Dutch Report highlights plight of child labour

The ‘Captured by Cotton’ report by Dutch corporate

investigators SOMO, published in May this year, highlights the plight of young girls working as daily wagers in the textile industry. It reveals how young girls aged between 14 to 21 years work for a three year bond period under the ‘Sumangali’ scheme. The products then adorn the shelves of big names like Tesco, H&M and NEXT.

Girls get attracted to the scheme since they are provided with accommodation, daily wages, and a payment of around Rs 40,000 on completion of contract. Though the amount on contract completion looks big, what these girls fail to understand is that it is a collection of a part of their wages and not a reward. And since they are bound by the contract, they cannot say no to overtime and have to compromise so that they can get the money on contract completion. If they quit in between, the amount though hard-earned by them, is held back by the employer.

Brands that source from suppliers using the Sumangali scheme are not limited to those named in the SOMO report. And though there have been signs of big retailers showing willingness to deal with the issue, no concrete steps have been taken to come up with a solution so far. The report says that, where corporate can have the most leverage is when all of them come together and apply their purchasing power by asking the right kinds of questions to suppliers. It has to be a collective decision and effort by the companies.