CHILD LABOUR IN COTTON GROWING FIELDS

BASE LINE SURVEY OF HARYANA

CONTENT

ChapterNo

Title of the Chapter Pages

Summary 1-3

1 Introduction 4-8

2 Village Profile 9-12

3 Household and Child Profile 13-21

4 Child Labour 22-26

5. Children in Cotton Work 27-34

Annexure 35-36

1

SUMMARY STATISTICS OF CHILDREN IN THREE COTTON GROWING DISTRICT IN HARYANA

A. CHILDREN Age Group 6-14 years 15-17* years 6-17* years

MaleEstimated (%) 196,971 (21.0) 74,389 (7.9) 271,360 (28.9)Sample (No.) 2158 815 2973

FemaleEstimated (%) 170,305 (20.9) 53,922 (6.6) 128,598 (27.5)Sample (No.) 1775 562 2337

PersonsEstimated (%) 271,360 (20.9) 128,598 (7.3) 495,900 (28.3)Sample (No.) 3933 1377 5310

B. EDUCATIONAL STATUSAge Group 6-14 years 15-17* years 6-17* yearsAttending school (%) 94.4 81.5 91.1Sample (No.) 3712 1108 4820Drop Out (%) 1.2 11.4 3.8Sample (No.) 46 155 201Never Attended School (%) 4.4 7.0 5.1Sample (No.) 174 95 269

C. WORKING CHILDRENAge -Group

6-14 years 15-17* years 6-17* yearsMale

Estimated Main (%)Estimated Main +Subsidiary (%)

4,290 (2.2)29,482 (15.0)

12,505 (16.8)36,875 (49.6)

16,795 (6.2)66,357 (24.5)

Survey (No.) MainSurvey (No.) Main +Subsidiary

47323

137404

184727

FemaleEstimated Main (%)Estimated Main +Subsidiary (%)

672 (0.4)26,481 (15.5)

768 (1.4)21,588 (40.0)

1,439 (0.6)48,069 (21.4)

Survey (No.) MainSurvey (No.) Main +Subsidiary

7276

8225

15501

PersonsEstimated Main (%)Estimated Main +Subsidiary (%)

4,962 (1.4)55,963 (15.2)

13,272 (10.5)58,463 (45.7)

18,234 (3.7)114,426 (23.1)

Survey (No.) MainSurvey (No.) Main +Subsidiary

54599

145629

1991228

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D. WORKING CHILDREN IN COTTONAge -Group

6-14 years 15-17* years 6-17* yearsMale

Estimated Main (%) Estimated Main +Subsidiary (%)

2,008 (1.0)25,466 (12.9)

4,564 (6.1)27,291 (36.7)

6,572 (2.4)52,757 (19.4)

Survey (No.) MainSurvey (No.) Main +Subsidiary

22279

50299

72578

FemaleEstimated Main (%)Estimated Main +Subsidiary (%)

576 (0.3)25,042 (14.7)

480 (0.9)18,806 (34.9)

1,055 (0.5)43,848 (19.6)

Survey (No.) MainSurvey (No.) Main +Subsidiary

6261

5196

11457

PersonsEstimated Main (%) Estimated Main +Subsidiary (%)

2,584 (0.7)50,508 (13.7)

5,043 (4.0)46,097 (35.9)

7,627 (1.6)96,604 (19.5)

Survey (No.) MainSurvey (No.) Main +Subsidiary

28540

55495

831035

*upto 18 years of age; Household Covered in Survey: 4022 And Individual Household Members; 18783

3

CHAPTER 1INTRODUCTION

1.1. BackgroundSave the Children, Bal-Raksha, Bharat is a child rights organisation and an independent member of the International Save the Children Alliance. It works with children, communities, government and civil society organisations across 12 states and union territories for realisation of children’s rights, particularly in the areas of quality education, protection from abuse and exploitation, health & nutrition and protection in emergency situations. The organisation works to make child labour socially and culturally unacceptable primarily through intense community and children’s mobilisation and through constructive engagement with national and state governments.

In spite of international instruments, constitutional guarantees and legal provisions that ban employment of children under the age of 14, the problem of child labour persists in the Indian society. The largest employment of children in India is in agriculture, accounting for about 80% of total working children. More than 40% of those children are actually employed in the cotton fields – both commercial cotton and cottonseed. A study by IKEA (2008) has estimated that about 4.1 million children are currently employed in cotton fields alone across six major cotton growing states in India. These cotton states include Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana. Apart from this, a study by D. Venkateswarlu (2007) had projected an employment of over 400,000 children in the cottonseeds production process.

Recognising the enormity of child labour issues in commercial cotton and cottonseed production and the urgency to work for their progressive elimination, Save the Children and IKEA – a global leader in modern home and office accessories – have come together with a 12 year intervention strategy between 2009 and 2021. A total of six major cotton growing states as mentioned above will be covered under this strategy. The 12 years are divided in to 3 four-year project phases. The first phase started with the states of Maharastra and Gujarat wherein highest employment of children in cotton have been estimated. The project is proposed to be extended to the states of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. This study proposes to conduct a baseline survey to examine the incidence of child labour, their working conditions, their awareness of child rights and the socio-economic profile and living standards of their families in the selected households belonging to the four districts of Punjab and three districts of Haryana and one district of Rajasthan, where Save the Children and IKEA proposes to commence the project on elimination of child labour. The first part of this study was conducted in Banswara district of Rajasthan.

1.2. Study AreaIn the production of cotton, Haryana state has come up as a major producer in India. The cotton in Haryana is cultivated under cotton-wheat double cropping. It grows long staple cotton. The cotton growing districts are Hisar, Sirsa, Jind, Fatehabad, Bhiwani, Jhajjar and Rohtac etc. The time of sowing is from 15th April to 30th May and the picking is done in the month of Ocober-November. In the present study major districts Hissar, Sirsa and Fatehabad districts have been selected for detail investigation. These districts are located

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in western Haryana and touching the boundaries of Punjab in the North and Rajasthan in the south.

In the selected districts almost two third of the population resides in rural areas. The sex ratio of the districts in rural areas was far below than the national average of 947 in 2011. Average literacy rate of districts in 2011 was in the rage of 67 per cent and 70 per cent. The literacy rate in lower in studied district compared to state.

Table 1.1: District Wise Rural Population DistributionSirsa Hisar Fatehabab Haryana

Total PopulationPopulationMale PopulationFemale PopulationLiteracySex Ratio

974,62475.25

514,092460,532

66.90896

1,189,78968.27

634,149555,640

70.02876

762,18280.95

400,587361,595

66.73903

16,531,4965.21

8,791,0367,740,457

72.74880

Source: Census of India, 2011

According to National Sample Survey, 2010, about 40% people and 5.4 % children between the age group of 6-18 years are working rural Hayrana. More than half of all the workers and 69% children were involved in agriculture including cotton cultivation in 2010. In agriculture more female workers were involved compared to male in rural areas of Haryana.

