Child-Workers in Carpet Industry
Child labor is a common phenomenon in our country. Although it has been prevalent for a long time, it has assumed alarming proportions due to an increase in population, poverty, and lack of employment opportunities. Parents sell their children who are as young as four and five years to rich carpet manufacturers for small sums of money. These children then spend a better part of their childhood working in ill-lit and ill-ventilated rooms, where the carpet looms are situated. Constant bending and straining affect their back-bones and eye-sights. Lack of air circulation in the rooms causes damage to their lungs. With no adequate medical remedy available these children become unfit for any type of work at the tender age of twelve to fourteen. For those who work in the yarn dyeing department, the fate is worse. Regular exposure to various chemical dyes causes skin diseases and blood poisoning. These children find their hands becoming useless after some time. Stringent international action against the carpet industries employing child-labor has resulted in fewer children being employed by the carpet manufacturers. However, a lot needs to be done in order to improve the situation of child workers in the country today.
