Demographic and Socio-economic profile of brick kiln workers: An overview

Process of brick production is based on manual labor and brick kiln units are expected to give employment to around 10 million workers. Most of the brick kiln workers migrate along with their families from backward and poor areas of the country. Families including young children, work in harsh and low wages situation (Anonymous, 2012). Brick production is a season based work, as brick kiln units do not operate during period of rainy season. In rainy season, brick kiln workers go back to their localities and employ themselves in other works like agriculture for livelihood or remain unemployed. Brick production system is mainly based upon manual labour. Brick kiln workers are considered as one of the most susceptible and excluded workers of Indian society. Therefore, there is a serious need for social concern to delineate measures to improve the working and living conditions of brick kiln workers for their overall growth. The present study was conducted on 134 workers of two districts Hisar and Mewat of Haryana state to know the demographic and socio economic profile of the brick kiln workers. The workers were personally interviewed with well constructed interview schedule to get an insight into their working life.