silk industries rely heavily on bonded child labor.199About
fifty cases had been brought against employers under the Child LabourAct,
resulting in twenty-two convictions.200 The maximum penalty imposed,
however, was a fine of one hundred rupees, or about three dollars.20'These
low fines were levied notwithstanding the provisions of the Act, which
specify that first offenses are to be punished by three to twelve months in jail
or a fine of 10,000 to 20,000 rupees.202
When we met with the Mirzapur district collector in December 1995,
he acknowledged that "some news reports do say there is child labor in the
carpet industry," adding that "until a detailed survey is conducted, we
cannot say they [the reports] are true."203Regarding bonded child labor, he
said that when he heard rumors of it, he sent officials to investigate, but that
so far they had found "very few" cases of bonded child labor. According to
the district collector, at the time of our meeting he had seven or eight
prosecutions pending for violations of child labor laws. He was unable to
provide figures for previous prosecutions, the rate of convictions, and fines
levied. No one had been imprisoned in Mirzapur district for illegal labor
practices.
11. Enforcement: Rajasthan
According to the Labour Commissioner for Rajasthan, Ashok Shekhar, the
carpet industry is wrongly included in the Child LabourAct as a hazardous
industry:
We don'tconsiderit hazardous.Itwas addedto the listonly becauseof pressure
fromthe West.Childrenworkingin the carpetindustryare in good health,they
work in a good atmosphere... it is importantthat they be allowed to do this
work . . . their nimblefingersmake them well-suitedfor it, and it is good for
them to learnas child apprentices.204
199.
200.
201.
202.
203.
204.
See Gargan, supra note 166 (citing Sudhir Kumar, Subdivisional Magistrate, Varanasi
district).
See McDonald, supra note 162, at 19.
See id.
Child Labour Act, supra note 7, ? 14(1).
Interview with Bachittar Singh, supra note 58.
Interview with Ashok Shekhar, RajasthanLabourCommissioner, in Jaipur, Rajasthan(15
Dec. 1995).

618
Vol. 19
Commissioner Shekhar reported that he was in the process of submitting a

petition to the government, on behalf of the Labour Ministry of Rajasthan,
requesting that carpet weaving be removed from the list of hazardous
occupations.
Commissioner Shekhar readily admitted that Rajasthan has extensive
numbers of children working in the carpet trade. Because it is the Labour
Commissioner who is responsible for enforcement of the Child LabourAct,
it is not surprisingthat no carpet manufactureror employer in Rajasthanhad
been charged with violating the Act. In fact, the state did not even formulate
its rules for enforcement of the Act until September 1995, and then only
after a local children's rights organization filed suit against the state.205As of
October 1996, the state's Child Labour Act rules still had not been
implemented.
V. THE ROLEOF THE INDIAN GOVERNMENT
It is not povertywhich preventsIndiafrom investingmore in its children,but
ratherthe prejudicesand values of those who create and implementpolicy in
India.206
When it comes to child labor, the Indian government has an impressive
number of protective laws, government decrees and orders, national
policies and projects, standing and special committees and commissions, as
well as reports and recommendations. Unfortunately, the laws are rarely
enforced and the recommendations are rarely carried out.
The Indian government has not addressed bonded child labor directly.
Instead, it has created and administered (to a limited extent) programs
regarding child labor in general and bonded labor in general. As a
consequence, the unique vulnerability of the bonded child laborer, who
falls at the intersection of these two groups, is ignored in nearly all
government papers and plans for action.
A. Government Programs Regarding Child Labor
On 15 August 1994, India's Independence Day, then-Prime Minister P. V.
Narasimha Rao announced his intention to bring two million child laborers
205.
206.
See S. B. Civ. Writ Petition No. 263 of 1995, Ugam Raj Mohnot v. State of Rajasthan
and Others, filed 18 Jan. 1995, H.C. Rajasthan, Jaipur Bench (on file with author).
COMMISSIONON LABOURSTANDARDSAND INTERNATIONAL

TRADE, supranote 26,

at 41.
1997
619
out of hazardous industries by the year 2000.207This proposal, while only

the latest in a long series of government proclamations and programs, was
the first to set a specific goal for the reduction of child labor.208Two months
later, the LabourMinistryset up the National Authorityfor the Elimination of

