Sparks Co. Ltd.: The dark secrets behind these bright fireworks
By
-Dr. G.M. Jayaseelan
-Ms. Varsha Ranjan
“If we can’t begin to agree on fundamentals, such as the elimination of the most abusive forms of child labour, then we really are not ready to march forward into the future.”
– Alexis Herman
Child labour in simple terms refers to the employment of children in any work that deprives them of their childhood. It interferes with their ability to attend regular schools and is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous or harmful. Child labour is a violation of fundamental human rights. This practice is considered exploitative by many international organisations and even legislations across the world prohibit child labour. Yet it seems to remain one of the major problems among underdeveloped, developing and even developed economies. Only the degree of prevalence of child labour in these economies differ. According to the latest UNICEF report on child labour, an estimated 150 million children worldwide are engaged in child labour. Sub-Saharan Africa has the largest proportion of child labourers (28 per cent) followed by Middle East, North Africa, East Asia and the Pacific (10 per cent) and finally Latin America and Caribbean (9 per cent). In India, one in every 11 children is working. 80% of the working children are based in rural areas and three out of four of these children work in the agriculture sector. More than half of the 5.5 million working children in India are concentrated in 5 states – Bihar, UP, Rajasthan, MP, and Maharashtra. Adolescents (between 14 to 18 years) doing hazardous work, form 20.7% of those employed in this age group, with boys (38.7 million) exceeding the girls (8.8 million). Moreover the number of adolescents in hazardous work is greatest in India (2.4 million). Children are engaged in every sector of the economy like match stick making, fireworks, domestic labour, construction, carpet making industry, brick kilns, etc.
One of the places where child labour is experienced the most is ‘Sparks Co. Ltd.’, a fireworks manufacturing unit 20 kms from Mumbai, in the state of Maharashtra. The unit lacks modern machines for manufacturing and hence is labour intensive. Moreover around 55% of the total people employed are child labourers. Further, 90% of the total fireworks production in India comes from this place. Despite it being one of the most popular fireworks manufacturing unit, child labour seems to be one of the major issues here.
A volunteer named Anand, from an NGO called ‘Bachpan’ which works for the protection of child rights, and overall development and welfare of the children, was asked to provide a report covering the major issues concerning child labour in this unit. Further the NGO wanted to gain an insight into the working conditions of the kids employed in the unit and the reasons that compelled them to work in such hazardous places. On visiting the manufacturing unit, Anand observed the dismal conditions in which the employees were made to work. The rooms were dark with no proper lighting or ventilation. Moreover the layout of the factory was not well planned. There were no proper emergency exits present in case if fire or other such disasters struck. The whole unit is divided into cubicles and each cubicle is overcrowded with workers having to work in that environment. Economic factor seems to be one of the major reasons of employing child labour in this place specially. Poverty forces the parents to send their children to work in such places. One of the children working there, Gopal, mentioned how the employers of the factory take advantage of their economic condition and force them to work at low wages in spite of working for 12 hours a day. Also they have to leave their home as early as 3a.m. in the morning and come back at 9p.m. at night. There are agents appointed to make sure they get up and go for work. Some of the children work from home but they too are made to work for long hours. Gopal also mentioned about how children are taken to the factory like animals in buses with 150 to 200 of them all stuffed together in a bus.
Expecting them to think about their health, education and personal growth in these situations is near to impossible. Education is nowhere in their life with providing for food in the family being the only priority to them. Most of the employed children have either never been to school or stopped going to schools. It is a fact that children are the future of any nation or community but if this condition prevails, what can be expected for a country. According to International Labour Organisation (ILO), if child labour is banned and all children get proper education, then the world’s total income would rise by nearly 22% in the next 20 years, which accounts for more than $4 trillion. Moving on to health which is another major factor, all children working in these factories suffer from one health problem or another due to the hazardous working conditions. Also the workers do not have enough time and money to spend on health issues. Asthma and TB are prevalent among 90% of them who are directly involved in gun powder filling and are in direct contact with the chemical ingredients of firecrackers. When it comes to providing safety measures, the higher authorities are negligent towards these issues just like in the others. The workers including children are not given any protective clothes, gloves or masks. The whole skin can be seen covered with chemicals like sulphur, aluminium powder and gun powder. One of the fireworks manufactured called ‘Snake Tablet’ uses nitric acid, causing various skin diseases. Gopal is one of the many kids suffering from skin problems too. You can actually see the burnt marks and rashes on the delicate skin of these children on account of having to handle such harmful chemicals everyday.
The work children do from the early stage of their lives can affect them in several ways. Hence child labour should be removed soon to ensure basic rights of every child and not hinder their personality development. Despite many laws being framed for children to protect them from the injustice done to them, not much progress has been seen. Laws are only made but practically it is not being followed. Hence the existing laws need to be amended and made more stringent. One of the reasons for continued existence of child labour could be corruption and also the fact that child labour contributes a lot to the economy of developing and under developed countries. Also as seen in the above case of Sparks Co. Ltd., the negligent and irresponsible attitude shown by the management and supervisor of the manufacturing unit towards the workers, specially the children, is a matter of huge concern that needs to be addressed. Removal of child labour ensures only a good future economy. Many NGOs have come up to fight for child labour and some progress has been seen but until government takes some real initiative it is not going to improve. Hence for the good future of our country government has to be responsible.
Questions
1) What according to you are the effects of employing child labour in industries on the Indian Economy as a whole?
2) Despite a number of laws being present in the country for the prohibition of child labour, what in your opinion is the reason behind the continued existence of child labour?
3) Give suggestions or recommendations on curbing the employment of children into such industries.