Table 1.2: Workers Distribution in Rural Haryana   Male Female Total

Worker (%)All

Children (6-18)52.1

56.18

24.964.33

39.595.42

  Agriculture Worker (%)All

Children (6-18)50.9

260.0

8

81.4287.64

59.8069.09

Source: National Sample Survey, 2010

1.3. Relevance and ObjectivesThe purpose of the survey is to provide a baseline for designing interventions that can mitigate the problem of child labour and provide long-term gains through a multi-pronged

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approach. The baseline would be used to monitor progress and success against the identified impact indicators. Following are the main objectives of the study: To establish a set of baseline against identified indicators to measure

progress and success of the project in terms of qualitative improvement in lives of working children and their families

Estimating the number of children involved in cotton cultivation To study the working Condition of the children involved in cotton cultivation

1.4. Research MethodologyThere is large number of child working population in India. Children not only work in family farms but also migrate to distant areas for work. Various studies showed that comparatively large number of children involved in cotton fields of Haryana. In the study we have chosen cotton three growing districts of Haryana namely Hisar, Sirsa and Fatehabad. In the study, our purpose is to estimate of child labour involved in specific activity of cotton cultivation in Haryana, which can be considered as destination of child labour (that includes both local and migrant child workers). In cotton growing districts of Haryana a three-stage sampling procedure (at blocks, village and households) will be adopted for the selection of primary unit of survey (household).

(a) Selection of BlocksThe number of blocks selected in each district were based on two considerations i) number of blocks, where cotton is grown, and ii)minimum of two villages in each of the selected block for field survey. The detail is given below:

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Table: District Wise Number of Cotton Growing Blocks and Selected Blocks

Total Cotton Growing

Selected Blocks

Hisar 5 3Fatehabad 4 2Sirsa 4 2Total cotton growing blocks 13 7

(b) Selection of VillagesSimilar numbers of villages have chosen from each of the block in a district. The number of villages in the district to be surveyed was divided equally in the selected block. These villages were chosen by circular random method after arranging villages in descending order of household size in block and selected by a random start with fixed interval.

(c) Selection of HouseholdsAfter selection of villages a detailed census survey was conducted in the selected village by covering all the households having children between 3 and below 18 years of age. If number of households in the selected village were more than 25% of the average household size per village in the district. Following procedure was used to conduct the survey:

A village map was drawn through transact walk or in consultation with villagers and accordingly households will be selected through circular random method. For example, in the selected village if number of households are twice to district average, than every second households in the village will be selected randomly in the census survey. Finally, a detail sample survey of the child labour was conducted after identifying the child labour in the census survey in the village.

(d) Child Labour SampleA detailed sample survey of child labour working in cotton field was also done after conducting the census survey. In the sample survey randomly every second children were selected for detail interview. In sum, a total of 16 villages were surveyed in Haryana district with 4022 households and 764 sample children working in cotton fields (Detail given in Appendix).

1.5. Limitations The survey was conducted at the peak season of cotton picking. Therefore finding

the individual at home was difficult. Some of the households were left out as premises were found locked and we tried to cover them by visiting to the cotton fields, which was very near to their houses but still we could not cover all of them.

There was local language problem in the study area, so to avoid the language barrier local field investigators were employed in the survey. Overall due to the above limitations, we felt that about 10-15% of households were left in the survey.

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1.6. Key Informants Anganwadi workers, ANM, Sarpanch, Block Members, people of the village, people of other villages, school teachers and NGO workers.

1.7. Research ToolsThree survey tools or interview schedules namely village profile questionnaire, listing or census questionnaire and sample questionnaire have been used to collect both quantitative and qualitative information. The listing interview schedule includes basic background information of all the household members like their marital status, education, and work and migration status. Sample schedule covers the detailed information of on occupational hazards, exploitation, health, abuse, child rights, protection and other work related information of the child labourers. Further, detailed discussions were carried out with several key informants like the village sarpanch, head master and teachers and NGOs working in the villages to collect qualitative information on the situation of child labour.

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CHAPTER 2VILLAGE PROFILE

The survey was conducted in 16 revenue villages in randomly selected cotton growing blocks of three districts namely Sirsa, Hisar and Fatehabad in Haryana. This chapter gives the profile of the villages covered in the survey. Here we discuss the basic amenities and infrastructure available in the villages, namely drinking water, electricity, drainage facilities, motorable roads and the type of housing. We further present the various services available in the villages, namely that of schools, anganwadis and health centres. Further, we discuss social protection facilities in the studied villages, namely NREGs and SHGs.

Out of total 16 studied villages in the district 12.4% (2 villages) found extremely backward due to absence of three basic facilities of public health centre, primary school, individual drinking water, motorable road and electricity.

2.1. Access to Basic Amenities In the studied villages main sources of drinking water facilities are both individual (50%) and community sources (50%). However, household survey data shows majority of the households (84%) have tap in dwelling and only12% use community sources like public hand pump/tube well, public tap and others for drinking water.

Table 2.1: Source of Drinking WaterSource %Own hand pump/tube wellPublic hand pump/tube wellTap in dwellingOwn dug wellPublic dug wellPublic tapPond, river, stream

2.661.54

83.661.570.579.920.07

HH Surveyed 4022

Electricity is available in 93% of the studied villages and most of the households (88%) in these villages have electric connection. About 81% of the villages have drainage facility but villagers reported water logging problem during the rainy season due to non-maintenance of drainage. More than three-fourth of the villages (81%) are well connected by motorable road1 to the district headquarter.

More than half of the households in the studied villages have pucca type2 of houses (51%) followed by semi-pucca (30%) and katcha houses (18%). Average room per family is also

1 Tarred road suitable for use by motor vehicles2 Pucca: Those with both roof and walls made of pucca materials such as cement, concrete, oven burnt bricks and other such building reinforcement materials; Kutcha: Those with both roof and walls made of kutcha (non-pucca) materials, such as mud, thatch, bamboo and tent; also includes structure with thatched walls and thatched roof ; Semi-Pucca: Those with either roof or walls, but not both, made of pucca materials;

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reported decent with average 2 room for katcha and semi pucca houses and 3 rooms for pucca houses per family.

Table 2.2: Type of House and Average Number of RoomType % Average Number of Room

KatchaSemi-puccaPuccaTotal

18.3030.2851.42100.00

2233

HH Survyed 4022

About 85 per cent of the household in the village have toilet facility but open defecation is the usual practice.

2.2. ServicesThe literacy level is high in the studied area due to availability of government primary schools in all the villages. Almost 70% of the studied villages have upper primary school and 60% also have secondary schools. From other villages, where upper primary and secondary school is not available, children travel on an average 5 kms to access such facilities.

Vocational Training Institute are not present in the studied villages or nearby places. Children travel about 12 kms to get vocational training like computer training at block headquarter. In every village at least two Aganwadi centers (AWC) are located. According to AWC workers all the centres provide supplementary nutrition and more than half (56%) counsel pregnant mothers. About 81% of the AWCs are providing immunization facility, health checkup and about 88% are providing pre-school education to 3-6 years old children. Around 18% of the AWC’s worker reported referral facilities.

The villagers reported there is no discrimination in the school on the basis of caste or gender in terms of enrollment, dropout and providing midday meals etc. Rather, one finds that there are several schemes running in the schools in the studied villages for the encouragement education like provision of stipends, scholarships, free text books and uniforms. Girl children’s gets special incentives like cycles from state government.

