Faced with poverty, entire families work in brick kilns in Villupuram, Ulundurpet, Kallakurichi, Tindivanam and nearby places in Tamil Nadu. Typically, a kiln employs up to 10 families with an average of five members each. Each family takes ₹60,000 to ₹1 lakh as advance from the kiln owners to work from January to August. While the adults work in the kilns, the children stay home and don’t go to school. It’s a fate shared by close to 12 million labourers in the unorganised brick kiln industry in India, as revealed by a paper from the Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment.

Source: The Hindu May 04, 2019 18:33 UTC