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Eight-year-old Uma has never played with a football. Nor has she heard of the World Cup, even though she spends most of her day stitching footballs along with her mother, two sisters and a brother.

Indian children stitching footballs
© AFP Manpreet Romana

Sometimes some of her six siblings join her in what is now the main occupation for the entire population of nearly 600 people in Kherki village, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of the Indian capital New Delhi.

Because of her age, it takes Uma much longer -- about four hours -- to stitch 32 colourful pieces of rexine (artificial leather) together for a ball, for which she gets three rupees (about six cents).

The entire household churns out about 10 balls a day to earn 20 dollars a month to supplement income from farm labour.

Uma is one of the estimated 10,000 children involved in making footballs in India, which is said to be the second largest producer of footballs, after Pakistan.

A child and his mother stitch footballs
© AFP Manpreet Romana

While the order for this year's World Cup footballs went to Pakistan's export hub of Sialkot, Indian villages such as Kherki have also registered an increase in demand during the tournament.

In Kherki and neighbouring Sisola village in northern Meerut district, people involved in the trade have no clue where their products end up, as women and children stitch balls sitting on rope cots under a tree in scorching 45 degree Celsius temperatures (113 degree Fahrenheit).

Activists say the business is depriving youngsters of their childhood and the long hours of stitching is putting a strain on their eyesight. There is no insurance against injuries incurred while stitching or cutting rexine.

"Labour laws are easily flouted. The contractors who give work to the villagers don't pay them even the minimum wages," says Rakesh Singh, campaigns and media director of the New Delhi-based Bachpan Bachao Andolan (Save Innocence Campaign).

An Indian child stitching a football
© AFP Manpreet Romana

Under Indian law, there is a ban on children under 14 working in hazardous processes and industries such as carpetmaking, glass factories, firecracker factories, and also stitching footballs.

But implementing the law is tough as there are no records of wages and employment and government officials hardly initiate action, activists say.

Most activists, however, agree that the real problem is a lack of good education and alternative means of livelihood.

Contractors who source raw material from small sports companies in the cities, say they give the work to a family and not to children in particular.

"How can I be held responsible if someone passes on the work to his children," says manufacturer Chandra Bhan, who employs five workers and whose family of four is also engaged in the business.

"There is such a problem of jobs here. If I cannot teach my own children and get them jobs, how can I ensure education for my employees' children?"

An Indian child stands near a bunch of freshly-stitched footballs
© AFP Manpreet Romana

Bhan says children are employed in large numbers because of the easy nature of the job.

"About a decade ago, we would cut and perforate the rexine by hand. Now we do it on machines, so that even a six-year-old child can stitch it. It is easy work for the families."

Villagers say they ask their children to join in as there is no alternative work.

"What do you think these children will do otherwise? All day long they hit and kick each other and create nuisance. At least they remain busy this way," says Shakuntalam, whose three children help her in the job.

"These activist people come here and tell us to send our children to school. They don't do much in the school," her neighbour Sunita scoffs, drawing her scarf over her face as a male neighbour passes by.

An Indian child stitching a football
© AFP Manpreet Romana

The villages consist almost entirely of Muslims and Dalits. Being some of the poorest in society, most have no land for farming, and thus provide a steady pool of cheap labour.

After India and Pakistan were separated upon freedom from British rule in 1947, some of the sports manufacturing shifted from Sialkot to Jalandhar town in India's Punjab state, from where some manufacturers migrated to Meerut villages because of the ready availability of cheap labour.

Some families have been stitching footballs for as long as they can remember.

"When I am not stitching footballs, I would be cleaning the house and cutting grass for the cattle," says 10-year-old Shabnam.

"But I would like to study further. I like going to school," she says, prompting giggles from other girls, none of whom has ever seen a football match in this cricket-mad country.

The boys, however, are rooting for India. "We will beat Pakistan at the World Cup," they say in a chorus, ignorant that neither team made it through to the finals.

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