Children Of A Lesser God

India has been identified as the world capital of child labour but the Government's response to this dubious title is a sweeping anti-child labour policy without any rehabilitation structures

PICTURE SPEAK

TRUNCATED CHILDHOOD: Over 10 lakh children work in eateries

From hazardous industries to homes, every day thousands of Indians violate the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act of 1986 banning employment of children below 14. Child labour contributes 20 per cent to the gross national production (GNP) and comprises about 3.6 per cent of the nation's workforce. Agriculture employs 85 per cent of the children in the work force, followed by manufacturing and services sectors at less than nine per cent. Worryingly, the practice of employing children has grown in recent decades, particularly in bigger states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

It took a claim by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) citing an 11 per cent decline in the worldwide child labour statistics since 2002 for Delhi try and clean up its act.

Child welfare organisations estimate that India has over 10 lakh children working as domestic "servants" and another 10 lakh working at roadside eateries, hotels and restaurants. In October, the Ministry of Labour (mol) issued a gazette notification banning the employment of children as domestic help or in roadside eateries, restaurants, hotels, motels, teashops, resorts, spas and in other recreational centres.

Offenders have been warned about prosecution and penal action for violating the Child Labour Act. Section three of the act stipulates that anyone found to be employing children less than 14 years of age could invite a jail term of up to a year and/ or a fine of Rs 20,000. The UPA Government gave states a minimum of three months to implement its directive. Karnataka was the first state to have banned domestic child labour in 2005. Last month, the mol also launched a 24-hour toll-free helpline (1098) in 72 cities for registration of complaints.

1.26 cr working children in India between five and 14 years, states the National Census, 2001. 26 paise per day per working child is the current budgeted allocation for rehabilitation. Rs 20,000 and/or a jail term of up to one year if found violating the Child Labour Act. 72% of child workers are in UP, MP, West Bengal, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Assam and Rajasthan.

The optics and acoustics from the mol may have been appropriate but, as always, the fault lies in the implementation of the policy and also a lack of uniformity within the Government regarding its policy on child labour. Officials in the Ministry for Women and Child Development (MWCD) maintain that the mol has failed to organise the necessary back-end support system before issuing the ban on child labour in homes and the hospitality industry.

There also appears to be a lack of coordination between these two ministries on the issue of child welfare. MWCD officials hint at the absence of any inter-ministerial discussions on the notification before it was released. When approached for her views on the policy, Minister for Women and Child Development Renuka Chowdhury declined to comment.

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FORCED TO WORK: Children contribute 20 per cent to the GNP

Should the anti-child labour ban be aggressively pursued, the handful of juvenile justice homes under MWCD's supervision are not equipped to house the thousands of children expected to be freed from sweatshops across the country. Providing for their education and healthcare is another unaccounted-for logistical nightmare.

Policy watchers agree that ministries should be careful about issuing sweeping announcements without putting support mechanisms in place. "Unless we provide the working children or their dependents with alternative livelihood, laws are not going to help," says Dr A.K. Gopal, director of the National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development.

While the national child labour policy was launched in 1987, the mol is in the process of a rethink as regards its efficacy in the 250 most endemic districts of the country. Anti-child labour activists believe that issues of rehabilitation and education of the rescued children have not been given the kind of attention they deserved. "Where do rescued children go when they are brought out of their employer's house or factory?" asks Joshep Gatia, founder, Centre of Concern for Child Labour. State labour commissions often report instances of children returning to work after being rescued because of the lack of basic amenities in government shelters.

The government's money, too, has rarely been where its mouth is: under the Tenth Plan (2002-07), the budgetary allocation for the national child labour programme is Rs 602 crore. For the 1.26 crore children in the workforce, this translates to less than Rs 8 per month-26 paise per day-for their rehabilitation. The mol says it has asked the Planning Commission to enhance the package but till the Eleventh Plan rolls out in end 2007, the children hang in balance.

What also continues to gall child rights activists is the attitude of trade unions dealing with labour rights. Child rights are not on their agenda and union spokesmen say the core issue is that of poverty. Exploitation of children, they believe, cannot be checked so long as the core issue is ignored. "Children work because otherwise they'll die of hunger and the government has no idea about redressing the problem," says Tapan Sen, secretary of Centre of Indian Trade Unions.

Even though stakeholders appear less than convinced, new Labour Minister Oscar Fernandes says the drive against child labour is an imperative, a matter of collective social conscience as much as state policy. "Unless society is involved, my role is limited," he says.

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