As Aligarh’s lock industry faces decline, the families behind the craftsmanship grapple with economic hardship and systemic neglect
“Fifty years ago, my father entered the lock industry. His father was a street vendor who pushed a vegetable cart through Upar Kot all his life. My father worked in a relative’s factory for half of his life before setting up a factory at home with the help of his brother and cousins fifteen years ago,” said Abdullah, who now runs his father’s home-based lock factory in the Mohalla of Upar Kot.
His mother, besides being a homemaker, helped his father set up the factory at home. She raised Abdullah along with two elder sisters who have gotten married, one younger brother aged sixteen, who helps in the business with packaging and other tasks, and another younger sister who stays at home.
For many Muslim families living in densely populated regions like Upar Kot, locks are the sole source of income. However, it has also kept them bound to heavy expenses in the form of marginalization, backwardness, and poverty.
The lock industry of Aligarh is around 140 years old. There are approximately 10000 units producing locks, of which more than half are unregistered. In the old city of Aligarh, more than 5000 factories are currently operating. These factories employ over one lakh laborers, both skilled and unskilled.
The city, famous for its locks, also offers an insight into the most rampant and structural issues existing in India’s industrial landscape. The lock makers are uncertain about the future of their declining business. The deterioration severely affects workers who remain dependent on the factory owners, who blame the structure for the harsh conditions and distance themselves from taking responsibility.
The exploitative wages keep the workers bound to daily labor, forcing them to adapt to extremely harsh conditions. “The problems of the workers aren’t new; they get used to it,” Abdullah said when I asked him if addressing the problems would help alter the situation. “It is not just the lock industry’s problems; it is a problem of the country’s industrial landscape.”
The owners of the factories look at the problems of the workers as a part of the process, without which the whole business will crumble. The needs of workers are persistently compromised by the factory owners. When I tried to pose a similar question to a factory owner in Shah Jamal, he opined that “problems don’t exist as long as workers are able to manage, but if they complain, they should know that this is how it works here.”
“For the whole History of Locks, it has been the work of the Impoverished and illiterate. It is recognized as such because Muslims are associated with it. There is no chance that a lock maker who lives in Sheher will ever bear respect or dignity outside this place in the city”, Haji Ramzani, one of the oldest living lock makers told me.
Like Abdullah’s Father, Haji Ramzani has dedicated all his to the lock industry. Taking a moment to introspect, he told me that Fifty two years have passed since he started a factory with a friend in the Mohalla of Nagla Masani, a ghetto of Mixed communities of Hindus and Muslims.
“In fifty two years, the conditions haven’t changed at all, except that a few Muslims have moved to the civil lines, but for more than seventy percent of the population which relies on the lock Industry, the conditions have only severed”, he said.
Aligarh is divided into two parts. The Kath Pula over-bridge near the railway station marks the border between the upscale Civil Lines area, with AMU and posh localities, and the Old City (Sheher), home to most lock factories.
The issue of Marginalization intersects with the History of lock Industry, as well as its present settlement in the city in several ways. It was the low caste groups among the Muslims who pursued lock making as workers and owners.
I interviewed Zeyad Masroor Khan, Author of “City on fire: A boyhood in Aligarh”, who was born and raised in a Muslim populated Ghetto in the old city.
“The ghettos are synonymous with problems. They are a symbol of historical depravity faced by the inhabitants, as much as they are a boundaries created to disable a vast number of people from having better prospects”, Zeyad explained.
According to Zeyad, these regions lack even basic facilities such as water, electricity, schools, and heath care. They remain isolated because of having been neglected for a long time.
“Ghettos have an instilled attributes, one of which is the communal rift that always exists in the consciousness of the inhabitants. They have been living in the ghettos for generations. A kind of mental fortification is imposed on the people, to eliminate them into the remote political façade”, said Zeyad about the way Muslim ghettos have stayed behind for so long.
For Haji Ramzani and many others whom I met in their factories, they complained that they have been pushed away to remain as producers and workers of lock, while Hindu Baniyas have established themselves as Industrialists, suppliers, and have amassed wealth.
Though lock making has been dominated by Muslims, the landscape changed in the aftermath of the riots that prevailed until 2006, the constant trepidation still exists as animosity between Hindus and Muslims. It manifests in economic rivalry between the two in which Muslims get penalized in the form of economic suppression.
The reality of life in these ghettos is stark, with poverty forcing the majority of residents into the lock industry at a young age and education remaining a distant dream. The issues faced by these communities are complex and deeply entrenched.
Abdullah explained to me that his factory produces almost 1200 locks a day, but due to the lack of a local marketplace, bigger players benefit by purchasing the locks at low prices. “The lock makers, who are Muslims in the old city, are being overshadowed by the Hindu Baniyas who hold a strong monopoly in the business,” he said.
