Child labour in India is being put under the spotlight by an alliance of Indian sports goods manufacturers and the International Labour Organisation.

The groups are co-operating on a survey designed to establish the number of children working in the stitching of footballs.

The survey will take place in and around the Punjab city of Jalandhar, the heartland of the Indian sports goods industry with steadily growing exports to Britain in particular.

It will cover more than 4,000 homes and 400 establishments, drawing on experience gained in assessing child employment in the sports goods industry in Pakistan and in the garment industry in Bangladesh.

Last year, a report from the charity Christian Aid said Indian children, some as young as seven, were routinely stitching footballs for export to Britain.

But the industry says campaigners have given a misleading picture. They strongly challenge the idea that contracting out football stitching has led to significant numbers of young children doing it for low pay and missing out on school.

They have also argued that, unlike many other things children find themselves doing across south Asia, football stitching is not hazardous and is a useful skill for children to acquire.

However, with the image of the industry at stake, even ahead of the independent survey, there is already a move towards stitching centres that can be more easily monitored.

The Jalandhar manufacturers have already conducted what they call a preliminary survey of their own, with the help of their contractors. They say it uncovered 79 stitchers under the age of 14 out of a total approaching 9,000.
 

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