The success of the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights (NAP-BHR) in India rests on it being adapted by micro, small, and medium enterprises in tier 2 and tier 3 cities and towns. This was the
prominent theme of the seminar organized by civil society organizations Partners in Change (PiC) and Tamil Nadu Alliance titled, “Hanging by a thread: Human rights violations in the garment sector.” The seminar had multiple speakers discuss the present condition of the garment industry in Tamil Nadu, and the prominent aspects, which a soon to be finalized NAP by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, should entail.
A zero draft of the said NAP was released by the MCA in March 2018 which offered to create a national set of guidelines for business and human rights in India. Several human rights organizations and CSOs, such as PiC and Praxis, came together and submitted a draft report of their recommendations to the NAP. A revised draft of the same was released in February 2021.
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The seminar organized on March 12th, 2021, focused on a discussion of the garment industry of Tamil Nadu. Jhumki Dutta, PiC, said that the team realized the difference between garment and textile only when they visited the field. “While garment is the entire industry, textile is only a small part of the supply chain. Big companies such as Aditya Birla Fashion, Raymond, ITC, etc, even run their own garment supply chain, while it is different for other companies,” she added.
Discussing the public procurement method of the supply chain, Stanley Joseph (PiC) also elaborated on it must be fragmented. “Uniform is free for government students, but we don’t know if the production process is ethical. In Tamil Nadu, members of cooperative societies are engaged in manufacturing of uniform, sweaters, crayons, bags, etc for students in government schools, but the supply chain is not free from problems.” He further said that while 98 industrial cooperative textile societies operate with 84,000 women members, four common issues can be found in the chain: 1. Distribution of uniform material, 2. Production costs, 3. Social protection measures, 4. Price and payment. He added, “There is preferential treatment in the supply chain. Additional costs of production are not provided to them, and they rarely get their payments on time.”
Several members also said that there is huge gap in gender pay, and while there are a lot more women in the industry, they are made to work on the lower-skilled aspects of the job.
“Women are only involved in stitching of the garment, but not in the minute/high skilled work,” Dutta added.
Rajeshwari, member of Gethu Group, elaborated on the issue of women’s health and hygiene. “Their safety and health amidst their working conditions is very questionable.
The important issues women face during menstruation are their resting hours, sanitary napkins and proper usage of toilets. And today these are our discussion topics” she said. As per surveys by the Gethu Group, companies that have more than 500 female employees were seen to provide hygienic conditions along with access to a sanitary napkin. However, Rajeshwari and her colleagues found that those with fewer than 150 female employees, at times did not even provide enough toilets to their staff.
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As per the members, some of the key aspects that were highlighted during the initial discussion with grass-root workers were, mandatory human rights due diligence across the value chain, a functional online grievance portal, and a commitment from the government to not invest in or purchase from companies that demonstrate human rights violations in the supply chain.
Bharti Birla of the International Labour Organisation stressed on the importance of businesses falling through on the body’s four conventions: 1. Freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining, 2. Elimination of all forms of compulsory labor, 3. Effective abolition of child labor, 4. Elimination of discrimination.
“The business and human rights agenda is made of the 3 pillars of the United Nations Guiding Principles: The state duty to protect, the business obligation to respect, and the requirement from state/business to provide access to remedy,” said Nusrat Khan, UNDP. The thematic areas, that all speakers hope to be included in the NAP center around the labor law framework, the environmental laws, the gender response, data protection, the role of vulnerable and excluded populations, and the agenda on BHR education. “NAP also has to be seen in the impact of the newly formulated labor codes,” Khan added.
The discussion also focused on the importance of assuring minimum wage for all workers, including the migrant workers. “Seeing as they are the most vulnerable of the lot, migrant workers should be provided with statutory protection benefits, freedom of movement, choice of employment, health and ID cards, and freedom of association,” said MA Britto, Tamil Nadu Alliance, adding that women migrant workers should be provided appropriate protection.