“The wholesalers are Baniyas, the scrap dealers are Varshneys and Agarwals, and the prominent businessmen are also Baniyas. They dominate the industry, supported by the local government. We are simply lock makers without financial resources, carrying on the legacy. But we continue because we have no other means of sustenance,” said Khaleel, Abdullah’s father.
The old city consists of several localities where Muslim and Hindu neighborhoods are situated next to each other. Some of these neighborhoods bear the remnants of past communal conflicts between Hindus and Muslims. The lock industry has predominantly been taken over by Hindus, with the exception of Zafar Alam, the owner of Link Locks. This has led to economic competition between the two communities, reflecting the historical communal rivalry.
“Muslims are simply struggling to survive, while Hindus are the new leaders of the industry. We take pride in the skills passed down to us by our forefathers, but now we are working solely out of our own will,” said Haji Ramzani.
The issue of legacy holds great significance in the industry, as Muslims witness their businesses crumbling. Another major concern is the rise of international competition with the entry of cheaper Chinese-made locks in the market.
“For Muslims, the association with locks is strong, and they are compelled to remain as lock makers without any support,” added Haji Ramzani. Similarly, a factory owner in the Delhi Gate area of Sheher mentioned, “Regardless of our legacy, we are only continuing
this business due to dependency. Our workers may complain, but we have nothing to offer them when we can’t even help ourselves.”
“We are unable to produce high-end, expensive locks as they require significant capital. These locks are manufactured in large factories mainly owned by Hindus in the industrial area of Talanagri. They hold a monopoly, have established trade channels, and possess large investments, better infrastructure, and heavy machinery that we cannot afford. They also have well-established management to run the business and own properties in the civil lines,” Abdullah told me.
To sustain the business, big manufacturers are investing in advanced technology and improving infrastructure, but they still depend on smaller units to outsource the majority of their production. This places a burden on the traditional lock makers, with stagnant margins and intense competition.
The lack of education, infrastructure, and poverty adds to the challenging circumstances faced by the majority of lock makers. For individuals like Haji Ramzani and others who lack assets or credit and are illiterate, obtaining a loan becomes nearly impossible.
“If I were to take a loan today, I might not be able to repay it. I would lose everything. However, the prominent figures in the industry are all millionaires, unlike us. They enter the industry with significant funds, and banks are ready to serve them. But if we were to fail, we cannot afford to start over again,” said Haji Ramzani.
In a country heading toward rampant industrialization, its capacity is not gauged by the fact that the labor output in the informal sector remains uncalculated, as the informal sector does not contribute to the tax base. While claims of India rising in the world economy are fueled with pride, the deteriorating condition prevailing in the informal sector is overshadowed.
The website of the Ministry of Labour and Employment states that there are more than 38 crore (380 million) workers in the country’s informal sector . It exempts 93% of the total labor force of India from availing social security benefits . However, a closer look reveals some overlooked realities.
According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) 2019-20, around 90.7% of the workforce in the industries is located in the informal unorganized sector . In the informal sector, an informal worker has no written contract, paid leave, regular wages, health benefits, or other social security benefits. The unorganized sector in India accounts for enterprises run primarily by hired workers, remains unregistered, and faces several other backlogs.
According to the Annual Report of the District Industries Centre (DIC) of Aligarh, there are about 1,000 units of registered factories while more than 5,000 units are unregistered . Except for a few large units, the rest fall under the category of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
The Ministry of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises reports that MSMEs amounted to almost 30.1% of the GDP in the financial year 2022-23 . However, more than 70% of the MSMEs are unregistered in India, which employs more than 90% of the country’s labor force . The regressive pattern of employment, substantiated by the exploitative industry, puts workers into a process of rigorous churning at the cost of cheap labor prices.
One of the hindrances in calculating the dynamics of the unorganized sector is the unavailability of requisite data. Since the factories remain unregistered, it’s beyond comprehension to calculate the expense at which the exploitative conditions are maintained in the unorganized sector. It is also requisite to note that the miscalculation of the poverty index in the country solicits that those working in the sector have fair circumstances, who comprise more than 40 crore.
In the lock industry, more than 1 lakh (100,000) laborers face challenges due to a skewed system. While their employers claim that “workers don’t work hard enough,” statistical
analysis projects that they are not considered “productive” enough to be entitled to benefits and securities because they don’t add significant value to the GDP .
The unorganized sector in India relies on a large population of impoverished, unprivileged, and people from lower-caste and marginalized sections to utilize their labor without guaranteeing fundamental rights and securities to them .
