4th November 2009, Patna: Bachpan Bachao Andolan commends the Bihar State Plan of Action for child labour eradication, rescue and rehabilitation launched by the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar in Patna today. The leader and founder of BBA, Kailash Satyarthi was special invitee and the only civil society representative present in the inaugural session.

Expressing his appreciation for the government of Bihar for its efforts in the fight against child labour, Mr. Satyarthi said, “25 years ago, when I used to bring bonded child labourers after rescuing them from carpet and other industries, the response of state authorities was insensitive and hostile. Even the politicians discouraged the rescue and repatriation as they believed that poor children were born to work and that they will starve and die if they didn’t work. Now, with the support of state government, administration is highly encouraging and promising.”

Later while chairing the session on “Role of civil society”, he emphasised on the need to create deeper understanding, coordination and cooperation among various civil society members and other stakeholders to counter organised forces of market and to mitigate the impact of the global economic recession, food and fuel crisis and global warming. Children suffer the worst due to all these problems. Shri Satyarthi also called for boycott of services and products made by children to demonstrate personal commitment for elimination of child labour. He also cautioned the society to change their traditional role of service delivery to act as critical policy partner.

While announcing full support of BBA’s rank and file to the Bihar State Plan of Action, he also demanded setting up a timeline for the implementation of each of the activities, fixing the accountability of the officers and organising systematic capacity building programmes for various stakeholders.