Table 2.3: Service Provided of Anganwadi   %Supplementary Nutrition for children 0-6 yearsImmunisation of childrenPre-school education for 3-6 yrsHealth check-ups for childrenReferral services for childrenCounselling of pregnant, lactating mothers & adolescent girls

100.0081.2587.5081.2518.2556.25

Total Number of Villages 16

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Around three-fourth (75%) of the studied villages have health sub-centre, and little more than one third (38%) have primary health centre. However, villagers reported poor services from these centres. They reported that the staffs were either absent or they were not familiar with the standard protocols of mother and child health. The people of non-PHC villages travel about 8.4 kms to access health services at nearest primary health centres or visit district headquarter. Free health checks up facilities are also provided in the schools twice a year.

2.3. Social ProtectionThere are women self help groups found in 63% of the studied villages with an average of 2 SHGs per village having 8-12 members in each. Around 83% of them are linked to banks and formed under the government SGSY scheme. The National Employment Guarantee schemes (NREGS) is operational in the studied villages for the last five years. Approximately 35% of the households have got job under the scheme. In the scheme the average wages reported by people is Rs 170 per day. In the studied villages, females availed NREGS work more than males in a ratio of 66 to 40. The focus group discussions revealed that higher female participation in NREGS resulted in higher disposable income in poor families and they started sending their children to school. Mid day meals are provided in the school daily. People are satisfied with the type of quality of midday meals. But sometimes delay in the supply of ration created problem for 2-3 days.

SummaryOverall, on the positive side, majority of the villages are having drinking water facilities, electricity available at the household level, drainage facilities, toilet facilities, motorable roads, pucca housing, primary, upper primary and secondary schools, health sub centre and quite well-functioning anganwadi services. Majority of the villages had SHGs which were linked with banks and enjoyed NREGS services which paid them adequately and helped many poor households to increase their disposable income. Further on the positive side, are not finding any discrimination based on caste and gender with regard to the selected indicators in majority of the villages. Instead one could find several incentivising measures for education of under-privileged children in these villages. On the problematic side are the absence of vocational training institutes, the non-maintenance of drainage facilities, the non availability of primary health centres and the poor services rendered by the health sub centres.

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CHAPTER 3HOUSEHOLD AND CHILD PROFILE

This chapter presents the different socio-economic and demographic characteristics of the surveyed households. Religion, caste, age-profile, literacy level, sex ratio and the average number of children in the family of the surveyed households are presented. The activity status of the people, especially with regard migration, employment and the type of occupation is presented. The household income, their BPL/APL status, their female/ male headed status and their participation in NREGS are also presented. With regard to children, we have presented their education profile including vocational education, disability and marriage status. We have also briefly touched upon the working status of the children.

3.1 DemographyMajority of the population in the studied villages belong to Hindu religion (94%). More than half of them belonged to schedule caste (55%) followed by general caste (26%) and other backward caste (17%). About 38% of the population in the studied villages is comprised of children below 18 years of age.

Table 3.1a: Population by Gender, Social Group and Religion and Age Group (%)

  Male Female TotalReligion    

HinduMuslimChristianSikh

94.390.580.094.94

93.690.670.155.49

94.070.620.125.19

Caste    

Schedule CasteSchedule TribeOther Backward CasteGeneralTotal

54.532.14

17.4025.93

54.612.53

17.3925.47

54.572.32

17.4025.72

Number (H) HouseholdsAge Group      

upto 33-56-1415-1718-5960+Total

3.806.23

20.997.93

55.275.78100

3.625.20

20.876.61

57.286.42100

3.725.76

20.947.33

56.186.07100

Number (N) Household Members 10279 8504 18783Note: The age groups given above are in completed years only; 3-5 refers as completed 3 years and upto 6 years; similarly 6-14 and 14-17 means those who are upto 18 years or below 18 years. Henceforth, this definition applies in all the tables

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The estimated population3 in the cotton growing block of the three surveyed districts in Haryana is approximately 175 thousand with 81.5 thousand male and about 94 thousand female in 2011. The sex ratio in the studied area is very disturbing with only 827 female per 1000 male compared to all India 9474. It is worse among children compared to adults due to prevailing high female foeticide and son preference.

Table 3.2: Sex Ratio by Gender and Age GroupAge Sex Ratio

upto 33-5

6-1415-1718-59

60+

788691823690857919

All age group 827

There is almost negligible presence of child marriage (0.66%) and only 0.87% children are mentally or physically disabled in the studied villages. There is almost negligible percentage of married and disable children in the studied areas. The focus group discussion revealed that child marriages exist in weaker section but this has been reduced to some extent due to the high awareness and literacy in the area.

Table 3.3: Children (up to 18 years) by orphans and disability, marital status    Male Female TotalMarital Status  

UnmarriedMarried

99.450.55

98.831.17

99.180.82

Disability Mentally or physically disabledOrphanNone

0.700.1599.15

0.620.1999.19

0.660.1799.17

Total number of children 4004 3087 7091

About one-third of the children have ration-card and one-fifth have birth certificate (19%) as the main document of age proof.

Table 3.4: Type of Age Proof (upto 18 years)Male Female Total

Birth CertificateRation CardSchool certificateNoneOthers

19.7873.880.354.371.62

18.9874.380.064.791.78

19.4374.090.234.561.69

N 4004 3087 7091

3.2. Education

3 Refer to appendix for detail4 According to the Census of India, 2011

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The overall literacy rate is around 65 % in the survey areas of the people above the age of 6 years old. Among children 6-14 age group around 96% are literate with almost equally both male and female literate. The literacy rate gap between male and female is widening with increasing age group.

Table 3.5: Literacy Rate by Gender by age group (6 and above)Age Group Male Female Total6-14 95.3 95.8 95.615-17 93.3 92.2 92.86-17 94.8 95.0 94.818-59 68.4 39.5 55.060+ 25.8 3.5 15.1Total 74.1 53.6 64.8

Around one-third of the children between 3 and upto 6 years are going to aganwadi and pre-school. In the age group 6 to 14 years and 15-17 years about 93% and 81% are going to school respectively. There is no significant difference between school going of girls and boys and dropout rate in the age group of 6-14 years and 15-17 years. Although drop out rate in 6-14 age group is low (1.17%), the rate is considerably high (11.41) in the 15-17 age group. Also worrisome is the considerable number of never enrolled children. Nearly 5 percent and around 7 percent children are never enrolled in 6-14 age group and 15-17 age groups respectively. Older children (15-17 years) compared to young ones (6-14 years) due to various economic and familial reasons.

Table 3.6: Educational Profile of 3 and upto 17 years old ChildrenAge Group Male Female Total3-5 Not Going to School 63.59 69.68 66.08  Going to school but irregular 0.47 0.90 0.65  Going to school regularly 35.94 29.41 33.27  Total 100.00 100.00 100.00  (N) 3-5 years 640 442 10826-14 Never enrolled 4.64 4.17 4.43  Going to school but irregular 0.09 0.17 0.13  Drop Out 1.11 1.24 1.17  Going to school regularly 94.16 94.42 94.28  (N) 6-14 years 2157 1775 393215-17 Never enrolled 6.38 7.87 7.00  Going to school but irregular 0.25 0.18 0.22  Drop Out 11.01 11.99 11.41  Going to school regularly 82.35 79.96 81.37  (N) 15-17 years 799 559 1358

Some of the main reasons of drop out or not attending reported were parent’s disapproval, family cannot afford, no interest or aptitude and got job/work. The focus group discussion also revealed that children left school to take care of livestock as parents work on the fields from morning to evening. They told that mostly young girls are forced to drop the school to take care of their younger siblings. Parent’s disapproval is mainly because of disputes

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between the parents. The male member in the studied areas consumes alcohol and ill-treats his wife; to get rid of the domestic violence, wife normally goes to her parental home along with her child resulting in child dropping out or being irregular in study.

