This report looks at child labour and working conditions in the sport goods industry in Punjab, India. It describes and discusses the various initiatives taken nationally and internationally to tackle these issues such as the South Asian Coalition on Child Servitude (SACCS) and the Sports Goods Foundation of India (SGFI).

The report estimates that 10,000 children are working in the production of sports goods in the region, 1,350 of whom are 'only working' (OW), while the rest are both working and going to school. Study of this group revealed that:

• Stitching of footballs is being done by children from five years and older.
• Of all the full-time working children 37% are between five and twelve and the rest are thirteen or fourteen.
• Of the working-and-school going (WSG) children two-thirds are between five and twelve. The combination of school and work leads most children to drop out around the age of ten.
• The work intensity of the stitching children is high. A six year old 'only working child' spends on average 7.5 hours stitching balls while a thirteen year old child spends 9 hours. 'WSG children' have to shoulder a bigger work burden: 9 hours when they are six and almost 11 hours when they are thirteen.
• A quarter of the OW children work at night compared to 14% of the WSG children.
• Almost half of the 'only working' children and less than a third of the 'WSG children' report some health problem. The most common problems are joint pains and backache.

Average earnings amongst these workers (adult and child) remain below the minimum wage and the report suggests strong evidence that the SGFI and employers are overstating the number of balls that can be stitched in a normal working day. The report also presents evidence suggesting that many employers are hiding porduction from the SGFI child labour monitoring initiative.

Among several recommendations the authors call for:

• Greater community involvement in eliminating child labour
• Targetted regional and local strategies
• Further research into the industry to acertain health impacts and acceptable work rates
• the contractor system to be replaced by a system with effective monitoring and regulation by the state, employers and trade unions
• Football importers to pay reasonable rates and to use their influence to support best practice

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