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The
reputation of Indian industries is at risk because no socially responsible US
buyer probably will be buying an Indian
manufactured product as the United States government has placed India among a list
of countries that put children to work in their manufacturing units.

Such inclusion is not only going to tarnish the image of the Indian apparel industry,
but can also harm the flow of orders from the US. As no one wants to be
affiliated with child labour or forced labour of any kind, US manufacturers
may now ask their Indian suppliers to provide them with further assurances and
might go for third-party inspections.

Although
India claims that there is no incidence of forced child labour in its garment
manufacturing industry, the US government does not want to believe this and has included India along with 28 other countries
in the Executive Order 13126 list (EOL) and Trafficking Victims Protection
Reauthorization issued by the US Department of Labor last September.

The inclusion in the list is an ‘unsettling stigma’ for responsible
manufacturers as they are industry-wide and not company-specific allegations.

The list includes names of other competing
exporting countries like Bangladesh and Pakistan.

The
US is the largest importer of apparel from India, and accounts for nearly 75
per cent of the overall apparel exports from the country.

Picture: democraticunderground.com