Jewels of bondage: tiny hands that make your yellow metal

CHENNAI: There are thousands of scarred palms, weary eyes and lost childhoods behind every piece of gold jewellery that is made and sold in Sowcarpet, a jewellery-making hub in the heart of Chennai.

Tucked away amid narrow lanes and located at a stone’s throw from the Central Railway Station, Sowcarpet and its dingy jewellery-making units, over the years, have turned into a hell-hole for boys coming from West Bengal.

In Reddy Raman Street stands one such dingy structure. As a steep and poorly lit staircase leads to the fourth floor of the unit — from where labour department officials had recently rescued 53 boys of whom 12 were below 14 years — young men toil for 14-16 hours a day to make jewels, which are then supplied to domestic and international markets.

It is from this facility that 41 adults (between 19 and 25 years) returned to their native villages in West Bengal’s Paschim Medinipur district on September 26. They were engaged as bonded labourers and rescued by the State labour department.

Within four walls

While poor working conditions, long working hours, restricted movement and low wages define them as bonded labourers — mandating issuance of a release certificate and relief amount of Rs 30,000 each — it’s the assurance of three meals a day that brings many from distant villages in West Bengal to Chennai.

Interactions with many rescued bonded labourers and their family members revealed that there is little or no realisation of the exploitation at these units.

Consider this: at the Sowcarpet unit, 19 year-old Manas Maity and 20 other fellow workers are facing an uncertain future. They told this reporter (at the time of meeting them at the unit) that they had “no complaints” and their “malik” (owner) was a “good man”.

Their life was confined within the 4 walls of the facility and they found solace in the routine — wake up, work (for long hours), eat, sleep — in the same room. They saw the workplace as an escape route from extreme poverty back home. They preferred to toil here rather than remaining unemployed and struggle for food in their native places.

The room, itself, resembled a chamber. Fitted with a gas pipe connected with micro torches that are used for soldering, the room was filled with the smell of chemicals that are used for polishing the jewels, which are then stored in barrels in the next room. It is these workers who do the entire process of making jewels – starting from melting gold bars to making fine designs inside the facility.

The room has zero safety measures, with the only entry and exit being the main door that is often locked from outside so that nobody can sneak away the valuable yellow metal. The owner of the facility has engaged two full time cooks to prepare “tasty” food to keep the teenagers and boys happy.

“The owner is a good man. The only wrongdoing on his part was engaging a minor boy in work. Now, we once again ended up unemployed and the owner is facing a case,” said Biswajit Kar, who has been working for more than a year for Badal Samantha, who also hails from Paschim Medinipur district, in Chennai.

“I was expecting a hike,” he bemoaned the lost opportunity to earn a few hundreds from Rs 10,000, which is half than the minimum wage of Rs 21,500 for the workers in these units.

All of them have returned to their native villages in West Bengal where officials have promised them relief measures. Not money, but a promise of “three meals” a day has pushed many families of Biswajit Kar and Mainty living in abject poverty to let go of their young children into this thriving-yet-hazardous industry. The well-knit network and its agents have their work cut out.

They start by identifying vulnerable families, persuading parents to send their children for work, bringing the children to the commercial hub as cheap bonded labourers and keeping them behind closed doors under constant watch.

In the past 15 months, at least 210 bonded labourers were rescued from such illegal units in Chennai. Of them, 170-plus were bonded child labourers.

Thriving industry

Nearly 500 km from Chennai, similar units have been thriving in Coimbatore city. Officials say that 30-40 children were rescued from jewel making units in the last few months in Coimbatore.

These rescues are the tip of an iceberg as there were many more illegal facilities, which engaged hundreds of child labourers, continuing to operate discreetly.

“Facilities in Coimbatore are the worst. They have no windows. One can enter from one room to another room. It was difficult to spend even a few minutes inside these houses that were converted into a cottage industry as it was filled with the smell of chemicals with no ventilation. But the young boys, aged below 14 years, have spent their days and nights inside the facility that remained locked outside,” said a member of a task force that rescued around 20 boys recently.

The rescue team succeeded in busting such an illegal facility after 2-3 months of gathering intelligence.