Child Labour.209
The core of the Elimination of Child Labour Programme is the

implementation of incentives designed to lure working children into
"special schools" that emphasize nonformal education and vocational
training.210The key component is a payment of one hundred rupees to the
participating children's families. The children also receive one daily meal
while in school.
The one hundred rupee incentive was first initiated by the 1987
National Child Labour Policy.21 This policy, funded by international donor
agencies (primarilythe InternationalProgramme on the Elimination of Child

Labour (IPEC),of the International Labour Organization) and administered
by local nongovernmental organizations, established the firstspecial schools
to provide nonformal education to working children.212As of 1995, this
program ministered to 7,000 children.213The new Elimination of Child
Labour Programme would be an expansion of this existing program.214
Funding is uncertain. The Indian government has stated that it needs
eight and a half billion rupees from 1995 to 2000 in order to remove two
million children from hazardous industries.215Despite this estimate, only
344 million rupees-about 4 percent of the five-year estimated cost-was
allocated for child labor elimination programs in 1995-1996.216 Despite
these funding problems, since 1995 the Indian government has repeatedly
threatened to reject foreign aid earmarked for child labor programs,
including the heavily funded ILO IPECprogram.2'7
207.
208.
209.
210.
211.
212.
213.
214.
215.
216.
21 7.
See id. at 42-45 (describing eighteen policies, laws, committees, etc. established by the
central government since 1921).
See id.
See id. at 45.
"Nonformal education" is typically part-time instruction that emphasizes basic literacy
and life skills. It is geared toward working children.
ON LABOUR
ANDINTERNATIONAL
See COMMISSION
STANDARDS
TRADE,supra note 26, at 49.
See id.
See id. Additional IPECprograms serve nearly 55,000 children. See MINISTRY
OF LABOUR
(INDIA), supra note 3, at 11.
See MINISTRY
OFLABOUR
(INDIA),supra note 3, at 5.
See Data on Child Labour Yet to Be Compiled, HINDU,10 Apr. 1995, at 13 (using the
figure of 850 crore rupees). One crore is equal to ten million rupees.
See MINISTRY
OFLABOUR
(INDIA),supra note 3, at 5.
See Collectors Meeting on Child Labour, STATESMAN,
10 Sept. 1995, at 8 ("India has told
International Labour Organization it requires no external financial assistance for the
various remedial measures it is taking [to eliminate children from the workforce in

620
Vol. 19
Already, funding for the existing program is not reaching its intended
recipients. In late 1995, three different organizations in three different
districts, representing dozens of special schools, told us that they had not
received program funds for six to ten months. During this period, the
students had not received their promised stipends, daily meals had been cut
back, and teachers had gone unpaid. The administering organizations were
extremely concerned by the government's failure to deliver these monies.
They reported that the loss of the stipend had forced many children to drop
out of school and return to the labor force.218
In addition to funding problems, the short reach of the program troubles
many Indian social welfare organizations and activists.219Child laborers in
India are estimated to number between sixty and 115 million.220Against this
figure, the government's goal of releasing two million children appears
feeble and insignificant. Even against the government's own figures of
218.
219.
220.
hazardous industries]."); India Rejects Aid to Tackle Child Labour, STATESMAN,12 Mar.
1996, at 17 ("The Government today informed the Rajya Sabha that it had rejected the
offer by some countries to help India check the problem of child labour, saying it
preferred to depend on its own resources."); India Spurns Aid to Abolish Child Labour,
TIMES
OF INDIA, 11 Feb. 1996 (reporting the national labour secretary's statement: "We
have now decided that there is no need for external funding. We are adequately
financing the programme ourselves.").
Resistance to foreign aid is linked to the government's sensitivity to external critiques
of child labor. According to one report, "the Indian government is known to have
discouraged suggestions, including one from the European Union, for financial
assistance ... [in order] to avoid any meddling in its programme for abolition of child
labour." Id. Some believe that the government is using external aid as a bargaining chip
in the ongoing debate over linking trade and labor issues. This way, "[i]f the developed
countries demand that the pace of compliance with international labour standards
should be faster[,] . . . India could then ask for a substantial part of the cost of the
programmes to be shared by the developed countries." Id.
Interview with organization leader (name withheld), in Mirzapur (19 Dec. 1995); Interview with organization leader (name withheld), in Firozabad (22 Dec. 1995); Interview
with organization leader (name withheld), in New Delhi (27 Dec. 1995).
Interview with organization leader (name withheld), in Mirzapur (19 Dec. 1995); Interview with organization leader (name withheld), in Firozabad (22 Dec. 1995); Interview
with organization leader (name withheld), in New Delhi (27 Dec. 1995); see also RIGHTS
OFTHECHILD,supranote 33, at 100-07.
See BURRA,supra note 87, at 13-14 (citing the Baroda Operations Research Group's
1984 estimate of forty-four million child laborers in India). Taking into account
population growth and employment trends, that figure would be approximately sixty
million in 1995. Another frequently cited figure is one hundred million child laborers,
a number that corresponds to the government's estimate of all non-schoolgoing
children, who are assumed to be working more than eight hours a day. Official
government figures on the working child population, on the other hand, are based on
the 1981 census and are absurdly inaccurate, with the government claiming there are
only about seventeen million child laborers. A 1994 report by the Indian government's
Department of Women & Child Development, the Indian Council for Child Welfare,
and UNICEF-Indiaconcluded that "the number of working children is closer to 90
OFTHECHILD,
million than the figure of 20 million assumed by the government." RIGHTS
supra note 33, at 102.

