… It had rows and rows of workers, most of them young women like Radha, bent over work tables on which were laid out tiny, metal parts. They were assembling iPhones – the most expensive and coveted mobile phones in the world – made by Apple, the second-richest tech company in the world.

The factory was run by Foxconn…with the relationship between the United States and China coming under strain, Foxconn had been scouting for new locations for its manufacturing units. The town of Sriperumbudur…seemed like a natural choice…

…She disliked the food that residents were served and also found the facilities unhygienic and poorly maintained…

… From Monday to Saturday, residents were not allowed to leave the hostel for anything except to commute to the factory…

Activists say the constraints placed on the women who live in the hostels is just one of the many ways in which the company is exercising control over its workers…

Questions sent to Foxconn went unanswered at the time of publication….

A 2006 paper that studied the dormitory labour regime in China noted that …It allowed them to extend working days if they needed to, and respond swiftly “to fluctuations in product demand”. Overall, it noted, the system served “as a form of coercive control…