Jharna Joshi, a 22-year-old college student from Ahmedabad in the Indian state of Gujarat, helped rescue 111 child labourers from one of the biggest ceramic factories in Morbi, Gujarat.
She followed {several} buses {of children} and discovered that it led to a factory unit of Sonaki, a company that manufactures ceramic utensils.
Unsure of the ages of the children working in the factory, she decided to apply for a job at the factory to find out the ages of the labourers and the kind of conditions they were working under.
Working in the pasting and design department, Jharna soon found out that most of the labourers were below 18 years of age. She also noticed that they worked very long hours and were often deprived of food and water. They also weren’t allowed breaks to rest during their shifts.
Horrified, Jharna sent a report to the Department of Child Welfare within two weeks of working at the factory. The report, which contained details of the atrocities and inhuman conditions of the factory, lead to a raid where 111 children were rescued.
Officials from various departments, including the departments of social defence, police, labour, and employment, organized the raid. The Deputy Labour Commissioner of the area called the biggest ever rescue operation of child workers in Saurashtra. A hundred of these were underage girls.
The owner of the company as well as other factory officials were livid. After receiving several threats after the factory raid, she was attacked by two men, according to a report in The Quint.
Despite her injuries, Jharna remains undeterred. She said that she knows of more factories in the area that employ underage labourers, and has vowed to continue fighting against child labour practices.
Most of them were girls. 100/111. Don’t overlook that.
This is a super important point.
Modern slavery, worker abuses, and underage labor is still depressingly common, in a lot more countries than we realize (including the US and Europe). But specifically in the manufacturing supply chain, these workers are far, far more likely to be women and underaged girls.