1997
621
approximately twenty million child laborers-a number that is based on the

1981 census and regarded as extremely inaccurate22--the program would
address only 10 percent of the country's child laborers. Furthermore, the
program includes no measures to prevent employers from simply replacing
the released children with other child laborers.
The disparity in numbers between social scientists and the Indian
government highlights the government's negligence in refusing to collect
and analyze data on child labor. As of 1996, official figures continued to be
based on 1981 census figures, which counted thirteen and a half million
working children. There is no internal consistency in the treatment of these
figures by government officials; some cite figures extrapolated from the
1981 census-usually between seventeen and twenty million-while others
continue to rely on the thirteen million figure.222Regardless of which of
these figures is used, it is nowhere near the number estimated by leading
national and international social scientists. UNICEF, for example, cites
figures ranging from seventy-five to ninety million child laborers.223The
census data for 1991 had not yet been compiled at the time of this
writing.224
B. Government
Programs Regarding Bonded Labor
In contrast to the frequent lip service paid to child labor problems, the
Indian government has stayed largely quiet on the topic of debt bondage.
Although the pledging of child labor was outlawed in 1933,225bonded labor
overall was not abolished until 1975, via government ordinance.226The
221.
222.
223.
224.
225.
226.
See CACL, supra note 3, at 8 (stating that the twenty million figure was used by thenPrime Minister Rao on 15 August 1994 when he announced the government's goal of
releasing two million child workers by the year 2000).
See N. K. Doval, Double-speak on Child Labour, HINDU,28 Dec. 1994, at 14; MINISTRY
OF LABOUR(INDIA), supra note 3; COMMISSIONON LABOURSTANDARDSAND INTERNATIONAL
TRADE,
supra note 26, at 3.
See Gerry Pinto, Child Labour in India: The Issue and Directions for Action 2 (1995)
(unpublished paper for UNICEF)("74.8 million children . . . probably engaged in child
OF THE CHILD, supra note 33, at 101 (commenting that ninety million
labour"); RIGHTS
children were not in school and assumed to be working).
OFLABOUR
See MINISTRY
(INDIA),supra note 3, at 2. Preliminary numbers released from the
1991 census include a total population of 844 million people, 298 million of whom are
children under the age of fifteen. Of these children, 221 million live in rural areas and
seventy-one million in urban areas. These numbers are already considered out of date,
with most sources reporting an overall population of 900 to 950 million. India's
population is expected to cross the one billion mark by the turn of the century.
Children (Pledging of Labour)Act, supra note 6.
See REDDY,supra note 13, at 54 (documenting that The Bonded Labour System
(Abolition) Ordinance of 1975 was issued by the central government on 25 October
1975).

