Child labour issue resurfacing for exporters: Shri J Ramesh
19 Oct '07
3 min read
“There is every possibility that the US Government is moving once again to publicly list handmade carpets as products of child labour”, said Shri Jairam Ramesh, Minister of State for Commerce, while inaugurating the 3rd India Carpet Expo in Varanasi.
Shri Ramesh explained that on 1st October, the US Department of Labour issued a public notice seeking comments on “procedural guidelines” for the development of a public list of goods from countries produced by child and forced labour in violation of international standards.
This action is in response to a law passed last year by the US Congress that instructs the US government to carry out “additional activities to monitor and combat forced labour and child labour in foreign countries”.
Government and industry will have to work closely together effectively to deal with this new development which could be used by groups hostile to our interests, Shri Ramesh said.
In 2006/07, India's exports of handmade carpets of all varieties were around $ 800 million, with the US market alone accounting for 50%. Germany was the other big market accounting for another 20%.
There are about 2 million artisans directly employed in carpet making that is concentrated in UP (Varanasi, Mirzapur, Bhadohi and Shahjahanpur), J&K (Srinagar and Jammu), Rajasthan (Jaipur) and Haryana (Panipat).
India accounts for about 35% of world trade in handmade carpet and last year, it occupied the top spot amongst all handmade carpet exporters ahead of China, Iran, Pakistan and Turkey.
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