Table 3.9: Reasons of not attending or dropped out in 6-17 year of age  Male Female TotalRequired for care of young siblings 0.00 5.80 2.55No aptitude/Not interested 25.10 23.19 24.26Can not afford 28.90 24.64 27.02Parents disapprove of school 26.62 36.71 31.06Not safe to send girls 0.00 0.48 0.21Mentally/physically disable 0.00 0.00 0.00Fear of punishment by teachers 0.00 0.00 0.00Got job/work 19.39 9.18 14.89Young 0.00 0.00 0.00N 263 207 470

If we see the classes of dropped out, it is more than half of the children left out school upto primary level education (class 5th) followed by completing secondary (class 10th) and seventh standard. The informal discussion with villagers revealed that large number of children left schooling after completing primary or secondary education due to various reasons as discussed above.

Table 3.9a: Class of dropped out School of 6-17 children

Class N %2 22 10.953 7 3.484 21 10.455 59 29.356 18 8.967 23 11.448 18 8.969 4 1.9910 24 11.9412 5 2.49Total 201 100

Those who are attending the school, across age groups, majority of them are studying in government schools. The proportion of children attending government schools gets even higher as we move on to higher age- groups. More than one-fourth of the children are going to private school in the age-group of 3 - 6 years indicating presence of private schools in the area. The detailed discussion revealed that some private English medium schools have opened up in the areas during the last few years and children from well-off families are going to such schools.

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Table 3.7: Type of School Attending Age Group Type of School Male Female Total3-5 Government school 68.67 76.87 71.66  Private School 31.33 23.13 28.34  (N) 3-5 years 233 134 3676-14 Government school 80.67 84.10 82.22  Private School 19.33 15.90 17.78

(N) 6-14 years 2033 1679 371215-17 Government School 86.52 87.50 86.91  Private School 13.48 12.50 13.09  (N) 15-17 years 660 448 1108

Vocational education is not available in the villages and very few of the children go to the district headquarters to avail the facility. Thus, only 0.24% of the children have received some vocational training5 and not a single child reported receiving life skills training.

Table 3.10: Vocational Training and life skills training (6-17)Male Female Total

0.24 0.04 0.15 0.2499.76 99.96 99.85 99.76Total 100.0

0100.00 100.00

(N) 6-17 years 2973 2337 5310

3.3. Activity Status and OccupationAccording to main activity status, about half of the people in the working age (18-59 years) group and quarter (25%) of old age people (60+) are working in the studied areas. If we take both main and subsidiary status workers, around 80% of working age and one third of the old age people are working. There is huge difference between work participation of male and female as only 4% are involved primarily in some economic activity compared to 59% male. Among children around one tenth of the total (6-17 age group children are mainly working.

Table 3.11a: Work Participation Rate by Gender and Age group (6+)

Age Group

Male Female Person Male Female PersonMain Main & Subsidiary

6-14 2.20 0.40 1.39 14.54 15.54 14.9915-17 16.81 1.42 10.53 42.70 39.15 41.2518-59 88.14 5.58 50.03 92.13 66.74 80.4160+ 44.11 3.30 24.56 47.98 19.23 34.21Total 59.13 3.94 33.94 66.98 49.73 59.11

However, when we combined main and subsidiary status around 50% female are working compared to 69% female and more than half of the children are working. Thus, one can conclude that majority of female and children are working in the subsidiary status.

5 Vocational training includes typing, computer hardware or software training, carpenter and motor mechanic etc.

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The highest proportions of working members are involved in casual wage labour (21%), followed by self employment (8%) and regular work (2%). In non-workers, around one third are students (31%), more than one-fourth are (27%) involved in domestic work and 11% are too young or old retired people. The difference between male and female main workers can be explained as more than half of the women are involved in domestic work and one-fourth in studies.

Table 3.12: Activity Status of All Household Members  Male Female TotalEmployerOwn account worker (self-employed)Regular wage (salaried)Casual wage labourAttached wage labourUnpaid family labourDomestic workStudentRetired/pensioner/ too oldUnemployedUnable to work because of mental or physical disabilityYoung

0.1113.45

2.7736.68

0.020.021.87

32.643.310.390.538.22

0.060.590.462.480.000.00

56.8128.75

3.130.010.197.53

0.097.631.72

21.190.010.01

26.7430.88

3.230.220.377.91

Total Household members (N) 10279 8504 18783

Among workers, more than half (54.81%) are involved in cultivation of other agriculture crops and about one-fourth (25.32%) are doing cotton cultivation followed by construction. The proportion of females in cotton cultivation is substantially higher than males workers. As villagers reported some male workers go to other villages and district headquarter for higher remunerative work in agriculture, construction and transport etc.

Table 3.13: Main Occupation of Household Working Members (all age groups) (%)  Male Female TotalCultivation of other crops 55.95 34.53 54.81Cultivation of Cotton 24.51 39.74 25.32Construction 7.8 6.84 7.75Transport worker 1.87 1.63 1.86Personal Services 1.65 0.65 1.60Lower level administrative work 1.47 2.61 1.53Teaching 0.94 2.93 1.04Brick Making 0.79 0.00 0.75Repair Mechanic 0.39 0.65 0.40Skilled Artisans 0.39 0.00 0.36Animal Husbandry 0.26 0.98 0.3Fisheries 0.11 3.26 0.28Others* 3.92 6.19 4.00Main Workers 5459 308 5767

*Traditional Artisans, Agro- Processing, Hotel/ Dhaba/ Restaurant/ Tea Stall, Higher professional and technical services, Security workers, Sales worker etc

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Around one third of the household are involved in National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. The average days of work per household in NREGS are only 48 days, which are substantially lower as per norm of 100 days.

Table 3.14: Participation in NREGS along with no of days of employmentType %YesNoTotal

35.1064.90

100.00Average Number of Days per HH 48

3.4. Family Status and IncomeAccording to the ration card type around 42% of the total households have Below Poverty Level (BPL)6 status. The household reported their average monthly income and about 80% of them have more than Rs 8000 per capita monthly income.

Table 3.16: Distribution of Household by Income levelPer Capita HH Income %Upto 80008001-96009601-1200012001-1720017200+

19.9720.1923.8915.5420.41

Number of HH 4022

About 9.52% household are female headed households. The average household size is 5 per family with almost one male and female child per household in the studied village.

2.4. Migration and LivelihoodThe out-migration is almost negligible in the studied areas due to sufficient work available within the villages or nearby areas. Only older children migrate to cities or other state for study purposes. However, people in-migrate for agriculture labour from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and few in cotton cultivation from Rajasthan.

Table 3.18: Migration Status (All household Members)  Male Female TotalResident 99.70 99.80 99.74In migrant 0.18 0.09 0.14Out Migrant 0.12 0.11 0.11N 10279 8504 18783

6 The households identified by a defined economic criteria by the government and given the below poverty line and above poverty line status, accordingly a ratio cards called BPL for below poverty line households and APL for above poverty line households is given.

