Child Labor in Bidi Factories: Current Situation and Way Forward

Background and challenges to implementation: Bidi is one of the major tobacco products consumed in Bangladesh with about 65,000 people directly employed in 117 bidi factories in the country. Along with their some associate labor, a significant proportion of these workers is children. In this context, it is important to explore the child labor situation in bidi factories to highlight the need for regulating this harmful sector in light of the prevailing laws and policies of the country.
The study was conducted in four regions of Bangladesh with the highest concentration of bidi factories which correspond to the districts of Rangpur, Kushtia, Tangail, and Barisal. A total of 1600 child laborers (aged 7-14 years) and 160 parents were interviewed by a semi-structured questionnaire. For the qualitative part 28 in-depth interviews were conducted among experienced workers, factory management, and doctors.
Intervention or response: Survey findings revealed that most of the children were from poor families with an income of less than 5,000 Taka per month. About half of the respondents’ children were working in the factories for 2-4 years. Number of working days for the children varied across regions; 4 out of 10 children worked over six hours a day and 8 out of 10 children worked over three hours a day. A quarter of the working children had dropped out of school.
Results and lessons learnt: The low wage rate was one of the important reasons that make bidi factory owners interested in employing child laborers. The survey revealed that more than 8 out of 10 child workers felt sick (headache & breathing problems) during their work.
Conclusions and key recommendations: Enforcement of a strong policy with legislative bindings is necessary. Government support in the form of safety-net programs can be introduced. Finally, people, particularly the parents, need to be aware of the adverse effects of working in bidi factories. Government, media and NGO-CSOs should work collectively to stop child labor in bidi factories.

 

Author: S kumar sinha, Jamuna Television, News, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

S kumar singha