622
Vol. 19
following year, the Indian parliament passed the Bonded Labour System
(Abolition) Act,227 the provisions of which continue to comprise the
government's sole "policy" and "program"regarding the practice of debt
bondage.228
Enforcement of the Act is the responsibility of state governments. The
state governments in turn delegate all enforcement duties, including not
only the release of bonded laborers but their rehabilitation as well, to their
district magistrates.229The district magistrates are directed by the Act to form
vigilance committees, which are intended to form the backbone of Act
enforcement.230
Notwithstanding this delegation of duties, the central government
remains ultimately responsible for the implementation of the Bonded
LabourAct. The government has considerable powers, both budgetary and
rulemaking, in directing the Act's implementation by the states.
According to India's Supreme Court, the state's duty to identify, release,
and rehabilitate bonded laborers is not only mandated by the Bonded
Labour Act, but is also required by the Indian Constitution.231
It is the plainest requirementof Articles21 and 23 of the Constitutionthat
bonded labourersmustbe identifiedand releasedand on release,they mustbe
suitably rehabilitated.. . . [A]ny failure of action on the part of the State
Government[s]in implementingthe provisionsof [the Bonded LabourAct]
would be the clearestviolationof Article21 [and]Article23 of the Constitution.232
Article 21 of the Indian Constitution guarantees the right to life and

liberty,233while Article 23 prohibits the practice of debt bondage and other
forms of forced labor or slavery.234
The court's conclusion that rehabilitation is a constitutional requirement recognizes the fact that, without rapid and effective rehabilitation
efforts, freed bonded laborers will quickly relapse into bondage. As the
Supreme Court said:
[I]twould be nothingshortof crueltyand heartlessnessto identifyand release
bonded labourersmerelyto throwthem at the mercyof the existingsocial and
227.
228.
229.
230.
231.
232.
233.
234.
Bonded Labour Act, supra note 9.

See supra pt. III(B).
Bonded LabourAct, supra note 9, ?? 10, 12, 14. There are twenty-five states in India,
WOLPERT, supra note 109, at 199, and 467 districts. There are also several centrally
administered Union Territories. UNICEF,supra note 32, at 4.
Bonded Labour Act, supra note 9, ? 13.
See Chaudhary v. State of Madhya Pradesh (1984) 3 S.C.C. 243, 255 (India).
Id.
INDIA
CONST.
art. 21.
Id. art. 23.

1997
623
economic systemwhich denies themeven the basic necessitiesof life.... What

and "release"to bonded labourersif afterattainingtheir
use are "identification"
so-called freedom from bondage to a masterthey are consigned to a life of
anotherbondage, namely,bondageto hungerand starvationwhere they have
nothingto hope for?... Itis ... imperativethat . . freedbonded labourersare
properlyand suitablyrehabilitatedafteridentificationand release.235
Another writer put it more bluntly. "A bonded labourer who becomes free
without the means to survive," he wrote, "becomes free to die."236
As of 1996, a bonded laborer identified and released by the state was
entitled to a rehabilitation allowance of 6,250. The 1994-1995 Annual
Reportof the Indian government's Ministryof Labourreported that in August
1994, state and central government labor officials agreed to raise the
rehabilitation allowance to 10,000 rupees.237Nonetheless, as of March
1997, this raise had not been effectuated.238The failure of state and district
governments to implement the Bonded Labour Act, and in particular their
failure to form effective district level vigilance committees, results in a low
enforcement rate and thus the continuing prevalence of bonded labor.
Indeed, by some accounts, bonded labor is actually increasing during the
1990s.239
Because of this blatant disregard of their duty under the Act, thirteen
states are being sued for failing to eradicate bonded labor. The case, Public
Union for Civil Liberties v. State of TamilNadu & Others, was filed in 1985,
but it was not until the mid-1990s that it began to be the subject of
numerous court deliberations, hearings, and directives. Much of the delay is
due to the states' failure to respond to court orders. In 1994, the court said
that "[i]t does appear to us that no significant progress has been made by the
concerned authorities and . . . [their] attitude ... is not enthusiastic as one
would expect in a matter of such significance."240Nearly three years later,
the states continued to drag their feet before the court, refusing to comply
with an order that they file accurate and detailed affidavits regarding the
235.
236.
237.
238.
239.
240.
Chaudhary v. State of Madhya Pradesh (1984) 3 S.C.C. 243, 255 (India).

