Child Labour in fields ofTelanganaand other states has become almost negligible.
After three years of consistent advocacy-cum-awareness campaigns for child labour elimination organised jointly by International Labour Organization’s (ILO) ‘Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work in Cotton Supply Chain’ Project and Telangana, results have shown that engagement of child labour in this supply chain has disappeared.
According to State Government officials, multiple reports have also indicated positive results about child labour not visible in the cotton fields.
Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Rajasthan,Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Telangana are major cotton growing states and Telangana alone accounts for approximately 15% of the country’s total cotton growing area.
According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) 2018-19 data, there are primarily three types of workers/labour – own cultivation, family labour and casual labour (which accounts for majority of the state’s workforce at 46 per cent) – in cotton cultivation in Telangana.
Further more, the proportion of casual labour by Women under the age of 18 is higher than that of men. Women (children, adolescents and adults) account for a higher proportion of causal labour, while a majority of men work as owner cultivators, the PLFS data says.