Vinnie Merryman / Feb. 29 11:25 am / Labor Problems

Child Labor

This story tells of a girl, Jyothi Ramulla Naga, who is from Uyyalawada (southern India). This young girl works from sun up to sun down on a cottonseed farm for only twenty cents an hour. She process high-tech cottonseeds genetically engineered to contain a natural pesticide, on behalf of U.S. agriculture giant Monsanto. To get the seeds to breed true the farmers have to cross-pollinate the plants, a laborious task that keeps a peak of a dozen workers busy for several months on just one acre. And to make a profit the farmers have to use cheap labor. They choose to use this cheap child labor over machines, such as the ones used in the United States. Jyothi has been working in these fields for over five years and the money is very important for her family. She started working at an early age because her father committed suicide due to large debts.

Last year 420,000 laborers under the age of 18 were employed in cottonseed farms in four states across India, estimates Glocal Research, a consultancy in Hyderabad that monitors agricultural labor conditions. Of that total 54% were under the age of 14 and illegally employed. The law prohibits children under 14 from working in factories, slaughterhouses or other dangerous locations. There are some exceptions for farm work; if the hours are limited, the kids are in school and there are no machines to be operated. But many of the children are unable to attend to are working in the fields for over ten hours a day. The enforcement for these laws are very lax. Even though India is nearing First World status, it is still a country where child labor resides heavily.

I find this to be very sad, but from many of the articles I have read, this just seems like a repeated story. There are so many children exposed to harsh working styles and not being compensated for it in pay or education. They are being completely exploited, and while there are laws to protect them, they are rarely enforced. Hopefully places like this will modernize to an extent and use machinery to eliminate at least some of the child labor.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=26&article_id=89378