iPhone | iPad
Android
Huawei
Since most flu vaccines are made using virus grown in eggs, it could take up to six months to produce pandemic shots
KT APPDOWNLOAD
India to impound liquor firm over child labour
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights last week found 39 boys and 20 girls working at the factory
Image used for illustrative purpose. Photo: File
Indian authorities said on Wednesday they were impounding a Som Group distillery and temporarily suspending the plant's manufacturing licences after the federal child rights agency found 59 children working at the site illegally.
Police launched an investigation into Som after the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) last week found 39 boys and 20 girls working at the factory. The agency also released photos of children's hands it said showed burns due to contact with chemicals.
"We have sent the police force to ensure there are no issues during the sealing process," Vikas Kumar Shahwal, a senior Madhya Pradesh police official, told Reuters.
Stay up to date with the latest news. Follow KT on WhatsApp Channels.
The state government said in a separate order it was temporarily suspending the plant's manufacturing licences and had asked the labour department to investigate the matter.
Som did not respond to a request for comment.
In a statement to the stock exchange earlier this week, Som Distilleries and Breweries Ltd said the issue was related to a plant run by its "associate private limited company" which used labour supplied by contractors, who may not have carried out proper age checks.
Their services have been terminated, Som said, adding it was cooperating with the authorities. The company's shares have fallen 7% this week.
Transported in school buses
Some of the children found working at the distillery were transported to the factory in school buses, NCPCR Chief Priyank Kanoongo told Reuters on Wednesday.
"They were enrolled in a school and would come in school buses. So people thought they were going to the school, but they worked in the liquor factory," Kanoongo said.
Som is one of the smaller distilleries in India's thriving alcohol industry, where both foreign and domestic players operate. Its website describes it as an "internationally acclaimed brand" available in over 20 markets including the United States, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
Child labour is a concern in India. In 2021, Reuters reported that an external audit of two Carlsberg warehouses had found underage labourers at a location in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand.
Carlsberg at the time said "the third-party provider was terminated immediately in 2018 following the findings in the internal report."
ALSO READ:
More news from World
Despite preventive measures such as collecting passports, obtaining affidavits, assigning cabin crew over the age of 50 on Canada flights, the airline has failed to foil such incidents
Violations of the Digital Services Act can result in fines of as much as 6% of a company's global turnover.
Country has made significant progress in improving its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regime, the Paris-based body said
The war and Israel's blockade have caused a shortage of medicines and destroyed much of Gaza's medical capacity
Prolonged heatwave causes health crisis in India as more than100 dead and 40,000 heatstroke cases registered
More than 300 people have perished on the mountain since expeditions started in the 1920s, eight this season alone
Griffiths spoke as witnesses reported intense fighting in Gaza's southern city of Rafah, amid growing fears of a wider regional war