Top brands use cotton grown by kids

Some of the best-known global apparel brands procured cotton grown in Indian farms that employ child and bonded labourers, a report by a US-based rights group alleged yesterday.

An investigation by Transparentem into the working conditions on 90 cotton farms in India's Madhya Pradesh state between 2022 and 2023 revealed "widespread use of child labour and illegal adolescent labour", the New York-based non-profit said.

Transparentem said the "grave abuses" unearthed by its investigation "appear to be endemic to the region" and likely extended to other farms in the area.

Under Indian law, children under 14 are prohibited from working in most situations, while those from 14 to 18 are barred from hazardous occupations.