Insiders in the industry admitted that dearth of employment, poor socio-economic conditions and extreme climate in remote pockets of West Bengal has created a conducive environment for owners of these units to get boys as young as 9 years for work. They wait to pry in the aftermath of every single natural disaster and untoward incidents in the families of the victims.

COVID-19 and the twin lockdowns devastated several families and forced thousands of children out of school. “Most employers bring children and young boys from their native districts. Families of these boys approach the employers, who are known as businessmen in Chennai, and urge them to take their children for work.

While a few parents bargain with employers and get Rs 50,000 to Rs 1.50 lakh, many send their kids with the hope that they will not go hungry and will soon earn to support the family,” said an office bearer of a jewel manufacturers association in Chennai.

This, indeed, has made the job easy for the network to fetch more children with the promise of food and free training in the jewel making business. Falling prey to the promises, many boys were sent to work here. Little do the families know about the inhumane working and living conditions these boys face.

“We’re not going in search of workers. They are coming to us. Parents plead to take their sons to work. Their first priority is food,” said an owner of a jewel manufacturing facility, who has his roots in West Bengal.

Insiders admitted to the gross violations of norms, but they justified it by stating that it was the only way the sector can work profitably.

“Here, standard working hours are not feasible. When there is demand, we have to meet that. The sector will go on full throttle during Deepavali, Ramzan, New Year, and Akshaya Tritiya apart from marriage seasons. We have to work not less than 14 hours during these periods,” said another owner of a unit.

Sought-after workforce

Nearly 5,000 small and medium units are operating in Sowcarpet, Kondithope, Choolai and neighbouring localities. They are registered with four associations, including the Bengal Jewel Manufacturers Association, and each facility engages 5-60 workers.

While 90% of the production of the sector caters to the market in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, the remaining 10% exported to Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. “The designs made by these workers are popular — one of the reasons for bringing more boys to work,” he added.

President of Bengali Goldsmith Association and general secretary of All India Goldsmith Federation Amazed Ali admitted the prevalence of child bonded labourers in gold jewel making units in Sowcarpet, where 90% of the units are functioning. It is “illegal” to employ minor boys and the association is strongly advocating against such practice.

“We are making efforts to create awareness among our members. The situation is gradually improving,” said Ali, who has been in the business in Chennai for more than two decades.

The “Bengali boys” are the most sought-after workforce in the unorganised sector as “they can work for 10 hours at a stretch and their craftsmanship in making lightweight jewellery is good”.

‘Better than no job’

However, officials have failed to keep a check on child labour and bonded labour system that prevails in the State capital and other major cities in Tamil Nadu.

Though the State government has formulated standard operating procedures, formed special task forces and district vigilance committees to identify, rescue and rehabilitate child and bonded labourers, these are not put into practice effectively.

The reasons: lack of coordination and cooperation between the revenue, police, labour and industries departments. It gives a free-hand for the violators to continue their business without much trouble.

“Registering a case in a rescued bonded labourer itself is tough. In most cases, investigating officers do not show interest in pursuing the case. It gives ample time for the employer to disappear along with equipment from the facility,” said an official involved in the recent rescue of child and bonded labourers in Sowcarpet.

But, it’s a different story for the young men to land in Chennai at these units. “There is nothing in our village. No job opportunity, and getting a decent meal a day itself is a challenge. So, we are happy here as we never go hungry. At the same time, we’re learning the craft of making jewels,” said one of the rescued boys, who worked for more than 15 months in the facility at Sowcarpet.

He echoed the thoughts of almost all the survivors and there is no grumble over the arduous work that goes beyond the eight-hour duty. What is common among them is that they accept their condition and endure the suffering. Their world is limited to the four walls of the facilities; their only connection outside is through their smartphones.

State to soon have exclusive anti-trafficking police station

Additional DGP, Crime Against Women and Children, Kalpana Nayak said that the department was stepping up measures to check on child trafficking and creating a database on habitual offenders involved in trafficking and persons engaging children as labourers.

“Soon, the Anti-Child Trafficking units would have exclusive police stations in five districts to file cases and investigate the cases of trafficking,” said the officer. The department has also been conducting capacity building programmes for the police personnel.

“We’ll take appropriate action and take corrective measures if there are any specific complaints on lack of cooperation from police personnel in rescue and filing cases,” said the officer on complaints from activists on lack of cooperation in these cases.

Part 1 concludes.