Study flags ‘labour issues’ in sugarcane producing states

A RECENT examine has raised the problem of “ambiguity about definitions of child labour and forced labour” associated legal guidelines in India, particularly for sugarcane producing states of Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh.
The joint examine, commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme and The Coca-Cola Company, carried out in elements over the past 12 months and concluded in early March this 12 months, has famous that in a few of the sugarcane producing states, akin to Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh, authorities discounted underage youngster labour as “children helping parents in the field”.
“Some of the respondents discounted child labour quoting the incidence of ‘children helping parents in the field’. Similarly, confusion was apparent about the advance payment to migrant workers, and associated risks of forced or as they said, ‘bonded’ labour,” the joint examine famous.

According to the examine, a replica of which has been reviewed by The Sunday Express, many of the interventions within the sugarcane sector, both by authorities authorities or by the company social accountability (CSR) arm of corporations, had been centered simply on “improving farming techniques to ensure an increase in cane productivity”.
In India, sugarcane is primarily grown and cultivated in Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. Of these, Uttar Pradesh is the most important sugarcane producer and accounts for practically 40 per cent of the money crop grown within the nation, adopted by Maharashtra and Karnataka, which account for 21 per cent and 11 per cent of the whole home manufacturing.

As per the Indian Sugar Mills Association, as of March 31, the whole sugar manufacturing within the nation stood at 277.57 lakh tonne, as in opposition to 233.14 lakh tonne produced till the identical month final 12 months.