Too young to work, too poor to stop: Children of brick kiln migrants struggle for basic rights

Bulandshahr/Aligarh: In the scorching May heat, 12-year-old Rajni cradles her infant sister while stirring watery dal simmering in a soot-blackened aluminium pot outside her hut in Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh district.

Just as the thin lentils begin to look ready, she pours more water into the pot in a bid to stretch the modest meal, which otherwise wouldn’t be enough to feed her family of eight.

When asked how it tastes, Rajni responds in a defensive tone: “This is not bad... It’s better than no food.”

Fruits, she adds, are a rare treat -- usually available only when a local farmer tosses away overripe leftovers.

“This year, I ate a lot of mangoes,” she said with a grin, referring to tapkas, the ripe mangoes that fall from trees that she and her friends were allowed to collect. Rajni’s family is one among thousands of seasonal migrants who travel each year to work in the sprawling brick kilns of western Uttar Pradesh.

But while the kilns promise income, the real cost is borne by children like Rajni, who grow up without education, adequate food, or healthcare and are caught in a cycle of generational poverty and invisible labour.

In 2021, data submitted by the government to Parliament suggested that there are 1.74 crore workers in registered brick kilns, while independent research has shown that 20 per cent of this workforce consists of child labourers.

“Therefore, it can be reasonably presumed that approximately 35 lakh children are working in brick kilns, with the number likely higher in illegal kilns,” said Bhuwan Ribhu, a child rights activist who founded Just Rights for Children.

Most of the families’ movement, dictated by the kiln season, spans eight to nine months a year. With no permanent address and no local documentation, the children are often excluded from even the most basic rights.

Ten-year-old Neeraj, for instance, spends his days hauling lumps of dried mud in a wooden pan.

“I can’t go to school because my father says we have come here as one unit and all need to work. If I get a chance to go to school, I would study hard and become an officer,” he said.

His mother adds, “Each one of us, including the children, has a role in this industry.”

Children are typically assigned so-called “lighter tasks,” such as fetching water, helping to mould bricks, or carrying half-baked clay, but the physical toll is visible in their frail, malnourished bodies.

“For every rupee a worker earns, nearly 25 paise goes to the agent and brick kiln owners are in direct touch with the agents, so we get just 75 per cent of the earnings, which comes to around Rs 400 per day for a family,” explained Suresh, a brick kiln worker.

Elaborating further, Ramesh Shrivastav, general secretary of the Mazdoor Adhikar Manch, said the system is designed to exploit the vulnerability of the migrant workers and their children and keep them indebted.