18

SummaryOn the whole, the socio- economic and demographic profile of the families does not give as positive a picture as we saw with regard to the availability of basic amenities. On the positive side are negligible proportion of child marriages and disability of children. High levels of literacy with not much gender gap in the 6-14 age group is another positive facet of development. Majority of the houses are having APL status and their per capita monthly income is above Rs. 8000. However there are several worrisome aspects as listed below.

One, is the disturbing sex ratio, which is higher among children indicating the possibility of female foeticide and son preference. The number of children in the family is also high. Although the proportion of school going children are considerably high, it is still of concern that there is a notable proportion of children who have never been enrolled, even in a prosperous state like Haryana. Of concern is also the considerable proportion (1.5 percent) of children engaged as main workers even in the young age group of 6- 14 years. This proportion goes quite high (15 percent) if one considers their status as subsidiary workers. The proportion of child labour as main workers and subsidiary workers are even higher in the 15-17 age group. There is also the worrisome aspect of low participation of women in the work force. Although NREGS operates in most villages and the wages paid are high, as noted in the previous chapter, the days of employment provided is far less than the norm.

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CHAPTER 4CHILD LABOUR

The previous chapter had given the proportion of working people in the surveyed households including children. In this chapter, we focus only on child labour and present the different characteristics of their employment. We also present the details of migration of the working children. In the study area about 36% of the household were found having at least one working child. Eighteen percent of households had atleast one child, working in cotton fields. Family members stated that they are sending their children for work due to poor economic conditions and easy availability of work. They also think that if more hands will work they have more income at their hand.

4.1 Working Children Around 4% of the total children in the age groups of 6-18 and 1.4% of children in the age group of 6-14 years and 10.53% children in the age group of 15-18 years are working as a main worker in the cotton growing areas in Haryana. About every fifth child in the age group of 6-18 years are working as both main and subsidiary worker.

Table 4.1a: Working Children by Gender and Age groupMale Female Persons

6-14 15-17 6-17 6-14 15-17 6-17 6-14 15-17 6-17Worker Main7

2.18 16.81 6.19 0.39 1.42 0.64 1.37 10.53 3.75All(Main & Subsidiary8)

14.97 49.5724.4

515.5

5 40.0421.4

415.2

3 45.6823.1

3All Children (N) 2158 815 2973 1775 562 2337 3933 1377 5310

An estimated number of eighteen thousand seven hundred children are working as main workers with 13,511 in the age group of 15-18 years and 5,092 in the age group of 6-14 years. Total around 114 thousand four hundred estimated children are working as both main and subsidiary workers with 58 thousand in the age group of 15-18 years and 56 thousand in the age group 6-14 years in cotton growing areas in three districts.

Table 4.1a: Estimated Number 9of Working Children by Gender and Age group in three Cotton Growing Districts

Male Female Person6-14 15-17 6-17 6-14 15-17 6-17 6-14 15-17 6-17

Worker Main 4,290 12,505 16,795

672 768 1,439 4,962 13,272 18,234

(Main and Subsidiary) 29,482 36,875 66,357

26,481

21,588 48,069

55,963

58,463 114,426

7 Main workers are those who involved in any economic activity in a longer period, i.e. more than 180 days during the last 365 days from the date of interview.

8 Subsidiary worker, those who are mainly non-workers but involved in some economic activity in a shorter duration, i.e. at least 30 days during the last year , 365 days, 9 For estimation please refer to annexure

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4.2. Status and OccupationOut of total 6 to 18 years of age children main activity status is students (94.21%) and domestic workers (2.22%). Only few children have main activity as worker in casual and self employment activity.

Table 4.2b: Main Activity Status of Children 6 and upto 18  Male Female Person

6-14 15-18 Total 6-14 15-18 Total 6-14 15-18 TotalOwn account worker (self-employed) 10

0.28 1.60 0.00 0.18 0.38 0.15 1.02 0.28 0.28

Casual wage labour 11 1.90 15.21 0.39 1.25 3.37 1.22 9.51 2.63 1.90Domestic work 2.22 1.96 4.45 18.86 4.69 3.23 8.86 4.63 2.22Student 94.21 80.98 94.48 79.36 90.70 94.33 80.32 91.64 94.21Unable to work because of mental or physical disability

0.19 0.25 0.00 0.36 0.15 0.10 0.29 0.11 0.19

Other 1.20 0.00 0.68 0.00 0.72 0.97 0.00 0.71 1.20(N) 2158 815 2973 1775 562 2337 3933 1377 5310

Majority of working children are involved in cultivation of cotton (47%), followed by cultivation in agriculture (26%) and construction (9%) and brick making (12%) and animal husbandry (6%).

Table 4.3a: Occupation Main  Male Female Person

6-14 15-17 Total 6-14 15-17 Total 6-14 15-17 TotalCultivation of Cotton 46.81 36.50 85.71 62.50 41.71 51.85 37.93 43.20 46.81Cultivation of other crops 25.53 43.80 14.29 37.50 38.19 24.07 43.45 37.38 25.53Animal Husbandry 6.38 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.51 5.56 0.00 1.46 6.38Repair Mechanic 0.00 2.19 0.00 0.00 1.51 0.00 2.07 1.46 0.00Transport worker 0.00 1.46 0.00 0.00 1.01 0.00 1.38 0.97 0.00Construction 8.51 9.49 0.00 0.00 8.54 7.41 8.97 8.25 8.51Brick Making 12.77 2.92 0.00 0.00 5.03 11.11 2.76 4.85 12.77Others 0.00 3.65 0.00 0.00 2.51 0.00 3.45 2.43 0.00Total 100.0

0100.0

0100.0

0100.0

0100.0

0100.0

0100.0

0100.0

0100.0

0

In the subsidiary status, majority of working children are involved in cultivation of cotton (92%) and other agriculture crops (7.46).

O

10 Self Employed workers are those who work in their own farm or enterprises as a helper, supervisor or main worker 11 Casual workers are those who works as a labour in farm or non-farm activity and paid on a daily basis or piece rate basis; the casual work also not available regularly

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Table 4.3b: Occupation SubsidiaryOccupation Male Female Person

6-14 15-17 Total 6-14 15-17 Total 6-14 15-17 TotalCultivation of Cotton 92.45 93.26 94.44 88.02 92.25 93.43 90.91 92.70 92.45Cultivation of other crops 6.47 6.74 5.56 11.98 7.46 6.02 9.09 7.07 6.47Construction 0.36 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.10 0.18 0.00 0.08 0.36Others 0.72 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.19 0.36 0.00 0.15 0.72Total 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Around one-fifth of the total children are working in cotton fields with equal proportion of male and female children. The participation of elder children (15 to upto 18) in cotton is around three times higher than younger children.

Table 4.3d: Proportion of Working Children in Cotton Age Group  % Sample Number(N)

Male Female Total Male Female Total6-14 Main 1.02 0.34 0.71 22 6 28

All (Main& Sub) 12.93 14.70 13.73 279 261 54015-17 Main 6.13 0.89 3.99 50 5 55

All (Main& Sub) 36.69 34.88 35.95 299 196 495All Main 2.42 0.47 1.56 72 11 83

All (Main& Sub) 19.44 19.55 19.49 578 457 1035

There is very low migration reported in the studied areas. Only few children are both migrating to other states and coming from other state for work.

