Gap, the US apparel and footwear group, has started a national women and children welfare project in collaboration with the Indian women and child development ministry and several state governments – a year after becoming involved in a child labour controversy.
Lakshmi Menon Bhatia, Gap’s social responsibility director for international sourcing in India, said: ‘The initiative will see the company forming a collaboration… for prevention, rehabilitation and eradication of child labour and exploitation of women labour at various outsourcing factories of the company.’
At the same time Gap has started a rehabilitation centre for women and children in association with a Delhi-based non-governmental organization, the Self-Employed Women’s Association.
Bhatia said: ‘We are endeavouring to bring together the government, NGOs, private companies and the society at large in a spatial partnership to eradicate issues affecting women and children in the unorganized sector.’