Vivek Pandit, Prevention of Atrocities (Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes): Bonded
Labour 18 (1995) (unpublished manuscript) (on file with author).
MINISTRY
OFLABOUR
1994-1995, at 97 (on file with author).
(INDIA),ANNUALREPORT,
But see supra text accompanying note 65.
ANANALYTICAL
CHILD
LABOUR:
STUDY
25 (New Delhi: Centre
& J. GATHIA,
See, e.g., K. MAHAJAN
of Concern for Child Labour, Sept. 1992) ("According to the Indian Council for Child
Welfare, slavery is on the increase among children below the age of 15 years."). Not
only is the incidence of bonded child labor increasing, but the wages paid to bonded
laborers are steadily decreasing in real terms. See S. P. Tiwary, Bondage in Santhal
OFSERVITUDE,
supra note 14, at 206 (explaining that since the passage
Parganas, in CHAINS
of the Bonded Labour Act, real wages have "tended to come down sharply").
Record of Proceedings, 13 May 1994 (copy on file with author).

624
Vol. 19
incidence of bonded labor in their respective jurisdictions.24'The court,

furious with this unresponsiveness, threatened to hold the states' chief
secretaries personally liable for continued failure to comply with court
orders.242
C. Failure of the Indian Government to Enforce the Law:

Enforcement Statistics
An analysisof data indicatingthe numberof prosecutionslaunchedunder [the
ChildLabour]Act and convictionsobtainedwould clearlyindicatethatthis Act
. . . has achieved very little.243
The government's failure to enforce the Child Labour Act and the Bonded
LabourAct, not to mention several other laws protecting child workers, are
twin manifestations of the same set of phenomena. These phenomena
include apathy, caste and class bias, obstruction of enforcement efforts,
corruption, low prioritization of the problem, and disregard for the deep and
widespread suffering of bonded child laborers. As evidence of this disregard, the Ministry of Labour was unable to provide us with any statistics
regarding enforcement of the Child Labour Act or other child labor
legislation.244The enforcement statistics that follow have been gleaned from
a variety of sources, including public government documents, news reports,
and interviews with government officials.
1. Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act
At the national level, from 1990 to 1993, 537 inspections were carried out
under the Child Labour Act.245These inspections turned up 1,203 violations.246Inexplicably, only seven prosecutions were launched.247At the state
level, the years 1990 to 1993 produced 60,717 inspections in which 5,060
violations of the Act were detected;248772 of these 5,060 violations resulted
241.
242.
243.
244.
245.
246.
247.
248.
SC Tells States to File Affidavit on Bonded Labor, TIMES

OF INDIA,14 Feb. 1997.
Id.
RIGHTS
OFTHECHILD,supra note 33, at 102.
Interview with senior official (name withheld), Ministryof Labour(India), in New Delhi
27
(28 Dec. 1995); see also Scheme to Divert Kids from Hazardous Units, INDIAN
EXPRESS,
Feb. 1995 ("The government has no record of the number of child labour freed and
rehabilitated during the past three years in different parts of the country.").
See COMMISSIONON LABOURSTANDARDSAND INTERNATIONAL
TRADE, supra note 26, at 33.
See id.
See id. Inspections by the national government presumably took place in New Delhi
and other centrally-administered territories.
See id.

1997
625
in convictions.249 At the state level during the 1993 to 1994 year, the latest
period for which data are available, 1,596 cases were filed against
employers.250The number of convictions is unknown; many of these cases
may still be pending.
When convictions are obtained under the Child Labour Act, the
punishment is negligible. Most offenders receive fines of five dollars or
less-just a few hundred rupees, as opposed to the 10,000 to 20,000 fine
stipulated by the Act itself.251 To date, not a single case brought under the
Act has resulted in imprisonment,252although the Act allows for sentences of

