In the Bt cotton farms in Idar taluka in Sabarkantha district it is pollination time for the crop. And so, tribal children shepherded by contractors have started the familiar journey south from Banswara, Dungarpur and Udaipur districts of Rajasthan. Over the past few years thousands of children have been extensively employed in the manual pollination of Bt cotton in the farms of north Gujarat

In Sherpur, Laloda, Ganeshpura, Hassanpura and other villages in Idar taluka, the first lot of children has arrived. Their day begins early around 4 am when the cotton flower buds are open and at their tender best. It will end only late in the afternoon. Nirmala, who does not look any older than 12, says: “I arrived here about a week ago from my village in Dungarpur, Rajasthan. My job is to cross-pollinate the flowers for which I get Rs 40 a day.”

This Rs 40 is not only less than the minimum wage of Rs 50, but she will also not be paid directly. The contractor here must have paid her father a lumpsum for employing her as an agricultural labour for a couple of months.

Shaileshbhai Pandya, a worker with the Gujarat Khedut Mazdoor Sanghathan (GKMS), says: “The contractors pocket the money. There is a big difference in what the children should get and what they get.”

The tribal children from Rajasthan, primarily in the age group of 10 to 15, come mainly to work in Sabarkantha and Banaskantha districts of Gujarat. The children work for more than 10 hours everyday and stay in makeshift shelters in the middle of the farm. There are a good number of girls here and the working conditions make them vulnerable to abuse.

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