Activists hold out little hope that the nationwide ban on hiring children to work in homes and in the hospitality industry will be effective, given that law enforcement agencies in India have been unable to trace missing children

Law enforcement agencies in India are failing to stop the disappearance of millions of children in India, or to prevent missing children from being forced to beg or work for a living, says a leading child rights CSO. Worryingly, top police officials and human rights agencies agree with this view.

Speaking at a discussion on the imminent nationwide ban on domestic child labour in New Delhi, on September 26, activist Bhuvan Ribhu of the Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) said: "There is a village in Noida district, barely 10 km from New Delhi, from where nearly 38 children have disappeared in the last 15 months. Till today, neither has any child been found nor has a breakthrough been achieved in any of the disappearances. We fear that these children may have been forced into child labour or begging."

Agreeing with Ribhu, former top-ranking Delhi police official Maxwell Pereira said that nearly 46 million children are estimated to be missing in the country. He added: "It is only the high court in the state of Karnataka that has taken a proactive approach in asking enforcement agencies to look into why children go missing."

Former member of the National Human Rights Commission Shanker Sen said it was a national shame that millions of children in India were being forced to work when they should be in school getting an education.

The panel discussion 'Ban on Child Labour -- Is It Enough?' was organised by the development organisation OneWorld South Asia to discuss the repercussions of a government notification that will come into effect on October 10, 2006. The notification bans children below the age of 14 from working in residences and in the hospitality industry.

The panellists differed in their views on the efficacy of the law as well as its impact on bringing down the number of working children. Child rights and child protection activist Gerry Pinto said: "The Government of India claims that there are 12.05 million children involved in labour in India, while Human Rights Watch estimates that there are 115 million working children. But the reality is that we will have to move beyond banning child labour to ensure that we get them their fundamental rights. This can only be achieved by creating a protocol for rescue, restoration and rehabilitation of rescued children; by cooperation between civil society as well as the government."

Commenting on the raids and rescues that the BBA regularly organises, Ribhu said: "It is commendable that the government has banned child labour in the domestic sector. But it is not easy to conduct a raid at a residence and prove that the child is being forced to work. In a factory or an industrial outlet we can easily prove that a child is being made to work. Only when the common man also joins us will we be able to restore the rights to children."

There was unanimity in the activists' rejection of the view that children from poor homes should be allowed to work in order to support themselves and their families. Supreme Court lawyer Ashok Aggarwal said: "This is an argument given by people who have vested interests in the continuation of child labour, because children do double the work at half the wages. Children are too innocent to demand their rights and minimum wages. The only place for children is school, and if a family is poor it should be rehabilitated."

Source: www.southasia.oneworld.net, September 27, 2006

http://infochangeindia.org/200612035190/Children/News-Scan/India-fails-to-
stop-disappearance-of-millions-of-kids-CSOs.html