Sherin Jacob, Tata Institute of Social Sciences(TISS), Mumbai

My experience at BBA has been very rewarding and learning for it helped me understand about child labour in detail. It helped understand how the childhood of thousands of children working in different parts of the country in hazardous work conditions was gradually being destroyed. The accounts of numerous children subjected to inhuman torture were extremely moving. At the same time to see the smiling faces of children rescued by BBA was also touching.

Being with BBA taught that mere rescue serves no purpose until measures to rehabilitate the child completely (socially, physically) are available. It taught how children can be trained to be future leaders of tomorrow by involving them to participate in issues concerning them through Bal mitra grams. These issues can be with regard to their education, health and their crusade against child labour. It also helped understand how the concept of community development works effectively.

My knowledge on a variety of issues namely child education, laws regarding child welfare, trafficking and various governmental schemes were significantly increased through various discussions and sharing of experiences by the BBA activists.

A visit to the Bal Ashram was a good experience. While talking to and playing with the children, we saw how the hope of a brighter and better future was aglow in their hearts and eyes due to the efforts of Kailashji. Bal ashram was helping these rescued child laborers realize their dreams by helping them find a secure childhood and a chance to dream again. The children in a way taught me a lot. Having realized the worth of their freedom they seemed to value it a lot and work hard towards a better tomorrow. They helped me realize the values of love, courage, life, responsible freedom and the worth of my near and dear ones. It has taught to me to be more grateful and thankful for a whole lot of blessings in my life which I have often taken for granted.

Surekha Rahal, Tata Institute of Social Sciences(TISS), Mumbai

In our curriculum of the 1st yr of M.A in social work (family and child welfare – TISS), I learnt he basic rights of free and compulsory education , leisure, learning ,play and nourishment which are essential to his /her  optimum growth must be guaranteed to the child not as charity  but  as something that is the child's right irrespective of sex , cast and religion . I also learnt what happens to children who are born in families which can't provide for these rights and for whom childhood is rather short lived for they come  face to face with the harsh realities of life a little too early , often as soon as they are 4 yrs old. I had learnt about BBA as a pioneer in the rescue and rehabilitation of child labourers .  Exactly how the Bachpan Bachao Andolan  does it was something that I learnt and observed during  my 1 month of volunteering with the BBA in May 2006 .

As I went through each of the case studies of the children that had been rescued  and rehabilitated by the BBA in their Bal /Balika Ashram  the  picture became clearer on how the parents of these  children are enticed by middle men with false promises of better opportunities and thus these children are trafficked into bondage ,exploited and robbed of their childhood in various industries from circuses to  Zari to stone quarrying to football making to carpet making , shoe making  to domestic labour some of the stories of these children were truly heart wrenching , the scars and bruises  on their  bodies when  they were rescued would'nt lie about their torchure.
The BBA believes that rehabilitation and education are the only saviours of these children from  exploitation and hence  these are its main priorities.  This became evident  on  my visit to the Bal Ashram (Rajasthan)  where I saw how these rescued children are given an opportunity to heal and are  motivated to  fight for their rights , provided with education and vocational training so that they are ready to enter mainstream schools when they go back to their families , so that they can never be exploited again . Participation and information are their tools to fight against child labour, which they learn as part of the concept of Bal Panchayat which is introduced here.The effects of which I could see in the way the children unhesitatedly  spoke of  any complaints against the cook , teachers  or  the  elder children  on minor issues or about any requirements like a new football to play etc. with  the BBA activists in meetings  or how they ensured that the class  monitor , sports incharge etc was elected.

On my visit to the Bal Mitra Gram(Rajasthan) , a concept of a child friendly society invented by BBA I also saw how it works at the grass root level , working with the villagers , encouraging child participation through Bal Panchayats , fecilitating problem solving and aiding  campaigns like Universal Birth Registration which are pro children ,led by BBA activists in these villages in Rajasthan , , M.P and Bihar and Uttar Pradesh .

Working at the grassroot level in the BMG'S is also not easy as one of the BMG activists told me , a  rural  society where the cast and religious factors come alive and the activists tread very carefully and work towards mitigating these differences by organising  community lunches , meetings . gram panchayats to solve common problems and making sure that children are not affected by any differences in attitude.

Promoting ethical trade practices is something BBA  has strived for and RUGMARK is a shining success in that regard, currently BBA is striving for something on those lines in the Zari industry where it seeks to sensitize leading fashion houses on the magnitude of child labour in the Zari industry.

Lobbying for the basic child rights of  free , complulsory and  quality education has alos been BBA's prime concern as that is the only way that  all children can carve a better future for themselves this is actively addressed  BBA's contact with the  parliamentary forum to raise issues on child rights in whether it is the MDG goals of  achieving higher educational standards or whether it is abolishing female infanticide  .BBA works with the forum (involving the MLA'S and MP's dedicated to cooperate  on  and work for these issues) to build pressure on the government to work for these issues constantly bringing the government face to face on the deplorable conditions of education in rural areas or the magnitude of child labour  through  true  statistics which do not lie about the  inadequate efforts of the government to deal effectively with these very serious and important issues.

The  passion of the people involved for the issue of child labour and child rights is almost infectious  and is clearly evident by the fact that most of the people ( who are not professional social workers but are journalists , lawyers)  have given up better paying jobs to work for BBA as it is their  passion to work for the issue of child labour  .It is also not difficult to imagine and understand  where they draw the inspiration from , Mr. Kailash Sathyarthi , the initiator and founder of the aandolan who has been since its inception leading the  raid and rescue operations  unafraid , braving many threats and attacks on his life truly inspires the activists along with his wife (affectionately called 'bhai sahab' & 'bhabhiji'  in office by everyone) and son (now leading the 'save the childhood ' foundation  dealing with the issue of trafficking.).Also their involvement with the children is amazing as I witnessed in the 'Bal Ashram'.

Speaking  to some of the lawyers and BMG activists in the organisation  I came to know how they work and the problems they face in their work .With so many laws against child labour needing amendments as they are not adequate and most of  them do not clearly punish the offender as in domestic child labour which is not punishable by law but leads to  a lot of exploitation . The problems  faced  are many more like non-cooperation by the authorities be  it police, District Magistrates  during raid and rescue operations or the government as the figures would mean accepting its own  inadequacy in dealing with these issues. BBA has still successfully managed to release about  60000 children from the clutches of exploitation and believes that it is no use in just rescuing children without rehabilitation and education and this is what I think makes it unique from  the others .

The experience was truly enriching and inspiring and has deepened my understanding of the issue .I am very thankful to BBA for giving me this oppurtunity.