Tamil Nadu: Dalit workers to pay the price of Trump's tariffs
In India's largest textile manufacturing hub, 60 per cent of workers are from scheduled castes working in factories. 50 per cent tariffs imposed by the US place Indian manufacturers at a disadvantage compared to their competitors in Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Cambodia, who face lower tariffs. For Chief Minister Stalin, up to three million jobs are at risk.
Delhi (AsiaNews) – Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin sent a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi lamenting that in his state, a major textile hub, Dalit workers will pay the highest price for the 50 per cent tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on India, which went into effect yesterday.
Historically known as outcastes and traditionally marginalised in Indian society, Dalits represent about 60 per cent of the workforce in the garment industry, the chief minister explained. Up to three million jobs in the state's textile and apparel sector are at immediate risk, Stalin warned.
Tiruppur, a district in Tamil Nadu, is India's largest manufacturing and export hub for knitwear, employing many people from economically disadvantaged families.
Overall, the United States remains the largest export market for Indian apparel, accounting for a third of all exports.
The textile and apparel sector is India's second-largest employer after agriculture and is now reeling from the uncertainty generated by Trump’s tariff policy.
Exporters have halted shipments to the United States or are fulfilling orders at a loss, while US retail giants like Walmart, Target, Amazon, TJX Companies, Kohl's, Gap Inc., and H&M have asked Indian suppliers to freeze shipments until there is clarity on the tariffs.
India currently finds itself at a competitive disadvantage in the US market because Bangladesh and Vietnam are subject to 20 per cent tariffs, while Indonesia and Cambodia are 19 per cent, compared to India’s 50 per cent tariff.
In Allapuram, a village in Tiruppur, a large Dalit community of Adi Dravida Christians constitutes nearly a quarter of the population. In Mannapalayam, another village in Tiruppur, most workers (39 per cent) are Dalits, particularly the Arunthathiyar, a local scheduled caste community, and migrants from other communities.
Fr. Z. Devasagayaraj, former national secretary of CBCI Office for Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes, told AsiaNews: "It is a sad situation for the Tiruppur Industries as well as for the hundreds of employees mostly Dalits. There are also Dalit Christians who are among them. There was always a debate over the payment and the environment of the Tiruppur Industries. Most of these employees are uneducated and school drop outs. The poverty makes them work under this situation. There was also a talk that these young girls are not safe in the towns where they stay since many of them are from different parts of Tamil Nadu and nearby states. It is high time that the Church thinks of these Dalit Christian girls and at least provide education to them upto higher secondary level and help them to go for employable education after 12th grade. The state Government should also concentrate to reduce the school drop outs".
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12/10/2020 16:41
