Clean chit for Indian apparel industry

Fair Wear Foundation says it is “all fair” with the Indian garment industry. The Fair Wear Foundation has published a 56-page report ‘Fair Wear Foundation (FWF) India Country Study 2016’, which states that there is no child labour in the garment industry of the country now as compared to what was in 2000; no discrimination either on the basis of religion or caste, and; women get equal pay for equal work as men do and get.

The report says that during the FWF audits, evidence of forced and/or bonded labour was difficult to find and is mostly linked to forced overtime though the report also says that there is a violation in the area of occupational health and safety. The FWF audit was conducted in apparel manufacturing hubs like Delhi, Noida, Tirupur and Karnataka between 2013 and 2016.

The report stresses on increasing the activities of labour department as it figured out that the Department of Labour in Noida only has 12 labour inspectors who, in 2015-2016, carried out 21 inspections at 964 garment factories in the region. FWF has been active in India from past 13 years and its 40 members (mostly those in fashion and sportswear) source from more than 160 Indian factories. Of these factories, 45 per cent are located in North India while 55 per cent are based in South India.