largest silk producer after China, but controls just five per cent of the global silk market. This is because the domestic market snaps up the bulk of the silk thread produced in India.

Karnataka produces an estimated 9,000 tonnes of the country's total production of 14,000 tonnes of mulberry silk. Sericulture is the source of livelihood for over 51,700 families in Magadi, Channapatna, Ramanagaram and Kanakapura, Karnataka's major silk production centres.

A 1999 study conducted by MAYA, an NGO working in Ramanagaram, showed that children work in all segments of the sericulture industry -- in mulberry cultivation, cocoon rearing, winding, doubling, twisting, and re-reeling.

Ninety per cent of the silk-making process takes place in small factories.

At Magadi, the raw material is sourced from places like the silk exchange in Bangalore andwork in the factories till the loan is repaid.

Fifteen-year-old Manju's parents borrowed Rs 20,000 as 'advance' and put him and his three siblings to work at the factory. Twelve-year-old Nagesha's father borrowed Rs 7,000 for which his son had to work at the factory for three years. Thirteen-year-old Lakshmi's parents borrowed Rs 15,000 and, in return, she toiled on the machines for two years.

During their stint in the factories, the children earned anywhere between Rs 50 to Rs 150 a week. Adults earn as much everyday. These factories are little holes in the wall, barely 500 square feet wide; each one has over four machines and, on an average, eight children.

The children stand at the machines all day. A typical workday begins at 6 am and goes on