Table 4.4: Migration StatusStatus Male Female All

6-14 15-18 Total 6-14 15-18 Total 6-14 15-18 TotalResident 99.77 99.75 99.83 100.00 99.81 99.80 99.85 99.82 99.77 In migrant 0.19 0.25 0.11 0.00 0.15 0.15 0.15 0.14 0.19 Out Migrant 0.05 0.00 0.06 0.00 0.04 0.05 0.00 0.04 0.05 Total 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

SummaryHigh prevalence of child labour was found with 18 percent of households reporting child labour in cotton fields. Although there is considerable proportion of children even as the main workers in the 15- 17 years age group, many children’s work is of a subsidiary nature. About one-fifth of children are working, when one considers both main and subsidiary category workers. Majority of children worked in cotton cultivation, Very few working children had to migrate for their work since adequate opportunities for work existed in their native villages itself.

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CHAPTER 5CHILDREN IN COTTON WORK

This chapter specifically examines child labour in cotton fields. We have examined several aspects of their work. We have looked into their working conditions including the hours of work, the wages, mode and frequency of payment, using of protective clothes, medical coverage for sickness, first aid arrangement for accidents, supervision at work and issues of exploitation and abuse. We have further looked into the health and habits of these children. Children’s own perceptions regarding the work, namely whether they like doing this work, how dangerous they find this work and whether they would recommend this work to any one, are also looked into. The analysis has been done of four age groups (6-8 years; 9-11 years; 12-14 years and 15 and upto 18 years) children to understand their problem in detail. In the sample survey total 684 child workers were interviewed with highest number from the elder children (15-17 years) and lowest from younger ones (6-8 years).

Sample distributionAge-Group N %6-8 19 2.789-11 102 14.9112-14 241 35.2315-17 322 47.08Total 684 100.00

Majority of the children in the age group of 6-18 years worked in plucking of cotton for 80 to 90 days during the season (October-December) and few of them also work in cultivation of other agricultural crops like wheat, bajra, jowar etc. In the studied areas mostly local workers work in the cotton fields. Few of them also comes from other state like Rajasthan, UP and Bihar. However, migrant workers work mainly in cultivation of other agricultural crops. In cotton, few families also comes from Rajasthan and stay for 1- 2 months during harvesting of crops and plucking of cotton. According to the local people their number is just around 2-3% of the total workers.

5.1. Health and HabitsOnly 2% of the working children in cotton fields of age group 16 to below 18 years of age reported suffering from any chronic illness. Only Asthma was reported.

Table 5.1: Child Worker Reported Suffering from Chronic Illness by Age Group6-8 9-11 12-14 15-17 Total

Yes 0.00 2.94 1.66 2.48 2.19No 100.00 97.06 98.34 97.52 97.81N 19 102 241 322 684

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About 2% of child worker above the age of 9 years informed us about consuming intoxicants in the form of smoking and chewing tobacco.

Table 5.2: Child Worker Reported Consuming Any Intoxicants by Age Group6-8 9-11 12-14 15-17 Total

Yes 0.00 2.94 1.66 1.86 1.90No 100.00 97.06 98.34 98.14 98.10N 19 102 241 322 684

Majority of child worker consume 3 meals in a day (66%) and rest consume 2 meals per day. Only 9% informed reported about taking additional nutritional supplements in the form of milk, juice and nutritional food.

5.2. Work and Working Conditions

More than three-fourth of child workers had started work before completing the age of 14 years. More than one-third of the elder working children (15-17 year of age) stopped schooling and started work, which complements with our earlier finding of higher drop outs among elder children. One-fifth of the child workers in the age groups 9-11 and 12-14 years also reported dropping from schools to start work due to poor economic conditions of family.

Table 5.4: Age at Work Started and Stopped going to School to start work by Age Group

Age Group 6-8 9-11 12-14 15-18 TotalWork Started 2.88 23.00 51.75 22.37 100.00Stopped Going to school

Yes 15.79 20.59 20.75 34.47 27.05No 63.16 68.63 70.12 55.59 62.87Not Attended 21.05 10.78 9.13 9.94 10.09Total 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00N 19 102 241 322 684

More than one-fourth of them left school (27%) to start work and were put into work by their parents (77%) and self (22%). They started work due to their low family income their families (65%) also wanted them to work (31%).

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Table 5.5: Who put them to work for the first time by Age GroupWho put them to work 6-8 9-11 12-14 15-18 TotalParents 78.95 76.47 78.42 76.71 77.34Relative 0.00 0.98 1.66 0.93 1.17Self 21.05 22.55 19.92 22.36 21.49Total 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00N 19 102 241 322 684Reason for to start workParents had debt 10.53 0.98 0.41 1.86 1.46Family income low 68.42 61.76 69.71 63.04 65.35Not interested in study 0.00 1.96 0.41 1.55 1.17Family wanted me to work 15.79 34.31 29.05 33.23 31.43Others 5.26 0.98 0.41 0.31 0.58Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0N 19 102 241 322 684

On an average children have been working in the cotton fields for the last 27 months. They work on an average around average 8 hours per day in the cotton fields 4 days in a week. However, the range of hours of work varies from 2 hours daily to 13 hours. The younger children worked on average lesser number of hours compared to elder children.

Table 5.7: Average Hours per Week by Age GroupHour 6-8 9-11 12-14 15-18 Total2 0.00 2.94 1.66 0.62 1.323 0.00 0.00 1.24 0.00 0.444 0.00 3.92 2.90 4.66 3.805 15.79 15.69 16.18 12.11 14.186 10.53 6.86 8.30 6.83 7.467 21.05 11.76 15.77 15.53 15.208 26.32 31.37 22.82 25.78 25.589 0.00 0.00 1.24 0.93 0.8810 26.32 22.55 23.65 19.57 21.6411 0.00 0.00 0.41 0.93 0.5812 0.00 4.90 5.81 12.42 8.6313 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.62 0.29

N 19 102 241 322 684Average 7.63 7.59 7.64 8.08 7.84

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Most of the children were engaged in own household work and other agriculture and allied work like livestock apart from cotton work during the last 12 months.

Table 5.8: Other Work last year by Age GroupOther Type of Work 6-8 9-11 12-14 15-18 TotalOwn HH work 58.82 70.13 64.43 59.14 62.57Other agriculture 29.41 23.38 23.20 26.46 24.95Looking for livestock 11.76 6.49 12.37 14.01 12.29Small Shop 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.39 0.18N 19 102 241 322 684

The payment was done on the basis of quantity of cotton plucked at the rate of Rs. 4 to 6 per kg. Whether it is being done by the local or migrant labour, both gets the same wages. Wage rate in cotton picking is Rs 400-600 per 100 kg and around 150 Rs per day in other season. Around 67% of children were paid on a daily basis and 25% on the piece rate basis depending upon the work as stated above. At the time of cotton picking, payment was made to the whole family involved in the cotton picking on the basis of amount of cotton picked up the whole day. The payment was received by parents during the picking season (45%) and by self in other seasons. However, the higher proportion of elder children reported received their payment by self compared to younger children.

