Indus Creed

Back from a session of alphabet-chanting and rhyme-singing in a INDUS Transitional Educational Centre TEC, Zulfi says he would earn Rs 15 for a day8217;s work. If she met a target of 1,000 bricks, Samina would make Rs 30. Despite the hardships they8217;ve endured, 8216;8216;our children show little diffidence,8217;8217; observes Varsha Thakur, Aurangabad8217;s deputy collector, co-ordinator for the INDUS project in her district. She remembers a recent meeting between President Kalam and school children, where forthright questions by a child labourer, barely weeks into joining INDUS, left the President visibly impressed.

ANNOUNCED early this year by then labour minister Sahib Singh Verma and the US Labour Department, INDUS marks the first time the Indian government8212;usually squeamish about its abysmal record in protecting children8217;s basic rights8212;has joined hands with a foreign government to take on this problem. America8217;s 50 per cent monetary share is being routed through the International Labour Organisation.

But initial surveys make clear that the project8217;s aims are no match for the ground reality. Aurangabad, like Mumbai, itself threw up a figure of almost 10,000 children in employment, a fact which, confirms Surina Rajan, the ILO representative in Delhi, is being seen across all the 25 INDUS districts.

8216;8216;This project is just the entry point,8217;8217; says Project Director, Patrick Martin, contemplating the stack of Child Labour Index Cards on his table in a 27 member-strong office specially established by the Aurangabad Collector to roll out INDUS.

Over 70 per cent of the profiles before Martin, especially in the age categories of 9-13 and 14-17, demonstrate that it8217;s a short, albeit complex, walk from school dropout to child labourer.

8216;8216;To ensure that the tempo is sustained even when the three year period ends,8217;8217; says Martin, 8216;8216;we will have to strengthen the school infrastructure and integrate with the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.8217;8217;

For the older children 14-17, who might have irrevocably missed the education bus, INDUS is forging partnerships with organisations like the Maharashtra Council of Economic Development to teach marketable technical skills.

Also on the anvil are plans to mobilise the parents into self-help groups, involving them in the management of TECs and providing them access to credit.

8216;8216;Involving parents is a key aspect to preventing child labour,8217;8217; says Magsasay awardee Shanta Sinha, whose MV Foundation in Andhra Pradesh works on fostering communal disapproval of child labour as opposed to the government8217;s failed policy of petty monetary handout as incentive.

Back in the brick kiln, slapping mounds of moist mud into the wooden frame, Zulfi8217;s mother, a bitter Rashida embodies this lost generation. Looking on with a mixture of embarrassment and pride as her son expresses inchoate dreams of becoming a music 8216;8216;master8217;8217; for a school, she hopes he might break free of the family8217;s stagnant cycle of earn and eat.