Cotton’s Forgotten Children: Child Labour and Below Minimum Wages in Hybrid Cottonseed Production in India

Data for 2014-15 shows that children under 14 years still account for nearly 25% of the total workforce in cottonseed farms in India. In 2014-15, a total of around 200,000 children below 14 years were employed in cottonseed farms in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Rajashtan states. Gujarat, which has the largest cottonseed production area in the country accounts for nearly 55% of the total children employed in this sector (110,000). The persistence of child labour on a large scale is due to the limited coverage and insufficient impact of the present interventions. This report presents a comprehensive overview of child labour in the hybrid cottonseed industry in India.