Poster peels, childhood lost

The irony of Chunam’s situation wasn’t lost on the state government, which came up with a string of relief measures for the little girl. But a year later, the dust has settled and the nine-year-old is back at the dhaba.

On Thursday, as she rushed about attending to rickshaw-pullers who had stopped at their dhaba for lunch, Chunam’s father Baleshwar Das lay on a bench with a gash on his leg. “Last year, several government officials had come here. They got her into that school (Miller), gave her a dress and went away,” he said. The school gave her two books, her father bought a few notebooks and Chunam was ready. But within a couple of months, Chunam began missing her classes as she was asked to stay behind and help run the family stall.

When Chunam’s story first hit headlines, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had issued a directive to the state welfare department asking for the girl and her family to be rehabilitated. “Chunam will be given free education, clothes as well as food and lodging,” Welfare Secretary Vijay Prakash had then said.

When contacted a year later, Prakash denied Chunam was a child labourer. “She is not working at her father’s food stall out of compulsion. She is just lending support to her family vocation,” he told The Indian Express.

Mother Sita Devi said she had eight children and the food stall was their only source of income. “We had hoped that the government would provide some concrete help in the form of a house or jobs. Who knows, tomorrow our stall will be razed,” she said.

The UNICEF had used Chunam’s photograph in their campaign against child labour after the Centre issued a notification banning the employment of children in hotels and as domestic servants. UNICEF had then claimed that they had sought Chunam’s father’s permission to use her picture in their campaign but Das denied it. The agency had also washed its hands off the issue, saying its role was limited to raising awareness.