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Fast fingers. Child labour in Indian cotton seed fields

Child labour can be hidden in any garment or towel made of Indian cotton, because India is one of the most important cotton producers and exporters worldwide. Anyone who wants to offer (or consume) textiles and clothing without child labour must therefore also investigate the conditions under which the seed was produced, from which the cotton fiber was later extracted and processed.

SOUTHWIND and its Indian partner CLRA (PRAYAS) conducted a survey in Gujarat at the end of 2017 to assess the current level of child labour. Three separate questionnaires were drawn up for surveys on the farms, the workers and the households in the villages.

The concrete results of the investigation:

  • Level of education: About a third of children and adolescents have never attended school.
  • Working and living conditions on the farm: All children reported working at least eight hours a day, the vast majority even worked ten hours a day on a regular basis. Qualitative interviews with child workers show that physical assaults in the workplace are particularly common in children.

Scope: 28 pages
Reference: free of charge for download