three months to a year for first-time offenders and six months to two years
for repeat offenders.253
In Tamil Nadu, the Child LabourAct was not enforced until 1994, eight
years after its passage, when a case was filed in North Arcot district.254In the
two years since then, there have been fifteen or sixteen convictions under
the Child LabourAct, and another fifty cases or so are pending.255To date,
no one has been imprisoned in Tamil Nadu for violation of either the Child
Labour Act or the Bonded LabourAct. Activists in the state told us that, on
the rare occasions when prosecutions of Child Labour Act offenders are
mounted by the state, some judicial magistrates are quick to dismiss the
charges. This is ostensibly for lack of evidence, but in fact because of
corruption or sympathy with the defendant employers.256
In the Firozabad district of Uttar Pradesh, more than 50,000 children
are estimated to be working in the glass factories in violation of the Factories
Act and the Child LabourAct.257Nonetheless, in 1995 there were only two
convictions for child labor law violations in Firozabad, and the assistant
labour commissioner, Mr. B. K. Singh, told a journalist that "[t]here is no
child labour in the district now."258According to the Secretary General of
249.
250.
251.
252.
253.
254.
255.
256.
257.
258.
See id.
See Doval, supra note 222, at 14.
See Moore, supra note 167. According to a report by an Indian Chamber of Commerce
and the International Labour Organization, of 4,000 convictions reported since 1986,
3,500 offenders got off with a fine equivalent to five dollars or less. See id.
See Hema Shukla, India Insincere in Ending Child Labor, UNITED
PRESS
INT'L, 12 Sept.
1994.
Child Labour Act, supra note 7, ? 14(1), (2).
Interview with M.P. Vijaykumar, supra note 150.
Interview with senior state official (former District Collector of Tamil Nadu)(name
withheld), in Madras, Tamil Nadu (22 Nov. 1995).
This information was received from various sources at various times. All sources spoke
on condition of anonymity.
Interview with representatives (names unavailable), Indian Council for Child Welfare, in
Firozabad, Uttar Pradesh (22 Dec. 1995); see also BURRA,supra note 87, at xxiii
(reporting that 50,000 of 200,000 glass workers in Firozabad are children).
Srawan Shukla, Childhood Goes Up in Smoke in the "Landof Glass," TIMES
OFINDIA,19
Nov. 1994.

626
Vol. 19
the National Human Rights Commission, the enforcement problem, in

Firozabad and elsewhere, is "just a matter of people not doing their
work."259
2. Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act

Statistics regarding application of the Bonded Labour Act to children are
nonexistent. Indeed, at least some government officials appear to be
laboring under the conviction that the Bonded LabourAct does not apply to
children, an interpretationthat has no basis in the law itself nor in Supreme
Court cases interpretingthe law.
As of March 1993, the latest date for which official figures are available,
state governments had reported the identification and release of a total of
251,424 bonded laborers.260This number indicates all bonded laborers
identified and released since the Bonded LabourAct was passed in 1976.261
Of this number, 227,404 were reported to have been rehabilitated.262If this
number includes any rehabilitated bonded child laborers, that fact has not
been reported.
Districts' and states' reported statistics regarding the identification and
rehabilitation of bonded laborers are frequently unreliable. The team
investigatingbonded labor in TamilNadu, for example, found that "[s]tatutory
registers relating to bonded labour were not maintained in many districts."263Simple neglect or lack of resources is not the only or even the
primary reason for lack of accurate statistics. According to the investigative
team, "[d]etails provided by the state government and the district administration do not tally in most districts and even appear fabricated."264
A Supreme Court lawyer closely connected to bonded labor litigation
corroborated the unreliable nature of the district magistrates' reports, saying
there is "no mechanism to ascertain their veracity."265According to this
expert and others, corruption in application of the Bonded LabourAct and
dispersal of Act-related rehabilitation funds is common.
A collector may receive 100,000 rupeesfor rehabilitationeffortsbut disperse
only 10,000 of it. Embezzlementis difficultto track,butwe all knowit happens.
For example, a bonded labourercomes in, puts his thumb print on the
259.
260.
261.
262.
263.
264.
265.
Interview with R. V. Pillai, Secretary General, National Human Rights Commission, in

New Delhi (28 Dec. 1995).
OF LABOUR
See MINISTRY
(INDIA),supra note 237, at 96-97.
See id.
See id. at 97.
OF
G. V. Krishnan, TN Has 10 Lakh [one million] Bonded Workers, Says Panel, TIMES
INDIA,1 Mar. 1996.
Id.
Interview with Gopal Jain, attorney, in New Delhi (29 Dec. 1995).

