Child labour: The government has
a tough job ahead of it
Let us begin with Ashraf. It would be inappropriate, rather unethical, not to remember this brave boy.
The Government of India’s notification to ban some shameful forms of child labour — like their employment as domestic workers and in dhabas, restaurants, motels, resorts, and in other recreational centres — is a great moral victory in the fight against these invisible forms of slavery.
Ashraf, who was working at the residence of a senior IAS officer, was burnt with a stove by his employer because he dared to drink the milk meant for the bureaucrat’s child.
We at the Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA), a civil society movement, took up Ashraf’s case with the National Human Rights Commission and, in 1999, a rule was passed prohibiting government servants from employing children as domestic helps.
Since then we have been trying to get the ban on use of children as domestic slaves extended.
The government notification has done just that, but we still have a long, long way to go.
The government does not have much data on domestic child labour or children working in the hospitality industry.
BBA estimates that at least 10 million children are victims of child servitude in each of these two sectors. Since domestic help is “invisible” slavery, the agony — including branding, beating, even rape — goes unheard and unnoticed.
The record on prosecutions since the enactment of the Child Labour Law 1986 makes for dismal reading: not a single offender has been punished as per the provision of the law, which calls for a prison term of two years.
Similarly, a path-breaking judgment by the Supreme Court in 1996 on abolishing child labour has been grossly violated.
Given these ground realities, the government has a tough job on its hands to create a meaningful mechanism. It has to show strong political will, substantiated with a well-trained enforcement system as well as prompt and effective rehabilitative and educational measures.
Civil society organisations, NGOs, village panchayats, teaching communities and residential welfare associations (in urban setups) should be brought on board and partnerships with government agencies should be crafted.
A sustained media campaign should be launched by the government to back up its efforts. Most importantly, the accountability of enforcement agencies must be fixed.
Labour officials, the police, and factory inspectors must be punished if child labour exists in their jurisdiction.
Poverty has often been considered the key reason for the perpetuation of child labour.
In fact, it is the other way round: child labour is the primary cause of poverty. It pushes children prematurely into the workforce, denying them the opportunity to acquire the education and skills needed to obtain decent employment and incomes as adults.
The employment of children weakens the bargaining power of adult workers in terms of securing the legally guaranteed minimum wage or decent working conditions.
While child labour has a negative impact on the economy, investment in basic education that is aimed at eliminating the practice brings many positive returns to a country’s overall economic development.
A recent report by International Labour Organisation has argued that initiatives to prevent and eliminate all forms of child labour by ensuring education for all have economic returns seven times higher than the investment.
The elimination of child labour is a prerequisite for any country that has social uplift and economic development on its agenda.
We must show the will to turn our words into action, and we can begin by taking the direct path to putting an end to child labour — by educating all of India’s children.
http://www.dnaindia.com/sunreport.asp?Newsid=1045609