Table 5.9: Basis of Payment by Age GroupBasis 6-8 9-11 12-14 15-18 TotalPiece rate basis 21.05 36.27 22.82 22.67 24.71Daily basis 63.16 55.88 66.39 70.19 66.52Weekly basis 5.26 5.88 9.54 5.59 7.02Monthly basis 10.53 0.00 1.24 1.55 1.46Others 0.00 1.96 0.00 0.00 0.29N 19 102 241 322 684Who Receive their PaymentParents 47.37 51.96 49.38 39.75 45.18Relatives 5.26 3.92 0.83 0.93 1.46Self 47.37 44.12 49.38 59.32 53.22Others 0.00 0.00 0.41 0.00 0.15N 19 102 241 322 684

Majority of child workers handed over their income to the parents or family members. About 11% reported using for purchase food and 3% for payment of school fee and book, informs etc.

26

Table 5.12: Use of incomeFrequency 6-8 9-11 12-14 15-18 TotalPay rent 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.62 0.29School fees 5.26 0.98 2.07 2.80 2.34Books, uniforms, etc 0.00 1.96 0.00 0.62 0.58Give to parents/ family 84.21 89.22 85.06 82.61 84.50Pay employer (dues) 0.00 0.00 0.41 0.31 0.29Food 10.53 7.84 12.03 12.11 11.40Others 0.00 0.00 0.41 0.93 0.58N 19 102 241 322 684

1.3. Occupational Safety and Health

Only 1% of child worker perceived that working in cotton field is dangerous for their health. Most of them (84%) wear some protection during the work. They wear face mask, cloth cover and gloves to protect themselves.

Table 5.15: The work is Dangerous for your health by Age Group  6-8 9-11 12-14 15-18 TotalYes 5.26 1.96 0.41 0.31 0.73No 94.74 98.04 99.59 99.69 99.27N 19 102 241 322 684Type of ProtectionFace mask 0.0 18.2 11.8 17.9 15.9Gloves 0.0 36.4 17.6 15.4 18.8Goggles 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.6 1.4Cloth Cover 50.0 45.5 70.6 64.1 62.3Face mask+cloth cover 50.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.4N 5 60 190 320 575

A very few child workers (2%) stated about having some on-site first aid arrangement during the work. That is mainly some medicine for fevers and headache. About 2% of the child workers stated about having some on-site first aid arrangement during the work. All the working children go for open defecation and reported no toilet facility at the work site. Some of them (3%) fell sick as a result of work in the cotton field during the last 3 months with an average 15 days of sickness. About 90% of them consulted with local traditional healer and medical expenses were paid by themselves and their parents. However, the statement can not be generalised due to very few number of reported cases.

27

Table 5.17: On-site first aid arrangement during the work by employer by Age Group  6-8 9-11 12-14 15-18 TotalYes 0.00 1.96 1.66 1.55 1.61No 100.00 98.04 98.34 98.45 98.39N 19 102 241 322 684

There is no supervision of work in cotton fields. The owner only visit two times in a day, once in the morning, to tell them about the work and another in the evening to pay them wages on the basis of work done during the day.

1.4. Exploitation and AbuseThere is no exploitation or abuse reported at the workplace. About 52% of the working children stated that they liked the work.

1.5. Child Perceptions About 60% of the working children stated that they liked the work and 26% said about no other option available.

Table 5.21: Working Children like his/her work by Age Group  6-8 9-11 12-14 15-18 TotalYes 42.11 54.90 52.70 50.93 51.90No 5.26 3.92 4.15 4.97 4.53No option 52.63 41.18 43.15 44.10 43.57Total 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00N 19 102 241 322 684

They like the work as they are able to provide monetary support to their families and themselves. Majority of those who did not like their work, disliked it due to work hazards and disliking of employer. About one third of child workers reported not liking the cotton work due to their inability to attend school and because it is too tiring.

Table 5.22: Reason of liking and not liking his/her work by Age Group Like Work 6-8 9-11 12-14 15-18 TotalSupport family 62.50 61.82 55.20 60.49 58.86Earn money for school 0.00 9.09 4.80 4.94 5.43Earn money for food 37.50 29.09 40.00 34.57 35.71N 8 56 127 164 355Not like workCan not attend school 0.00 0.00 22.22 43.75 30.00Not like the cotton work 0.00 50.00 22.22 12.50 20.00Too tired to work 100.00 25.00 44.44 25.00 33.33Paid less 0.00 25.00 11.11 18.75 16.67N 1 4 10 16 31

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About 43% of the working children recommended this job to their brother/sister or friends. However, most of the children in the areas worked in cotton fields with their parents and other family members.

Table 5.24: Recommended this job to others family member and relative by Age Group  6-8 9-11 12-14 15-18 TotalYes 52.63 40.20 43.98 42.55 42.98No 0.00 4.90 6.64 5.90 5.85Can.t say 47.37 54.90 49.38 51.55 51.17N 19 102 241 322 684

4.4. Government EffortsHaryana State has prepared a  'State Plan of Action' for the children which is a very comprehensive document encompassing the various critical areas  like health , nutrition , education and environment with issues like girl child, child labour and children especially in difficult circumstances. 

A 'Child Labour Cell' at headquarters has been constituted to pay special attention towards elimination of Child labour. The Cell is headed by a Joint Labour Commissioner. Moreover, the necessary directions have been issued to the Inspectorate staff to ensure that working hours of such children do not exceed six hours. The other State Government departments which are involved in the task of rehabilitation of Child labour are Health, Education and Social Welfare departments.

The Health department has been instructed to get the Child Labour medically examined and issue health cards in the districts. The Project Director, Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan and Director, Primary Education have also been requested to enroll the Child labour in schools. The Child labour who were found in non-hazardous occupations are also being got enrolled in the primary schools and non-formal education centres.  Efforts are being made to start special projects of informal education for these children. 

The meetings of various Associations of the employers are also held at the level of senior functionaries of the Labour Department to educate and advise them not to employ Child Labour in their establishments. As reported by the local school teachers that the government have initiated awareness campaign through them. They not only aware the parents but also ask the children to attend school regularly. Because of this efforts lot of children who were working stopped work and attending the classes and some other work after attending school.

SummaryMany children, although not the majority had stopped going to school to start work. Long hours of work, over and above the acceptable hours of work were the plight for many. There was neither first aid nor any toilet facility in the work site. Supervision was also not found. Despite the above mentioned government efforts that considerable children are working in the cotton fields for long working hours should be noted.

29

Of relief are findings of low levels of illness reported from work . However, short term respite from ailments does not rule out the long run implications of being exposed to pesticides for long hours. Again of relief is the finding that children use protective clothes. However, how adequate are they in actually protecting children is not known. No body reported instances of exploitation or abuse, probably because they were working with other family members. On the positive side, very low numbers of children are found getting into bad habits of consuming intoxicants. Majority are able to have regular meals, although very few reported taking nutritional supplements. Majority of children themselves received payment and handed it over to their parents. Majority of the children also reported that they liked their work given that it was enabling them to contribute to their families and did not find the work posing danger to their health.

30

Chapter 5Summing Up

The baseline study indicates very high presence of child labour is the study areas. About every third households have at least one child labour and one fifth working in cotton.

The following are the major key points emerged from the study:

Agriculture is the main source of income in the survey areas with wheat and cotton being the major crops. Majority of the workers are involved in as farm labour in fields of landlords in the villages. Children constitute a significant proportion of the labour force in cotton cultivation.

The sex ratio in the studied area is very disturbing like in the state with only 827 female per 1000 male compared to all India 947.

Almost all the studied village have basic infrastructure like motorable road, electric connection, drainage facility and residing in pucca and semi pucca houses. Access to primary school is not a major challenge for children as in all the village government primary school is available.

