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Journalism of Courage
In the labyrinthine innards of Zafarabad, a resettlement colony in East Delhi, 25-odd kids — aged five to 14 — are squinting their eyes in ill-lit zari factories against gossamer fabrics to craft fashion produce. Squatting on grime-caked floors — without fans, potable water or toilet blocks — this underage, undernourished army is toiling in the most inhuman conditions. Dilapidated buildings, hovel-like interiors and sauna-esque rooms — which leave even adults gasping for breath in 45 degrees-plus — complete this picture of near-Dickensian wretchedness. And this is the children’s fate 24/7 for which they earn a piffling Rs 50 per month!
The scene is no better in India’s commercial capital, Mumbai. On June 1, the city police swooped down on Madanpura’s (Central Mumbai) zari factories to rescue 400 child labourers working in heart-wrenching conditions. Following this, the Maharashtra labour department sent middlemen scurrying for cover as it raided gold-plating workshops in Bhuleshwar to rip the lid off a child labour racket involving hundreds of kids. On June 6, Delhi’s Najafgarh area was shook up massively as the police rescued 30 children — all belonging to Bihar’s Sitamarhi district — from zari workshops. In Secunderabad and Sholapur, cases of child labour have recently come to light. In Muradabad, Mirzapur, Srinagar, Ferozabad too.
Child labour is a horrific reality that ricochets across many Indian towns. But in a country obsessed with Page Three palaver, it’s a topic that fails to spike the collective adrenaline of the movers and shakers. Of course, with media pressure, the police do wake up sporadically to conduct rescue operations. But no sooner do the cameramen exit the scene than these children return to the grind, usually with the same set of employers.
Shockingly, 10 crore kids are engaged in illegal employment in India, a world record of sorts. Delhi alone has the dubious distinction of employing 15 lakh children in myriad factories, five lakh of whom have been brought in from neighbouring states. Overall, around 500 zari factories in the country employ 5,000 children from various parts of the country. These kids are invariably smuggled inter-state by Shylockian middlemen who tantalise parents with the lure of “vocational training” for their “employable” kids.
Hence, while the rescue operation may seem like a noble exercise to begin with, it loses its potency the moment the rescued child is re-cycled as child labour. Also, by punishing the perpetrators of child labour — employers or middlemen — the state action remains punitive. How about attacking at the root of the malaise by presenting these kids with educational opportunities? For research has proven that the only long-term solution to eradicating child labour is to educate them.
The Child Labour Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, forbids the engagement of children in certain employment sectors while regulating their conditions in others. Clearly, this act needs to be amended forthwith, for it neither completely prohibits child labour nor lays down any provision for educational opportunities of the rescued child.
Similarly, in its preamble, the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000, talks of providing care and protection to children wrongfully employed but has no provisions for what happens to the kids post-repatriation. What is this if not tokenism? Why is the act silent on ensuring education for these children? What happens after repatriation? What after the rescued child is re-cycled as child labour? The act is disconcertingly quiet on all these fronts.
Similarly, the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976, provides for the abolition of bonded labour (“to prevent the economic/physical exploitation of the weaker sections”), but overlooks the crucial rehabilitation of child labour. Ditto the Beedi and Cigar Workers (Conditions of Employment) Act, 1966, the Factories Act, 1948, and the Motor Transport Workers Act, 1961, all of which prohibit employment of children in the establishments covered by these acts but fail to address the rehabilitation issue.
The sordid picture that emerges from these sundry legislations is that there is no cohesive state policy to address the critical issue of child labour in India. The law neither provides for the rehabilitation of child labour nor for the prevention of its re-cycling. Thirdly, and most importantly, none of the existing laws provide for any educational opportunities for the rescued children. A mere visit to the Badli resettlement area — on the Haryana border — illustrates the point. Here, despite the existence of 12,000 hutments, not a single school worth its name exists. What is this if not a fertile breeding ground for future child laborers?
