The Hindu Business Line : The children labour on

While child labour must be given no quarter, one has to be aware that vested interests will try to stem bona fide exports from developing economies.

The $15-billion US fashion giant Gap Inc’s decision to withdraw from some 3,000 outlets worldwide products manufactured in Indian sweatshops employing children will come as a boon to those combating the pernicious practice of child labour in the country. There is no denying the fact that child labour in India has assumed menacing proportions, the Government itself indicating, some years ago, that there were at least 77 million hapless children at work and the interna tional Human Rights Watch putting the figure at 60-115 million.

Among other things, the wide statistical range applied to the incidence of child labour strongly suggests that the problem is endemic in the domestic economy. What makes it perhaps intractable is that it is also a social problem tied up with family income in the rural areas as also to the critical shortage of educational amenities over wide swathes of the country. The Gap incident has shown, yet again that, despite measures taken by the Government in recent times — such as extending the coverage of the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986 early in 2006 — the practice continues unabated and, more importantly, that what is being unearthed is just the tip of the iceberg. Seen from this perspective, it is all to the good that New Delhi, where the Gap supplier was located, has lost no time in setting up a State Commission for Protection of Child Rights which, on paper at least, has an impressive sphere of coverage and abundant preventive powers. The main test of success, however, will lie in the improvements it can effect on the ground, the prospects of which, going by past indications, do not appear bright. Even so, the effort needs to be made, the Gap withdrawal underscoring the point that NGOs can on occasion play a more effective role than Government machinery in identifying child labour problem-spots and taking remedial action.

Another aspect of the issue too needs to be highlighted, given the myriad ways in which the developed economies are trying to do battle with the developing economies on the multilateral trade front. While no quarter can be given to child labour because of reasons that need no repetition, one has also to be aware that vested interests in the developed world will stop at nothing to stem the flow of bona fide exports from developing economies. The Union Commerce Minister has, therefore, done well to state that New Delhi is keeping a close watch on the use of non-tariff barriers vis-À-vis Indian exports and will not hesitate to take retaliatory action if it finds that unfriendly trade policies have been given more weightage than other concerns in obstructing the flow of Indian garment exports in a highly competitive world market.

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