Sivakasi: From Boom To Bust

THE fireworks industry seems to have been hit badly. Once the largest sector in the industrial town of Sivakasi, located in the rain shadow region of Western ghats in the Virudhnagar district, the industry—which together with the match industry employs 25,000 workers—is fast losing its profitability. Over the last two decades, the issue of child labour has been widely discussed and industries in and around Sivakasi identified as the most notorious employers of the child labour. Of late, the major players in Sivakasi have stopped employing children. Yet, 60 per cent of fireworks produced in Sivakasi are still produced by children in various tiny sector companies.

Says Suba Singh, managing director of Standard Fire Works and the president of the Chamber of Fireworks Manufacturers: "The present campaign against the fireworks is misplaced. There is no child lab-our in the fireworks industry."

According to Suba Singh, the high cost of production is the main reason for the slump and not the protest by some 'elite school students'. "At the most, the campaign may have eroded the market by 2 to 3 per cent. However, it is a warning for us in the industry, as we failed to inform  the larger world about the total abolition of the child labour in the organised sector of the fireworks," says a manufacturer.

But, retailers and wholesale dealers tell a different story. They attribute the fall in sales to the collapse of the non-banking financial sector in the last two years. "The finance companies used to be the biggest purchasers of bulk packets. The  tight money situation has played a major role in the slump," says a wholesale dealer. They also point out that the price has been steadily rising at a rate of 15 to 20 per cent annually. Now, a small pack of crackers cost between Rs 200 and Rs 250.

 One section thrilled by the slump is the ecology lobby. "The slump in the sale of fireworks would result in less noise and air pollution. Whatever the reason, we welcome it," says a spokesperson of the environmental NGO Poo Ulagin Nanbargal.