Out of total children between the age group of 3 and 18 years about 81% are currently enrolled in school and going regularly, 15% never enrolled and about 3% dropped out of the school.

The main reasons of children dropping out or not attending school reported disapproval of parents, not interested and family can not afford. About 6% also stated that they got the job or work and left the school. In low income families children compel to work because of their livelihood and survival.

There is no nearby vocational training institute available in the villages; children travel about 12 kms to get such training.

About three-fourth of the studied villages have health sub-centre, and little more than one third (38%) have primary health centre. However, in these sub-centres have poor services with staff either being absent or not familiar with the standard protocols of mother and child health. The people of other villages travel about 8.4 kms to access health services at nearest primary health centres or visit to district headquarter.

About one-third of the children have ration-card and one-fifth have birth certificate (19%) as the main document of age proof. The increasing rate of birth registration in the area shows a healthy sign as reported more female accessing public hospital and delivery hut made under the government BRGF scheme for child delivery.

31

Approximately 35% of the households have got job under the NREGS scheme. In the scheme the average wages reported by people is Rs 170 per day. In the studied village female availed NREGS work more than male in a ratio of 66 to 40. This is instrumental to higher participation of schooling of children from poor families.

About every fifth child in the age group of 6-18 years are working as both main and subsidiary worker.

Total around 108 thousand two hundred estimated children are working as both main and subsidiary workers with 59,922 in the age group of 15-18 years and 55,068 in the age group 6-14 years cotton growing blocks in three districts.

Majority of working children are involved in cultivation of cotton (47%), followed by cultivation in agriculture (26%) and construction (9%) and brick making (12%) and animal husbandry (6%).

Around 90 thousand children are working in cotton fields with 44 thousand female and 53 thousand male children in the studied area.

Children are mainly involved in cotton picking activity that normally takes 8 hours a day for 80 to 90 days during the cotton picking season (October-December).

About 78% of child workers have started working in the age group of 11 to 17 years. About more than half of them left school (63%) to start work and were put into work by their parents (77%) and self (22%). They started work due to their low family income their families (65%) also wanted them to work.

On average children have been working in the cotton fields for the last 27 months. They work on an average 5-10 hours per day in the cotton fields 4 days in a week. Most of the children were engaged in other agriculture (63%) and construction (25%), apart from cotton work during the last 12 months.

Wage rate in cotton picking is Rs 400-600 per 100 kg and around 150 Rs per day in other season. At the time of cotton picking payment is made to the whole family involved in the cotton picking on the basis of amount of cotton picked up the whole day.

The children are handed over to their 97% income to his/her families. However, at the time of cotton picking payment is made to the whole family involved in the cotton picking on the basis of amount of cotton picked up the whole day. Physical and psychological abuse against the children is not reported in the area.

There is no supervision of work in cotton fields. The owner only visit two times in a day, once in the morning, to tell them about the work and another in the evening to pay them wages on the basis of work done during the day.

32

The children are exploited by in the cotton picking season they go to school as well as work in cotton fields. The money that children earn is mostly handed over to the parents or head of the family leaving the children to feel economically exploited. Most of the children from poor families are going to school and after school working in the cotton fields.

About 52% of the working children stated that they liked the work. Majority of them (42%) reported that they have to support to their families. They like the work as they are able to provide monetary support to their families and themselves.

About one-third of the working children also reported did not like the work due to not able to attend school and job is physically tiring, low payment and do not want to work.

The finding of the study indicates gross negligence of children’s rights. To address these issues simultaneous interventions are needed both at micro and macro levels. At micro level there is a dire need to establish effective community based child rights and protection mechanism though meaningful participation of community members including children.

It is equally critical to empower civil society, government and other stakeholder to fulfil their responsibilities towards providing a protective and enabling environment to children. At the macro level, effective advocacy efforts are required with government to implement policies, laws and procedures to deliver their commitment. Government of Haryana has taken several steps in this direction like children can not work more than eight hours, health facilities to working children and bring them back to schools. But these efforts are done for only working children in hazards occupations.

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Annexure 1

a). Calculation of Number of HouseholdSince objective of the survey is to estimate the incidence of child labour in cotton growing regions, a fairly representative sample of households is absolutely necessary for each district in the region. For the calculation of desired sample size, we need incidence of child labour in cotton at the regional level. In absence of data on incidence of child labour in cotton field at regional level, we have used a proxy variable incidence of child labour households at the regional level from National Sample Survey, 2007-08. According to NSS estimates, around 7% households in Haryana were found having child labour. Hence, desired number of households for each district would be calculated at 95% confidence interval with 10% standard error or standard deviation by the following formula: N=z2p (1-p)/d2

Where, N=the desired sample size; z= confidence level; p=the proportion of child labour households; d=standard error or deviation

At regional level households required to survey are approximately 5000 in Haryana region. To get an idea of number of villages to be covered average household size of Haryana, i.e 376 is used. Which comes around 16 villages in Haryana region needs to be covered. Further, the number of villages required to be surveyed in each selected districts of the region is distributed in proportion of district to total regional population from Census.

Table 1: Number of VillageState District Village HH

Haryana  

HisarSirsa Fatehabad

754

200015001517

b). Estimation of Child Worker in Three Cotton Growing District in HaryanaThe district wise population for rural and urban is available from census of India, 2011. But the population by block wise for 2011 is not released yet. Thus, we have used compound growth rate of district population between 2001 and 2011 to calculate estimated population of the cotton growing blocks in each district in 2011. The blocks population of 2001 is available from census 2001. The estimated population of the cotton growing blocks in 2011 was derived by using the formula A=A1*[(1+R/100) ^(n)], where A1 is the population on March 2001; R is the rate of growth of district rural population and A is estimated population of four blocks and n is time period. The estimated population of cotton growing blocks in each district is combined to make an aggregate estimation of child labour in cotton growing areas and child labour in cotton fields. Total estimated population of cotton growing blocks in three district of Haryana is following:

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Table 2. Estimated Population of Cotton Growing BlocksTotal

Cotton Growing

Selected Blocks

Villages Estimated population,

2011Hisar 5 3 7 699,469Fatehabad 4 2 5 533,187Sirsa 4 2 4 521,486Total population of cotton region 13 7 16 1,754,142

The age wise population distribution has been calculated by using the age proportion of the studied villages in our census survey. First male and female proportion by age was calculated and added to make total persons. The following is the estimated population age wise.

Table 3: Age-wise estimated population in 2011  Male Female Total

0-2 35,688 29,552 65,2803-5 58,416 42,408 101,0486-14 196,971 170,305 367,30215-17 74,389 53,922 128,59818-59 518,532 467,355 985,45059+ 54,217 52,387 106,464Total 938,213 815,929 1,754,142

Further, child labour proportion was used to get the estimated number of child labour age wise.

Table 4: District and Block Wise List of Villages

District Block VillageHisar Adampur Telanwali

Kishan GarhModakhera

Agroha Durjan purKale Ravan

Hisar II Ralwas KalanDobhi

Fatehabad Bhattu Kalan Dhabi khurdBan Mandori

Fatehabad GilakhdaDariyapur

Sirsa Nathu Ram Chopta Ali MohammadMakhosurani

MochiwaliOdhan Odhan

Jagmalwali

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