Kathmandu, April 5:

A 12-year-old, Shumsher Aalam, works over 13 hours a day to embroider a 5.5-metre-long saree. Shumsher and four of his friends, all under 14 years of age, work in a rented room in Patan. Shumser says he is yet to earn money as he is an apprentice.

Over 7,000 children work in this sector in Kathmandu, states a baseline survey conducted last August by the Nepal Embroidery Handicraft and Sewing Knitting Worker’s Union (NEHSKWU). According to the survey, these 7,000 children comprise over 50 per cent of the total labour force employed in the sector.

In extreme cases, children have to work over 18 hours in overcrowded rooms. Even basic rights of these children are not taken care of in these rooms.

Working as an embroiderer in Delhi for over two years, a 15-year-old Wadim Aalam mastered the skill two years ago.

Wadim, who hails from Sitamadi, says he was left with no other option than to come to Nepal

after child labour was banned in Delhi.

“I earn Rs 2,000 per month and am provided with food and shelter. Back in Delhi, I was given IRs 7,00 for five months,” he says. Mohammed Jilani says he has employed young boys from Sundarpur, his home village in Malangwa, in his embroidery business.

According to him, “More and more children have joined this sector because of tough competition.”

“A saree embroidered by adults would fetch Rs 1,500. With children embroidering sarees, the price of saree gone down by 50 per cent.”

Embroidered materials are supplied to wholesale and retail markets in Kathmandu.

This business is thriving in Kalimati, Balkumari, Naradevi, Bhaktapur, Thankot, and outskirts of Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur. Children, mostly from Janakpur, Sarlahi, Rautahat, Parsa, Siraha, Saptari, Mahottari and India, work in this sector.

Says Tej Prasad Rijal, president of the NEH-SKWU, “The involvement of children in this sector has displaced adult labourers. It has also led to lowering of the price of hand embroidery. Hand embroidery, which used to be considered the most expensive, costs less than machine embroidery” Child Workers Concerned Centre in Nepal rescued 21 child embroiderers from Golfutar on January 29 and handed them over to their parents in Rautahat and Mahottari through the District Administration Offices. However, nine of the children, who were aged above 16 years, joined the factory.