“In our industry, the lack of profitability is a significant challenge, which has led to unorganized operations. When we don’t have the resources to make solid plans and invest in structural improvements, it’s challenging to formalize the industry. As a result, a considerable number of Muslim-owned factories remain unregistered”, Abdullah explained to me about the challenges faced by the lock makers in the unorganized sector.
“Everything is related to capital, and we are consistently facing a cash crunch since GST and lockdown”, he added. “While lock makers in Tala nagri buy locks from us, they offer a negligible margin. We cannot decline their offer since we take advance from them. The big factories are just a few, but they do not have a challenge in management and operations”, Abdullah said.
In the absence of minimum wages in the unorganized sector, the daily wage of the workers remains below the cost of sustenance. The average wage drawn by a worker is 250 rupees. The foreman who looks over dye-making of the locks earns 350 rupees a day. Workers enrolled in packing earn a meager amount of 80-100 rupees a day.
“In 2015, the lock-workers went on a strike against low wages. They were demanding a minimum pay of 275 rupees a month. But the demands weren’t met, as the owners started to fire workers. Then came the GST, demonetization, followed by COVID. I was fired because I protested against the factory owner where I was working,” says Salman, who now works at Haji Ramzani’s factory.
Salman’s home lies in the ghetto’s most dense locality in Shah Jamal. He took me to his home, situated on a two and a half feet wide lane. There are as many as 35 homes in his Mohalla, all belonging to the lower-caste Muslims called “saifis” and “fakir” who work in the lock industry.
“The lock factories are situated here because of the availability of cheap labor in the vicinity,” Salman explained, a fact that all the owners I met didn’t want to confront.
Salman earns 350 rupees a day, though he is one of the most skilled workers in the factory. He makes the dye which is used to make the mold of the different parts of the lock.
“I work from 9-6. When I was fired in 2015, I had to join here as I couldn’t stay at home without a wage. My father can’t work anymore due to old age; he worked in a footwear shop all his life,” said Salman.
Salman complained that earning 350 rupees a day takes a toll on survival. The salary he draws doesn’t include the payment of Friday, a day when factories remain closed. It also doesn’t include any paid leaves. Moreover, if a month has 31 days, he only gets paid for the days he has worked out of 30 days. But in February, the total working days equal the number of days in the month.
For Salman, working in a lock factory is a challenge. “Although I earn 350 a day, the average wage remains below 250,” he said.
“I am constantly trying to leave the job, but I can’t stay off the work even for a day,” is what Salman said, talking about his aim to start a work of his own in order to facilitate better prospects for his family, which includes 15 people with only two earning members.
While talking to me, he told me that the pressing treatment of workers includes scolding, over-burden, pay-cut, delayed payment, and routine exploitation by the contractors and owners of the factories.
“My rib has gotten a sprain. When I tried to explain it to Haji Ramzani, he taunted me for giving excuses to not work. ‘Everyone in the industry suffers from one or two health conditions’ is what you get to hear,” said Salman. Since he is indebted to Haji for employing him at a time when he needed help, he can’t leave the work now as it would hinder the relationship between the families.
Like Salman, Kaif, a 20-year-old fellow who works in his uncle’s factory nearby, described how a vast number of workers are pressured to pay back the favor in terms of labor. For others who take a loan from their owners in times of emergency, labor transpires into a bond like custody in which they are obliged to stay loyal to their employers.
“It is easier to find work in a relative’s factory, but equally hard to ever think of better prospects. You can’t leave, because then you remain bonded for the sake of relations. You can’t even complain,” Kaif said.
Phoolan Devi, an aged worker who works on hand press, sits in front of the machines to make the levers of the lock by hand. For every kilogram of Lever, she gets rupees 4. She sits down on the floor in the morning, and works even after six.
“sometimes, I earn Rupees 40 a day, sometimes I make more. But my eyesight has weakened, I am afraid I won’t be able to work after some time”, Phoolan Devi told me. When I asked her about her age, she stared at me helplessly. “I think I’m too old to be working”, she said.
The fair compensation is a distant dream for the workers in the lock industry. The low wages have remained stagnant in more than seven years.
“Besides the absence of a fair wage, the exploitation extends to mistreatment, abuse, and turmoil”, a group of workers working in Haji’s factory complained.
“The employers will only fire us, but they are minor hindrances. Workers everywhere are treated like this, and Government allows it to continue”, a worker from the group said, who
later told me that he has been to every office in the district to get justice in getting the unpaid dues, but to no avail because he doesn’t has a written contract.
The workers in the lock industry are being exploited without any safeguards to protect them. This has led to several risks with serious consequences, including health-related issues and hazardous processes, as a result of the lack of proper remuneration, security, benefits, and better working conditions.
