By promoting sericulture, the World Bank intends to create jobs, lessen poverty and help disadvantaged groups. But by failing to control or restrict the use of child labor, the overall effect is promoting an industry that relies on child slavery in all steps of the production processes. In the State of Karnataka alone, there are some 100,000 child slaves.Marukh and Ahad are ten years old and have worked in the silk industry since they were five. Being silk winders, they have to put their hands in boiling water and feel the silk cocoons to see if the fine silk threads are soft enough to be winded. They cannot use forks instead of their fingers due to the theory that only by touching it, can they tell if the thread is ready. The palms of their hands and fingers are full of wounds, burns and blisters.
Moreover, many silk weavers are crammed into dark, wet and airless rooms. These conditions favor the spread of diseases among child workers. In a 1985 study, the Gandhian Institute of Varanasi identified tuberculosis as "the occupational disease of the weaver community." Employers do not provide medical care or first aid to workers who have an accident, and whoever cannot work one day does not get paid.Human Rights Watch has asked the World Bank to stop lending money to the silk industry until the Indian government enforces the Abolition of Child Slavery Act child and starts a process to identify, release and rehabilitate child slaves. They have also asked the government to urgently implement programs that ensure that children go to school, since this is the only way to break the cycle of child slavery. On the other hand, a spokeswoman for the World Bank states that "The issue of child labor is complex, since in some areas, child labor is essential for the survival of families”.
Source: ebm
