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Family Strategies for Children Working in the Brick Kiln Industry: The Case of Southeast India

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Child Exploitation in the Global South

Abstract

Debt bondage is a violation of human rights. Landless households take advances to survive in their village. Child labour is used to increase household productivity. We use data from a survey conducted in Tamil Nadu, India, to test the relationship between child labour their specialization in the brick kiln industry and debt bondage. Probit model is used to test the determinant factors of children’s specialization. Children are mainly involved in two activities, moulding and clay preparation. The main results show that the specialization of children depends on age. Clay preparation is an activity has a positive effect on household debt repayment, and moulding activity allows the household to increase its production of bricks.

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Bhukuth, A., Ballet, J. (2019). Family Strategies for Children Working in the Brick Kiln Industry: The Case of Southeast India. In: Ballet, J., Bhukuth, A. (eds) Child Exploitation in the Global South. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91177-9_3

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