Other States - Rajasthan   

Social audit of labour-intensive industries soon: Jairam Ramesh

JAIPUR: The Centre is planning to conduct a social audit of labour-intensive industries, such as carpet and handicrafts, every year on the lines of a similar exercise for the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme to find out the prevalence of child labour in these sectors and reduce the number of children employed especially in the export-oriented units.

Union Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh told reporters here on Thursday that the social audit, to be carried out in a transparent manner, would help contradict the propaganda in the U.S. and other Western countries alleging that a large number of children were forced in India to work for sustenance.

The industries for which social audit will be undertaken include carpet, apparel, gems and jewellery, handicrafts and sports goods. “Though there is evidence suggesting that child labour in these sectors has declined over the last decade, the social audit will reveal precise figures and counter the misinformation,” said Mr. Ramesh.

Mr. Ramesh, who was here to inaugurate a buyer-seller meet for carpets, said the Union Commerce Ministry had also prepared an action plan in association with the Labour and Women and Child Development Ministries to “expose the falsehood” of excessive child labour which had led to several Western countries contemplating restriction on imports from India.

The Minister said the export of carpets from the country was of the order of Rs.3,700 crore in 2006-07, with India occupying the first rank in the world for the first time. The traditional lead enjoyed by Iran in the sector was adversely affected following the U.S. sanctions.

With about 30 lakh families in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir directly depending on the carpet industry for their livelihood, the Commerce Ministry is working for doubling the exports by 2011-12 in collaboration with the Carpet Export Promotion Council. Mr. Ramesh affirmed that this would strengthen livelihood security for weavers and labourers.

Other sectors on which the Commerce Ministry is concentrating for export promotion include spices, guar gum and gems and jewellery. Mr. Ramesh said Rajasthan had a significant share in these spheres as well as an immense scope for improvement in future.

Asked about the enormous loan waiver for farmers announced in this year’s Union Budget, Mr. Ramesh defended the package saying indebtedness was the biggest crisis in the agriculture sector and institutional credit was not reaching the farmers. He said the Budget’s emphasis on the development of plantation sector would also help out farmers.

On the strengthening of the rupee’s value against the dollar, Mr. Ramesh said the Finance Ministry had already announced three packages for rebate in interest to offset its impact on exporters. He said the Commerce Ministry had sent a proposal to the Rajasthan Government to establish a spice park on 100 acres of land in Jhalawar district to promote the export of value-added products. The two-day meet, organised by the Carpet Export Promotion Council, elicited queries from prospective buyers in the U.S., Turkey, Germany, Greece, Switzerland, Pakistan, Japan and Portugal. Mr. Ramesh expressed the hope that the event would help establish long-term relationships between the two sides and bring valuable foreign exchange to the country.

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