1997
627
document saying he will receive 6,250 rupees, but receives only 3,000
rupees.266
We were unable to find statistics regarding prosecution under the
Bonded Labour Act. It is certain that prosecution under the Act is rare. In
Tamil Nadu, the firstprosecutions under the twenty-year-old Act occurred in
1995, when eight beedi employers were arrested by the North Arcot District
Collector.267The case, which drew headlines in the regional press, was
depicted as a bold "get tough" measure. The agents spent one night in jail
and were fined 500 rupees each.268 The Bonded Labour Act allows for
punishment of three years in prison and a 2,000 rupee fine.269
VI. CONCLUSION: COMBATTINGBONDED CHILD LABOR
Twenty years after its passage, the goals of the Bonded Labour Act-to
punish employers of bonded labor and to identify, release, and rehabilitate
bonded laborers-have not been met, and efforts to do so are sporadic and
weak at best. The bonded labor system continues to thrive, with millions of
children tangled inside it. To eradicate bonded child labor, the Indian
government must do two things: enforce the Bonded LabourAct, and create
meaningful alternatives for already bonded child laborers and those at risk
of joining their ranks.
In addition to genuine government action, it is essential that nongovernmental organizations be encouraged by the government to collaborate in
this effort. The government has the resources and authority to implement the
law, while community-based organizations have the grass-roots contacts
and trust necessary to facilitate this implementation. Furthermore,nongovernmental groups can act as a watchdog on government programs, keeping
vigil for corruption, waste, and apathy. The elimination of current debt
bondage and the prevention of new or relapsed bondage therefore requires
a combination of concerted government action and extensive community
involvement.
Effective vigilance committees must be formed and must, together with
district magistrates, perform their statutory duties of identifying, releasing,
266.
267.
268.
269.
Id.; see also REDDY,supra note 13, at 171 (reporting3,000 instances of fake bonded labor
releases and fraudulent rehabilitation in Rangareddy district of Andhra Pradesh: "[A]
part of the subsistence allowance paid to them was pocketed by the corrupt officials and
politicians.").
Interview with M. P. Vijaykumar, supra note 150.
10 Sept.
Id.; see also 8 Beedi Agents Held Under Bonded Labour Act, INDIAN
EXPRESS,
1995.
Bonded Labour Act, supra note 9, ? 16.

628
Vol. 19
and rehabilitating bonded laborers. Savings and credit programs must be

instituted at the community level, giving the impoverished access to small
loans during financial emergencies. This resource is crucial. Nearly every
child we interviewed told us that they were sold to their employers because
of their parents' desperation for money.
A community-based savings and credit program has been introduced in
North Arcot district of Tamil Nadu, and early indications are that it will
strike a significant blow against bonded child labor.270The program was
launched by the district collector for North Arcot, who claimed that
sufficient funds and personnel were available from existing rural development programs.27'Similar initiatives should be launched in all areas marked
by bonded child labor.
Alternatives to servitude must be offered to children. The availability of
free, compulsory, and quality education is widely regarded as the single
most important factor in the fight against bonded and nonbonded child
labor. Despite this, less than half of India's children are in school.
Recognizing the centrality of this issue, India's leading nongovernmental
organizations have called for the implementation of universal education.
They include: the Child Labour Action Network (CLAN), the Campaign
Against Child Labour (CACL),the Centre for Rural Education and Development Action (CREDA), and the Bonded Labour Liberation Front (BLLF).
UNICEF-lndiaand Anti-Slavery International have also called for universal
education in India.
At the same time, alternate efforts to at least minimally educate bonded
children are already underway in a few areas. CREDAin the carpet-belt, the
MV Foundation in Andhra Pradesh, and the Indian Council for Child
Welfare (ICCW) in North Arcot, are all involved in non-formal education
initiatives. Some of these programs utilize modest "incentives" to attract
children, including small cash stipends and periodic grain allowances.
In addition, CREDA and the MV Foundation emphasize popular
education for all members of the community, in which community teachers
stress the importance of education for children and the deleterious effects of
exploitative child labor. Such outreach is necessary in order to chip away at
the thick web of myths and justifications that support exploitative child
labor: that children must be trained at the "right"age or they will never
learn a skill; that children must be trained in a profession "appropriate"to
their caste and background; that children are well-suited for certain kinds of
work because of their "nimble fingers";and that child labor is a natural and
desirable function of the family unit. These views are widely shared by
270.
271.
Interview with M. P. Vijaykumar, supra note 150.

Id.

1997
629
parents, educators, government officials, and the public at large, with the
result that talk of children's labor rights is dismissed summarily. These views
must be pulled out from under the bonded labor system.
In sum, the fight against bonded child labor must be holistic, with a
focus on two fronts: enforcement and prevention. Those employers who
continue to bind children to themselves with debt, paying just pennies for a
hazardous and grueling work day, must be prosecuted. Children must be
removed from bondage and rehabilitated to avoid a subsequent relapse.
Finally, the educational and survival needs of all children at risk must be
addressed in order to stop the cycle of bondage.


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Child Slaves in Modern India: The Bonded Labor Problem

Author(s): Lee Tucker

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