Child Labour- Beedi Industry

Table of Contents

TABLE OF STATUTES 3

TABLE OF CASES 4

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 5

INTRODUCTION AND METHODOLOGY 6

 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: 7

 SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS: 8

 METHODOLOGY: 9

 RESEARCHABLE QUESTIONS: 10

 CHAPTERIZATION: 10

 SOURCES OF DATA: 11

BEEDI INDUSTRY IN INDIA: THE GROUND REALITY 12

BEEDI INDUSTRY IN INDIA: SCOPE AND MAGNITUDE OF THE PROBLEM 12

How does pledging of children in the beedi industry take place? 13

BEEDI INDUSTRY IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF INDIA 14

Vellore 14

Tirunelveli (Tamil Nadu) 14

Tiruchirapalli 15

North Arcot 16

Trichur 16

THE BEEDI INDUSTRY: A CLOSER LOOK 17

SOME BASIC PROBLEMS FACED BY THE CHILDREN IN THE BEEDI INDUSTRY 19

THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK 21

LEGAL REGIME GOVERNING BIDI INDUSTRY WITH SPECIFIC REFENCE TO CHILDREN EMPLOYED IN SUCH INDUSTRY 21

* THE CHILD LABOUR (PROHIBITION AND REGULATION) ACT, 1986: 21

* THE BIDI AND CIGAR WORKERS (CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT) ACT, 1966: 23

 WHY THE ACT HAS NOT BEEN EFFECTIVE? 26

* THE BIDI WORKERS WELFARE FUND ACT, 1976: 27

* MINIMUM WAGES ACT, 1948: 28

LIMITS TO LEGAL ACTION : 29

CASE REVIEW: 30

SOCIAL AND OTHER NON-ECONOMIC ISSUES 34

INDIVIDUAL MODULE BY PUJA SONDHI AND DEVASHISH KRISHAN

SOCIAL PROFILE OF THE WORKERS 34

 Costs of doing beedi rolling: 35

 Benefits of beedi rolling: 37

LEVELS OF SOCIAL ORGANISATION 40

SOLUTIONS OFFERED 41

ECONOMIC ISSUES 45

INDIVIDUAL MODULE BY AMAN AHLUWALIA AND SAMEER SINGH

WAGES AND CONDITIONS OF WORK 45

State Wise rates of Minimum wages in beedi industry fixed under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 47

PASSBOOKS - BENEFITS FOR BEEDI WORKERS 49

NON-APPLICABILITY OF EMPLOYERS PROVIDENT FUND AND EMPLOYER'S STATE INSURANCE SCHEMES 50

SYSTEM OF ENGAGEMENT OF BEEDI WORKERS THROUGH LABOUR CONTRACTORS 51

 Chhat/Rejection of Sub-standard Beedies 51

The Law 53

The Reality 53

 Overstatement of the potential of raw material resulting in a loss for the workers 53

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS 55

THE BIDI-CIGARATTE CONTROVERSY 57

CONCLUSION 58

BIBLIOGRAPHY 60

ANNEXURE I 62

ANNEXURE II 65

ANNEXURE III 67

ANNEXURE IV 69

ANNEXURE V 70

ANNEXURE VI 72

Table of Statutes

* THE BIDI AND CIGAR WORKERS (CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT) ACT, 1966.

* THE BIDI WORKERS WELFARE FUND ACT, 1976.

* THE CHILD LABOUR (PROHIBITION AND REGULATION) ACT, 1986.

* THE MINIMUM WAGES ACT, 1948.

Table of Cases

* Bandhua Mukti Morcha v. Union of India and others, 1986 (Supp) SCC 553.

* Labourers Working on Salal Hydro Project v. State of Jammu and Kashmir and Others, (1983) 2 SCC. 181Kishen Patnayak and another v. State of Orissa, AIR 1989 SC 677.

* MC Mehta v. State of Tamil Nadu and others, AIR 1991 SC 417.

* People's Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) v. Union of India and Others, AIR 1982 SC 1473.

* Rajangam, Secretary, District Bidi Workers' Union v. State of Tamil Nadu and others, (1992) 1 SCC 221.

Acknowledgements

This research paper has been made possible by the invaluable contributions and assistance offered by several people. At the very outset, we would like to mention some of the people whose involvement has helped us enormously in our field work as well as structuring of this paper.

The Concerned For Working Children organised our stay in Kundapur and arranged for our visits to the various villages. We are extremely grateful to Ms. Nandana Reddy for the arrangements she made. The field work we conducted would not have been possible without the infrastructure provided by CWC. In Kundapur, Mr. Ganapathy was of great assistance and his inputs helped determine our own perspective. We would also like to acknowledge the contribution of Mr. Venkatesh, who accompanied us to all the villages, in his capacity as translator.

Finally, we find it necessary to mention that this paper would simply not have been possible without the guidance and supervision of Prof. Babu Mathew, who not only helped select the area of field work but also assisted us in framing the structure for this research paper.

Introduction and Methodology

As India marches towards the new millenium boasting of economic growth and development, visions of child