Sonam, a 29-year-old worker, operates a press machine. She performs various tasks throughout the day, such as cutting a sheet of iron and shaping different parts of the lock using a press machine.
“My right thumb got chopped off last month while I was working,” she said, showing her wounded hand. The workers are not paid in cases of injuries and are exempt from receiving wages during medical leave.
Sonam works in the Kundan lock factory. The press machines have bulbs attached to them that emit heat. The workers sit without any ventilation, and the fumes from the substances keep them disturbed.
“The heat sometimes hits you in the head. You miss it slightly, and you lose your finger,” said Danish, who lost his finger several years ago and now suffers from asthma due to constant exposure to fumes, dust, and the confined vicinity of the factories.
The long working hours exacerbate the extremely poor conditions. The workers are not allowed to take a break except during lunchtime. The exhausting working conditions add to the plight of the laborers who work in dilapidated buildings converted into small factories.
The working conditions pose a severe challenge to the workers in terms of health conditions. They continue to work amidst the fear of wage loss, job insecurity, lack of medical benefits, and impoverishment.
Across the lock industry, women and children are employed at low wages. The income disparity between women and men highlights the fact that the unorganized sector relies on them for cheap labor.
“Women are hired to keep the salaries low because they are paid less than men for doing the same work. They are willing to work for less pay, so employers save money by hiring more women. This also allows them to avoid negotiating with male workers’ demands,” explained a worker when I asked about the wage gap between male and female workers.
In Haji Ramzani’s factory, there are 14 female workers. He did not disclose the number of child workers, but mentioned that the total workforce consists of around 30 employees.
“Women earn 700-800 rupees a week, approximately 40% less than men. They take too many leaves, lack skills, and are not as dedicated to their work as men”, Haji Ramzani stated.
His claims reflect the systemic prejudice against women and highlight the fact that women have to work more than men to prove their capabilities, often for lower wages. They are often exploited to enhance profits in the unorganized sector.
In India’s unorganized sector, there are over 15 crore female laborers, accounting for 52.7% of the total 287 million registered unorganized workers listed on the eshram website, which is dedicated to recording workers in the unorganized sector. The actual statistics would likely paint a grim picture, yet this remains concealed due to data unavailability.
According to Oxfam’s India Discrimination Report 2022, women encounter bias in both recruitment and pay nationwide. In 2020, men engaged in casual work earned an average monthly income of Rs. 9,017, which is 58% higher than the Rs. 5,709 earned by their female counterparts.
Women working as laborers are also homemakers, often facing domestic violence and unemployment. This situation forces them to work for low wages in the unorganized sector, making them more vulnerable to exploitation.
“I have a son, but two of my children died from COVID,” Neelam told me. She was just two weeks away from delivering a child when I met her.
Maternity and health benefits for women are inaccessible in the lock industry. Her first husband divorced her and moved to Noida. She showed me the bruises she still had from that time. Her second husband left her soon after she became pregnant.
According to the Maternity Benefit Act of 1961, a woman worker is entitled to paid maternity leave. The revised Maternity Benefit Act of 2017 extended the length of maternity leave from 12 to 26 weeks. However, women in the unorganized sector are unable to access this right.
“Earlier, I used to work as a housemaid. I’m still working here because Haji Ramzani keeps promising to pay my dues, but he hasn’t paid yet,” she complained. The average amount she earns in a week is less than Rupees 800, which amounts to 47% lower than a male worker who does the same work.
Apart from women, children are hired at such low wages as 50 Rupees a day. Every time I went inside the factory with a diary or a camera, the employers would signal the children to move out.
Shivalini and Shiva, both siblings, work in Haji Ramzani’s factory. Shivalini, 10, works on a hand press. She makes the levers using a hand press. While I was asking her questions, Haji sent his man to intervene and took the child away.
“I get 50 Rupees a day, my brother is engaged in packaging and earns 40 Rupees”, Shivalini told me.
The high rates of illiteracy coupled with poverty force children from a young age to work. According to the estimates of research conducted by a PhD scholar at the Central University of Gujarat, there are as many as 20,000 children between the ages of 9-15 working in the lock Industry, while the unorganized sector employs more than 10.1 million children, according to the 2011 census.
The issues of the workers remain unaddressed, while the owners label the issues as “disputes”.
“Nobody wants to talk about the workers; they only acknowledge the presence of the Lock Industry. Every day is full of struggle for us, to the extent that laboring for survival becomes an immediate need. The Industry takes advantage of our bad circumstances,” said Salman. He fears that standing against Haji Ramzani would bring severe consequences for him and others.
When I asked him about the lack of basic commitments for the workers, he said, “The Government is involved in taking care of those who run the factories. We are invisible to the government. The locks are more protected than the workers. We are only treated as a means of generating profits.”