News Excerpt:

When India and Australia are in the middle of negotiations for a broad basing mini trade deal into a more comprehensive pact, an Australian parliamentary committee, in its report submitted to its lawmakers, has raised concerns over child labour in India.

About the Australian parliamentary committee report: 

• Referring to the Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (A-IECTA), the report mentioned that India has a well-documented presence of child and (forced) labour, making significant contributions to the population of the world in modern slavery.
• It stated that the India-Australia trade deal, signed in 2022, could lead to an increase in goods imports with lower environmental and labour standards.
• The deal eliminated duties on 96% of the value of Indian exports to Australia, including exports from a range of labour-intensive sectors.
• The report said that the trade agreement with India does not recognise international labour rights and suggested that Australia should not enter into trade agreements with countries that violate international labour rights.
• The report added that some trade agreements have operated in conflict with Australian government policy priorities by enabling lower labour and manufacturing standards, greater preferential migration flows, and an increase in imported goods with reduced environmental standards.
• It argued that labour rights should be included in Australia’s trade and investment agreements to ensure that domestic producers are not subject to competition from countries with lower labour standards and to avoid contributing to further exploitation of workers in those countries.
• Trade should not be a ‘race to the bottom on workers’ rights’ and contend that the inclusion of enforceable labour rights is important in setting a level playing field to ensure that companies cannot just locate themselves in jurisdictions with lower wages and conditions.

India’s status on child labour:

• India is home to about 1.01 crore working children between the age of five and fourteen years, as per the 2011 census. 
• As per an Indian parliamentary standing committee report, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, employ over half of India’s child labour.
• While the incidence of child labour declined between 2001 and 2011, it is more visible in rural areas due to migration.
• Child workers might have actually increased in urban areas across all sectors and age categories due to the economic woes brought about by the COVID-19-induced crises.